TWIN FALLS — The players poured out of the dugout like ants to crumbs, the happiest group of teenagers in this small town surging toward the Skip Walker Field mound faster than a pack of hyenas. Some Pocatello players threw cups of water in the air. Others tossed their caps. Still others launched their gloves toward the sky like a ghost would catch them.

“Nothing can match this feeling,” Poky shortstop Jayce Vaughan said, “and this atmosphere.”

Turns out, not even the best manifestation teachers could properly prepare the Thunder for dogpiling with each other moments after securing the final out of their 14-4 win over Skyview Saturday evening, earning the program’s first 4A state championship in more than a decade.

As the season wore on, as Pocatello racked up wins by the bushel and established itself as one of eastern Idaho’s premier clubs, coaches told players to dream about the dogpile. Expect it. Visualize it. So the Thunder did, wondering what a dogpile — the dogpile — might feel like.

“It was probably better,” said first baseman Kaden Knowles, who singled home a run in this win.

This weekend, the Thunder were just better. They followed a first-round dismantling of Wood River on Thursday with an incensed rally to beat Bishop Kelly on Friday, erasing a 6-1 deficit in a 9-8, extra-innings victory. That game may have added a decade to the lives of everyone invested in Poky’s success.

Saturday’s game probably restored it. The Thunder scored once in the first inning, on an RBI single from Mack Evans, only for the Hawks to match it an inning later. Three frames later, Poky grabbed the floodgates and pried them open. Vaughan was plunked with the bases loaded. Knowles singled home Garrett Keller. Catcher Martin Serrano plated two with a single. Alex Winn launched a sacrifice fly to right. Kudter Stucki scored Serrano with an infield single.

By the time the avalanche ended, the Thunder were standing atop a 7-1 lead, a convincing advantage over the tournament’s top seed. Except the second seed wasn’t done. In the fifth, Serrano laced another RBI single into right, scoring another run. Two batters later, third baseman JD Gunderson singled, scoring Serrano and Evans, the latter of whom had doubled. That handed Poky an 11-1 lead — enough to run-rule Skyview.

The Thunder could have done so earlier than they did — on a dropped third strike with two outs in the fifth, Serrano overthrew Knowles at first base, and the Hawks capitalized with two runs that kept the game alive — but with three more runs in the sixth, they dispatched Skyview with little trouble.

“I’m just so proud of these kids,” Poky coach Vinnie Benavidez said. “I’ve said from day one that I think we’re the best team in the state, and man, they came out and showed it today. We didn’t lose anybody in Idaho.”

Fact check: true. With this win, Pocatello completed a 21-2 season. The Thunder’s only losses came to Green Mountain, a Colorado school, and Bishop Manogue, a Nevada club. Those games unfolded down in Arizona, on Pocatello’s spring break trip. After one setback, Benavidez said, his team’s season hit a turning point. “I might have freaked out a little bit on them,” Benavidez said.

“I had seen some stuff that I didn’t quite like,” Benavidez added, “and I let them know about it. I’m a happy, happy guy all the time, but when I get mad, it’s… I can lose it. And they responded the rest of the year.”

Did they ever. Poky closed the season with 18 straight wins. The Thunder topped 5A foes like Madison and Rigby. They boat-raced Minico and Sugar-Salem. They dispatched district opponents Century and Preston with few issues. They captured a 4A District 5 title, their third straight, and because this group had the look of a state championship contender, it hardly registered as a surprise.

Now the Thunder have the hardware to match. In part, they can thank pitcher Brody Burch for that, and wait till you hear his story. On Saturday afternoon, Burch won a state title in the 800-meter dash at the 5A/4A state track meet — in Meridian. Fortunately for him, his dad, Greg, used to have a gig as a forest firefighter, meaning he flew planes. So after his race, Burch met a friend of his dad, also a pilot, at the Boise airport.

So the two took a private flight from Boise to Twin Falls, where this game took place. Burch arrived around the second inning. He warmed up, and by the fourth inning, he entered in relief of Garrett Keller. He struck out four in three innings. Then he unsheathed a baffling slider, Serrano dug it out and tagged out the batter, and the dogpile began.

“I mean, that’s the main goal for everyone,” Burch said. “I feel like that last game of the year, going into the state championship and coming out on top — it’s just such a surreal moment to finally do it.”