kang@journalnet.com

Slowly and quietly, Tyler Hargraves and his Pocatello teammates trudged up the ramp toward their Holt Arena locker room after a 56-39 loss to Skyline on Friday.

Before they made it to the top, Skyline's players pierced the silence with a boisterous rendition of their fight song.

"That's really hard," said Hargraves, the Indians' senior quarterback. "I don't know how to explain it. It's like the worst feeling in the world. It's terrible."

Hargraves had Skyline's explosive duo of quarterback Michael Berger and running back Max Asay to thank for that feeling. Berger rushed for 167 yards and four touchdowns while throwing for another 110 yards and two scores, while Asay gashed the Indians for 183 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

After a tepid start, Pocatello's offense woke up after halftime and tried its mightiest to keep pace with its 5A opponent's. Indians wide receiver Kyle Hanson had an especially impressive second half and ended up hauling in seven passes for 189 yards and two scores.

But with the way the Grizzlies were moving the ball on the Indians' defense, the slow start was too much to overcome.

"Fifty-six points is a lot of points," Pocatello coach Tom Harrison said. "It's certainly humbling, that's for sure, what's going on with us."

Harrison was alluding to the fact that the Indians dropped to 1-4 with the loss.

Their sub-par record is somewhat misleading, though. Pocatello's losses have come against 5A Idaho Falls, Utah's top 4A team in Mountain Crest, 4A powerhouse Blackfoot and a 5A Skyline team that is now 5-0. Hargraves doesn't think their punishing schedule is wearing down the Indians.

"I think it's helping," Hargraves said. "In the playoffs and the later games, Highland, Century, even Jerome, it's going to help us to have good experience."

That experience would have come in handy in the first half, when Skyline's spectacular offense, combined with Pocatello's own lukewarm version, essentially put the game away.

Repeatedly, the Grizzlies carved up huge chunks of the Holt Arena turf with seemingly basic plays. Each of their eight touchdown drives contained at least one big play, and they ended up with 10 plays or more that covered at least 18 yards. That explained why Skyline punted the ball just once all game.

The Grizzlies did lose two fumbles in the first half. The Indians turned the second one into a Tanner Moore touchdown run to trim Skyline's lead to 14-12. But Poky's offense didn't accomplish very much besides that in the first half, and Asay and Berger combined to give Skyline a 28-12 halftime lead.

"I don't know how to explain it," Hargraves said. "We just didn't come out with fire."

Pocatello did muster an encouraging stretch in the second half, scoring 20 unanswered points to get its fans excited once more.

Jerron Batts scored his second touchdown with 2:55 left in the third quarter. On the ensuing kick, the Grizzlies, expecting an onside kick, allowed the Indians to recover their regular kick on the Skyline 1. Several Grizzlies had the chance to secure the ball but avoided it like it was a punt. On the ensuing snap, Hargraves plunged into the end zone to make it 42-25.

Pocatello then forced Skyline's only punt, and on the first play after that, Hargraves found Hanson for a 77-yard touchdown pass to slice the deficit to 42-32.

"Kyle was wide open," Hargaves said. "My eyes just lit up, and I was like, 'Wow, he's open' and just threw it. And Kyle made a really nice play."

That inspired stretch came too late, though. Skyline converted a key fourth down on the following drive and punched the ball into the end zone once more with 5:05 remaining. That essentially sealed its win.

"It seemed like they were running free a lot," Harrison said. "We weren't tackling them. Their speed and us trying to simulate it are two different things."

The loss stung, for sure. But about 10 minutes after having to listen to Skyline's players celebrate a win on Pocatello's home turf in its homecoming game, Hargraves managed to find some positives in his team's gallant second-half effort.

"We showed a lot of improvement, so that was really nice," Hargraves said. "Hopefully, the next game we can just come out and play a full game."