Heading into Tuesday’s district game with Bonneville High School, the Century High School boys soccer team already knew they would not be one of the top two seeds in next week’s 4A Fifth/Sixth District tournament.

    That did not mean that the game with Bees was not important. The winner of the game would hold the third seed and get to host a play-in game at their home field Saturday.

    It took almost 43 minutes, but the Diamondbacks finally got a goal on the board, holding on for a 2-0 victory and clinching the No. 3 seed.

    “It was not the prettiest game but we did what we needed to do,” Century head coach Rocky Rhoades said. “We have been playing well lately, and a game like this will help us prepare for districts.”

    Despite early season losses to Preston and Blackfoot that cost the Diamondbacks a shot at the top seeds, Century entered the game with a five-game winning streak.

    It was evident from the opening kick-off that both teams realized the enormity of the 80 minutes of play that was before them, as sloppy physical play dominated the opening half.

    Most of the first half was played in the middle of the field, as neither team was able to mount much of an attack.

    With all of the bumping and banging going on in the middle of the field, neither goalie faced many shots and when they did each were easily stopped.

    Each goalie faced just one tough shot in the half, both keepers made saves.

    During halftime, Rhoades told his team that they showed no emotion and were just rolling through the first half. He complimented his team on creating scoring opportunities, but told them if they had played with emotion their would have been goals on the scoreboard.

    “The first half of this game reminded me a lot of how we played last week against Highland,” Rhoades said. “We let the other team dictate our style of play and  we got frustrated. If we would have played with the ball of the ground from the beginning we would have been able to control the tempo of the game.”

    Just like when the Diamondbacks and Rams met last week, it took just two minutes into the second half for the Diamondbacks get onto the scoreboard.

    Reece Foulkrod lifted a ball from 30-yards out just over the outstretched arms of goalie Cody Crofoot and into the net.

    The goal seemed to spark the Diamondbacks as much of the second half was played in the Bonneville end of the field.

    “You hit a point in the game where a team gets tired of dumping the ball downfield and chasing after it,” Rhoades said. “They stopped chasing the final 15 minutes. If we were aggressive from the beginning they probably would have stopped chasing the final 30 minutes.”

    In the final 15 minutes of the half, the Diamondbacks had three shots go just wide of the net from just out front of the goal mouth.

    Oakley Linscheid had a shot ricochet off the cross bar and when he tried to follow the rebound his header attempt went just wide.

    Dan Mende and Tyler Hoffa also had shots go just wide of the net.

    Tyson Holmstead finally ended the scoring drought in the 75th minute, when his shot from the middle of the goal box got by the Bonneville keeper.

    “We are just trying to prepare ourselves for districts,” Rhoades said. “We played much better in the second half and we have to take what we did well from this game and move on to our next game.”

    Century (9-4-1, 4-2 4A Fifth/Sixth District) close out the regular season Thursday against Pocatello with the game scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

    The Diamondbacks and Indians will meet again on Saturday for the district play-in game at Century beginning at 11 a.m. The winner of that game will move on to the second round of the district tournament Tuesday.

    All tournament games will be played at Century High School beginning Tuesday at 2 p.m.

    Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, children and students without an activities card. Students with an activities card get in free.