PR Sports

POCATELLO – Blackfoot pulled out a 17-3 win in brutal brawl against Century at Holt Arena on Friday in the opening round of the 4A playoffs.

“We fought through it,” Blackfoot coach Stan Buck said. “It’s not always pretty, but we stayed consistent.”

The win advances second-ranked Blackfoot (8-1) to the quarterfinals, where it will travel to third-ranked Bishop Kelly next week.

The Blackfoot defense shone throughout, delivering bone-crushing hit after bone-crushing hit, limiting Century to 208 yards of total offense and Jase Johnson 38-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

“We have a good defense, no doubt,” Buck said. “We gave up some plays to give great field position to them. But you’ve got to be consistent at all times. I was happy with our physicality on defense.”

Blackfoot opened the scoring when quarterback Anthony Clarke found receiver Julio Flores behind the safeties for a 41-yard touchdown pass on the game’s opening possession.

Blackfoot set out to get Flores involved early on, targeting him three times on its first drive. It only completed one pass to him, but it was the home run and it forced Century to switch out of its man defense to double- and triple-team Flores.

Despite the attention, Flores finished with five catches for 119 yards.

Kicker Luis Oseguera made it 10-0 in the second quarter with a 27-yard field goal, but even though it racked up 209 yards of offense in the first half and 355 in the game, Blackfoot struggled to punch it in the end zone.

A holding call forced Blackfoot to settle for the field goal and Century’s Nathan Wall broke up a fourth-and-goal pass to Nate Walker early in the fourth quarter.

But after Johnson’s field goal made it 10-3, Blackfoot rammed the ball down Century’s throat on a 13-play, 72-yard drive that took 6:08 off the clock. Logan Chidester punched in the 3-yard touchdown run after a pass interference call in the end zone on third-and-5.

Clarke led the game in passing and rushing, completing 8 of 15 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown while adding 123 yards on 21 carries.

Blackfoot 17, Century 3
Blackfoot 7 3 0 7 - 17
Century 0 0 0 3 - 3

First quarter
BF – Julio Flores 41-yard catch from Anthony Clarke (Luis Oseguera kick)

Second quarter
BF – Oseguera 27-yard field goal

Third quarter

Fourth quarter
C – Jase Johnson 38-yard field goal
BF – Logan Chidester 3-yard run (Oseguera kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Blackfoot: Chris Percy 14-65, Anthony Clarke 21-123, Trae Pilster 1-4, Beau Hoskins 1-15, Garrett Buck 1-(-4), Logan Chidester 1-3. Century: Terrance Quenton 15-77, Rhys Borchert 8-15, Michael Semons 10-9.

PASSING – Blackfoot: Clarke 8-15 139, 1 TD, 0 INT; Pilster 1-3 10, 0 TD, 1 INT. Century: Semons 8-15 107, 0 TD, 2 INT.

RECEIVING – Blackfoot: Julio Flores 5-119, Hoskins 3-20, Clarke 1-10. Century: Borchert 1-11, Trevor Meldrum 1-5, Ty Ravsten 4-94, Quenton 2-(-3).