Century wins District 5 crown on late free kick, earns state tourney bid
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POCATELLO — With a 1-0 win at Century High School Thursday, the Pocatello Thunder forced a winner-take-all 5A District 5 championship showdown with the same Diamondbacks team Saturday at Lookout Field.
After a scoreless first half, dominated by the aggression of the Century attack and the defensive effort of the Thunder, things changed quickly in the second half.
Pocatello’s Kason Ryerson fired the opening salvo in the 46th minute. But the Diamondbacks answered 30 seconds later when Jairo McClean netted the equalizer. There it stayed, 1-1, until Century’s Owen Stout scored on a 30-yard free kick in the 77th minute to give his Diamondbacks a 2-1 victory, the District 5 title and a berth into the state tournament.
After the game, Century head coach Jamshid Roomiany called his team’s performance “perfect” and minced no words in elaborating.
“We were the better team. We won. We deserved that,” he said. … “We refuse to lose to this team, or any other team, really.”
Though it did not net them an early lead, Century dominated the possession and aggression in the first half, allowing just two unsustained runs from the Pocatello attack through 40 minutes.
While Diamondback goalie Liam McGee stood alone in his box looking into the sun throughout the first half, Thunder keeper Luke Barnes was active early and often.
Barnes made several lunging saves, including one on a penalty kick from Daniel McGee in the 39th minute. Barnes’ diving punch save, though, left a free ball in front of the goal which McGee headed up and over the bar.
Some District V soccer between Pocatello and Century. winner takes the district crown and Thunder goalie Luke Barnes sends it to half a scoreless tie with this penalty save. #IDPreps pic.twitter.com/1Ym0G17Bpd
— Kalama Hines (@HINESight_2020) October 19, 2024
Barnes was right back to work in the second half, defending the scoreless tie. Despite the effort form the Thunder keeper though, Century had a chance at the game’s first goal in the 45th minute but their shot banged off the right post and out of the box.
The Thunder, countering that attack, was able to push the ball ahead to Ryerson outside of the left hash. Ryerson used his left foot across his body to beat the outstretched McGee to the goalie’s left side.
Century quickly put the ball back in play following the opening goal and were back in attack mode when McClean found the net to erase Poky’s lead in the blink of an eye.
“We were not going to take that crap,” Roomiany said of his team’s quick equalizer. “We missed the penalty — I’m glad that didn’t take the team down. We knew goals were going to come It was a beautiful retaliation, period. … It was good soccer.”
As the game grew late, Pocatello appeared to push more into a defensive posture. Rather than looking for skip passes ahead to attackers Ryerson and Maddox Maldonado, their back line seemed content to clear the ball from the defensive zone.
Roomiany said that he was impressed with the patience his team showed in waiting for good scoring chances.
“Poky really didn’t have much to do, they just wanted to take us to penalty kicks — they wanted a tie,” the coach said. “They put five, six defenders, they parked the bus. We had to be patient and come up with a goal, and I’m glad we did.”
The deciding goal did not come until the 77th minute, when a Pocatello penalty gave Century a free kick from 30 yards.
Stout elected to take a shot from distance and squeezed the go-ahead goal between a diving Barned and the right post.
Century tales a 2-1 lead in the 77th. pic.twitter.com/q3V5gDGPam
— Kalama Hines (@HINESight_2020) October 19, 2024
With the win, Century secured a berth into the state tournament next week at Bonneville High School.
Roomiany said that his team goes into every game believing they cannot be beaten and expects them to take “that same winning attitude” into the tournament.
Of the game they played that got them there, he added, “2-1 is good. It’s as good as 20-nothing.”
“We play good soccer and I hope people appreciate it,” he said. “These kids played really well — they deserved to win, and they got it done.
