Written by: Brandon Baney
As crude as it sounds, football is often a numbers game. You can have five or six outstanding athletes, but without quality depth to back it up, a team can find itself stuck in neutral.
Count the Century Diamondbacks among the teams that are trying to put the car in drive this year. Once considered the gem of Pocatello when it first opened in the early 2000s, it has since been surpassed by rival schools Highland and Pocatello in terms of enrollment.
Highland is currently a 5A school, while Pocatello’s numbers swelled so much that the Thunder will be moving from 4A to 5A starting in 2024. Meanwhile, Century’s numbers have continued to dwindle.
Ryan Fleischmann has seen it all, good and bad, highs and lows, during his time at Century. Fleischmann was a part of Century’s first coaching staff in 1999, took over as head coach in the early 2000s, watched his sons Titan and Bruin earn Division 1 scholarships as a proud parent in the late 2010s, and just returned to his second stint as Diamondbacks’ head coach last year.
Century limped to a 1-7 record overall, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. The Diamondbacks simply didn’t have the numbers that their contemporaries had in 2023, and Fleischmann admits the road back to the top will be tough.
“Century is in a massive rebuilding phase of its football history,” Fleischmann said. “I know that many coaches say this but it really feels true for us at this juncture. Our school population took a major hit several years ago with our school district drawing new school boundaries.”
“It’s had a severely negative impact on most of our sports programs,” he continued. “We were forced to cancel our JV season in 2022 due to very low numbers. That low player population bubble combined with graduating 23 seniors last year will present multiple challenges for our JV and Varsity football programs this season as well.”
But the forecast isn’t entirely gloomy. Over 40 freshmen came out for football this year, but until the young bucks have a little more seasoning, Century will continue to try and navigate the numbers crunch.
Eight starters return to the varsity team this year, including three-year starter Jake Rawlings at wide receiver and cornerback. Senior Chase Smith played on the defensive line a year ago for the D-backs, but will be moving to the offensive line this year.
With a team short on experience, Century is fortunate to have experience in spades on its coaching staff. Fleischmann and assistant coaches Bruce Givens and Jay Ferguson got the band back together, so to speak. “We are the last of the original Century faculty from our inaugural year as a school back in 1999-00,” Fleischmann said.
Regardless of what happens in the win-loss ledger this year for Century, the journey this team takes each week will be fun to watch. With both of Century’s conference games occurring at the end of the year, the Diamondbacks may be ready to strike and earn a surprise playoff bid come October.