Tigers win wild shootout with Jerome 44-43

Jesse Donez ran back a Jerome kickoff 80 yards for a score with 58 seconds left in the game to bring the local Tigers within one, and Kyle Kerfoot ran in the two-point conversion as the Mountain Home Tigers edged the Jerome Tigers 44-43 in their season-opening football game Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

The first half saw both teams score almost at will, as Jerome took advantage of a couple of Mountain Home turnovers to build up a 28-14 lead. Mountain Home came back and scored to cut the Jerome lead to 28-21 at halftime.

Mountain Home got on the scoreboard first, going 93 yards in six plays, Kyle Kerfoot scampering 80 yards down to the Jerome one-yard line, where Tallon Pauley took it in from there. Chris Maholick booted the PAT to give Mountain Home a 7-0 lead.

Jerome answered with a 10-play, 72-yard drive, Ross Hillier taking it in from 11 yards out. With Sergio Mendoza's PAT, the game was tied at 7-7.

Mountain Home came back quickly, aided by an 85-yard kickoff return by Jesse Donez that put the local Tigers at the Jerome five-yard line. Tallon Pauley took it in from there for the score, and Chris Maholick made it, 14-7, with the PAT.

Chris Maholick picked off a Jake Lammers pass to stall Jerome's next drive at the Mountain Home 24.

Mountain Home gambled on fourth and inches near their own 34-yard line, and failed, turning the ball over to Jerome. The visiting Jerome Tigers then scored on a 14-yard pass from Jake Lammers to Ross Hillier. Sergio Mendoza's PAT tied the game at 14-14, early in the second quarter.

Mountain Home's next drive stalled when Kyle Kerfoot's pass was intercepted by Zach Ingraham and returned to the Mountain Home 17 yard-line. Ross Hillier scored from two yards out to give Jerome the lead, which went to 21-14, with Mendoza's PAT.

Jerome picked off another pass and drove down and scored, Jake Lammers hitting Kevin Williams on a 22-yard touchdown pass, as the visiting Tigers built up a 28-14 lead.

Mountain Home then mounted a 91-yard scoring drive, with Kyle Kerfoot threading the needle on a 39-yard scoring strike to Ricky Lee. Chris Maholick's PAT brought Mountain Home back within seven, 28-21.

Ricky Lee killed Jerome's next drive, intercepting a Jake Lammers pass, giving Mountain Home a chance to tie the game up at halftime, but the drive stalled, and Jerome went into the locker room leading 28-21.

Both defenses stepped it up in the second half, until Mountain Home tied the score late in the third quarter as Kyle Kerfoot hooked up again with Ricky Lee on a 34-yard scoring strike and the score was tied, 28-28, heading into the fourth quarter.

Jerome regained the lead, Jake Lammers hooking up with his favorite receiver, Kevin Williams, this time on a 26-yard pass. Sergio Mendoza's PAT made it 35-28, Jerome.

Mountain Home battled back to score, Kyle Kerfoot taking it in from 11 yards out. Tallon Pauley scored on the two-point run to give Mountain Home the lead, 36-35, with 2:15 left in the ball game.

Jerome came right back down the field, Jake Lammers taking it in from a yard out, then passing to Gus Callen for the two-point conversion to put Jerome up 43-36 with 1:11 left in the game.

Jesse Donez then came through with an 80-yard kickoff return -- he returned five kickoffs for 272 yards on the night -- to cut the deficit to 43-42. Mountain Home went for two again, and as the full-house backfield swept right, Kyle Kerfoot faked the handoff and swept left, taking it in to give Mountain Home the lead, 44-43, with 58 seconds left.

Jerome started from their 33-yard line, but four Jake Lammers passes produced just one yard, as Mountain Home took over the ball on downs and ran out the clock for the 44-43 win.

"I had a feeling it was going to be a shoot-out," said Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd.

"I knew their offense was going to be good, and since we haven't seen them or what they were doing this year, we really had to kind of start guessing in the first half on what defense to use.

"We made our halftime adjustments and I thought they worked for the most part.

"A lot of credit has to go out to our second team guys and third team guys and our specialties, because they stepped in when everyone started cramping up, and we were going through a lot of people -- I think we had five or six on the sidelines at one time -- and we were throwing guys in there, and it's a credit to them that they worked that hard in practice and learned that stuff, so when they get in there, it was really seamless.

"We had a couple breakdowns, but the same breakdowns that we had with our first team at times, so they did an excellent job. I'm very proud of that."

Kyle Kerfoot led the Mountain Home rushing game with 129 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Tallon Pauley had 51 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Jacob Viola carried once for four yards, and Stefan White had one carry for two yards.

Kerfoot completed 10 of 24 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He had two passes picked off.

Ricky Lee caught four passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns, Tallon Pauley had four catches for 39 yards, Jesse Donez had one catch for 13 yards and Tommy Miller caught one for seven yards.

Jake Lammers completed 27 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns for Jerome. He had two passes picked off, one by Chris Maholick, and one by Ricky Lee.

Billy Derome led the Mountain Home defense with nine tackles, Tom Hennessey had seven. Kyle Kerfoot and Chris Maholick both had four tackles, Nick Stover 3.5, and Mike Heinen and Jacob Viola both had 2.5.

Mountain Home heads to Caldwell Friday night to face the Caldwell Cougars in non-conference football action. It will be Caldwell's opener, so Coach Floyd is not sure what to expect from the Cougars.

"It's going to be another coach-on-the-run," said Floyd, chuckling. "It's going to be how can we adjust and how we're going to do. I know they're going to be running a wing shotgun, like what Vallivue runs, I'm guessing, so we're going to watch some of our Vallivue tape, and I know their defense is going to be the same, and we've got some of their film from last year, so we'll go through it and try to put together what we can, just like we did against Jerome, and then we'll probably scrap it and do something different at halftime.

"It's really hard to do those things, but we've got really smart kids, and for putting in a defense at halftime (against Jerome), which they had a whole three to five minutes to learn it, they did a good job. They're very smart kids, very focused and they've just got the will to win."

The Tigers take on the Caldwell Cougars Friday night at 7 p.m. at Caldwell High School.