Tiger defense turns tide in 25-20 win at Kuna

The Kuna Kavemen spent more time on Mountain Home's side of the football field in the second half Friday night than their own side of the field, but the Tiger defense came up with some huge defensive stands to turn back the Kavemen 25-20 in their SIC 4A conference opener at Kuna.

Kuna's average field position in the second half was at the Mountain Home 39-yard line, and for the entire game they averaged starting at the Tiger 44.

After forcing the Kavemen to punt after three plays following the opening kickoff, Mountain Home got a good drive going, moving the ball down the field from their own 31-yard line to the Kuna 24-yard line, before a fumble on the 11th play of the drive was recovered by the Kavemen.

The Tiger defense once again forced Kuna three-and-out and Mountain Home started at their own 45 on their next possession.

This time they took it all the way, going 55 yards in 10 plays, Tommy Miller scoring from a yard out. The PAT failed, but the Tigers led 6-0 with seven seconds left in the first quarter.

The lead was short-lived, as Chase Hathhorn gathered in the kickoff and rambled 85 yards for a score. Kyle Stevens booted the PAT to give Kuna a 7-6 lead as the first quarter came to an end.

Stunned by the events that saw them dominate the first quarter 21-6 in plays, but trailing in the ball game, the Tigers went three-and-out their first possession of the second quarter.

Kuna got good field position off a poor punt and started its next possession at the Tiger 46-yard line. They moved the ball down to the Mountain Home 26 before Deion Brown sacked Kuna quarterback Austin Howland on fourth down to turn the ball back to the Tigers at the Mountain Home 36.

The Tigers then put together a 64-yard, 14-play drive that ended in a touchdown, Tom Hennessey taking it the final yard. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Tigers had the lead, 12-7, with 49 seconds left in the half.

Tiger kicker Kevin Anderson tried to kick away from Chase Hathhorn, but he moved over to catch the ball and returned it 64-yards to the Mountain Home 21-yard line, where Kuna set up shop with 37 seconds left.

After a fumble moved the ball back to the 23, Austin Howland went to the air. Following two incompletions, Howland found Cole VanAntwerp on fourth down for a 23-yard scoring pass. Stevens made it 14-12, Kuna, with his PAT with 16.5 seconds left in the half.

J.T. Cristobal, who had several kickoff returns for touchdowns last year on the Tiger freshman team, got his first as a varsity Tiger, taking the ball on the 18, faking the hand-off to Juan Silva and cutting up field for an exciting 82-yard return for a touchdown.

Silva then booted the PAT to make it 19-14, with one second left in the half.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the second half but their opening possession was not what they were hoping for. Kuna went with their soccer kicker, Victor Larios, to kick off, and he booted it down near the Tiger goal-line. Mountain Home started on their own 10. A 13-yard run by Tommy Miller gave the Tigers a first down and a little breathing room, but two straight procedure penalties, followed by a 10-yard loss on a pass play had Tom Hennessey punting from his two-yard line.

Hennessey booted it out to the 35 but Chase Hathhorn returned it to the Tiger 27.

Two plays later, Drew Hopkins intercepted an Austin Howland pass and returned it out to the 33.

Sparked by the turnover, Mountain Home went on a 67-yard, 12-play drive that consumed over seven minutes on the clock, Tommy Miller taking it in from seven yards out. The two-point conversion failed, but the Tigers had upped their lead to 25-14, with 3:43 left in the third quarter.

The Kuna running game, which had negative yardage through the first half, then made some adjustments that helped them move the ball from their 47 down to the Tiger 16 before a six-yard loss and three straight incompletions turned the ball back over to the Tigers on downs.

Mountain Home went three-and-out as the third quarter ended.

Kuna then went on a 57-yard, nine-play drive, Austin Howland passing to Chase Hathhorn for a seven-yard score. The two-point conversion failed, and Mountain Home led, 25-20, with 7:59 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home then fumbled away their next possession on their 27-yard line.

Kuna picked up a first down at the Tiger 11-yard line, but despite a Tiger offsides penalty that moved the ball down to the three, the Kavemen turned the ball over on downs at the Tiger three-yard line.

Mountain Home took over with 2:58 left, but managed just three yards of offense and were forced to punt again.

Kuna took over at the Mountain Home 25 with 2:14 left in the game but out of timeouts. After an incompletion, the Tigers tackled Chase Hathhorn on a pass play for a six-yard loss back to the 31. After another incomplete pass, Tyler Wright recovered a Kuna fumble back on the 40, and the Tigers had the ball with 1:20 left in the game.

With Kuna out of timeouts, Tiger quarterback Jake Hennessey then took a knee three straight times to run out the clock and preserve the 25-20 victory.

Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd was pleased to get that first win.

"We're 1-0 in conference, and that's what it's all about. You can't go to the playoffs without winning your conference games. There are obviously areas we need to work on ... but I was very pleased with how they played."

Tom Hennessey led the Tigers offense, rushing for 124 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries. Tommy Miller had 44 yards and two touchdowns on 10 rushes. Jake Hennessey rushed for 41 yards on 11 carries. Juan Silva carried three times for seven yards and Curtis Jackson had five yards on two rushes.

Jake Hennessey attempted 10 passes, completing five of them for 10 yards. Trevor Woodruff caught two of them for minus seven yards, Colton Zamora caught one for seven yards, and J.T. Cristobal and Cody Staebler each had one catch for five yards.

The Tigers are back on the road again this Friday, traveling to Middleton to face the Vikings, who lost to Bishop Kelly 28-0 in their conference opener last week at Middleton.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at Middleton High School.

Game time moves

Because the Mountain Home School District will not hold classes Oct. 1 and 2, the Tigers' Oct. 2 varsity football game against Columbia, originally scheduled for Oct. 2, has been moved up to 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at Tiger Field.