Tigers overpower Bruins during 60-35 rout

The Mountain Home Tigers erupted for 18 points in the final four minutes of the first half to run up a 38-14 halftime lead on their way to a 60-35 non-conference football win over the Twin Falls Bruins in Twin Falls Friday night.

A 43-yard run by Garrett Karl gave Twin Falls a 7-0 lead just 87 seconds into the ball game.

Mountain Home answered on its first possession, going 65 yards in six plays, ending with Jesse Cobos hooking up with Luke Lockard on a 26-yard pass. Tyler Park ran in the two-point conversion to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead with 8:08 left in the first quarter.

It was a lead that Mountain Home would not surrender the rest of the night.

Twin Falls' next possession ended after two plays when Justin Lawrence intercepted a Bruins pass and the Tigers took over at the Twin Falls 41.

Four plays later, Jesse Cobos passed to Tyler Park on a 28-yard scoring strike. The two-point conversion failed, but Mountain Home led 14-7 with 5:43 left in the first quarter.

The Bruins went three-and-out their next possession and had to punt the ball back, but Mountain Home turned the ball back over to Twin Falls on an interception.

Twin Falls then picked up a first down on a pass interference call but the Tiger defense forced another punt.

The Tigers struck quickly, Jesse Cobos connecting with Tyler Park again, this time for 55 yards and a score. The point-after try for two failed, but the Tigers upped their lead to 20-7 with 41 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Bruins got their running game going again on their next drive, Garrett Karl eventually taking it in for a score. With the PAT, Twin Falls cut into the Tigers' lead 20-14 with 10:13 left in the half.

Things got tense for Tiger fans when Mountain Home fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Twin Falls had the ball back in Tiger territory, but the Tiger defense rose to the occasion and took over on downs on their own 27-yard line.

Mountain Home then took the ball 73 yards in 10 plays, Jacob Ryan taking it in from 15 yards for the score. The run for two failed, but the Tigers increased their lead to 26-14 with 4:16 left in the half.

The Tigers would score twice more before halftime, recovering a fumble that set up a 49-yard, five-play drive capped by Justin Lawrence taking it in from seven yards out to make it 32-14, with 1:28 left in the half.

After a three-and-out by the Bruins with two incomplete passes that stopped the clock, Twin Falls was forced to punt the ball back to the Tigers.

The bad punt gave Mountain Home the ball at the Bruins 46 with 40 seconds left in the half. Jesse Cobos connected with Chris Smith as time ran out on a 24-yard scoring strike to make it 38-14 at the half.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the third quarter and had a good drive going, but on the ninth play of the drive Twin Falls intercepted a pass on its own four-yard line.

The Bruins were unable to move the ball and were forced to punt, but a bad snap from center forced the punter to drive on the ball in the end zone for a safety. The Tigers thus upped their lead to 40-14 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers got the ball back as the result of the safety and scored again, Jesse Cobos hooking up with Justin Lawrence on a 55-yard pass. Cobos booted the PAT to make it 47-14 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

Twin Falls finally snapped the string of 27-unanswered points by the Tigers, getting a 73-yard scoring drive that started in the third quarter and ended in the fourth, with Garrett Karl taking it in from two yards out. With the PAT it was 47-21, Tigers, with 11:30 left in the game.

Mountain Home answered the Bruins' scoring drive with one of its own, Justin Lawrence capping off an 86-yard drive with a one-yard run. Jesse Cobos booted the PAT to make it 54-21 with 7:06 left in the game.

Twin Falls scored again on its next possession to make it 54-28, with 5:23 left in the game.

Back came the Tigers, Tanner Sessions scoring from 11 yards out. The PAT was no good, but Mountain Home led 60-28 with 3:36 left.

Twin Falls capped off the scoring on the night with 54 seconds left in the game to make it 60-35.

Tigers head coach Aaron Rodney praised his team for their hard work on the field and how well they executed the game plan.

"You don't put up 610 yards without a dominant offensive line," the coach said. "Early in the week, we challenged our O-line to win the game in the trenches, and our O-line answered the call. Aaron Spencer, Colt Lohmeier, Christen Riedel, Jose Ortiz, Taylor Ogaard and Greg High deserve much praise."

The defense showed up and played a great game as well, the coach added.

"We were able to get stops and turnovers -- something we were not able to do week ago," he said.

Mountain Home rolled up 610 yards of offense -- 290 yards rushing and 320 passing yards.

Jacob Ryan again led the Tiger rushing attack, carrying the ball 16 times for 107 yards and a touchdown. Jesse Cobos rushed 12 times for 68 yards. Tanner Sessions rushed the ball five times for 58 yards and a score, Justin Lawrence had five rushes for 30 yards and a touchdown and Tyler Park rushed once for 18 yards. Chris Wright had nine yards rushing.

Jesse Cobos completed 18 of 22 passes for 320 yards and five touchdowns, with one interception.

Tyler Park caught seven passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Smith caught three passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, Justin Lawrence had two catches for 72 yards and a score, Luke Lockard hauled in three catches for 28 yards and a score and Jacob Ryan caught one pass for five yards.

Defensively, the Tigers held Twin Falls to 150 yards rushing and 140 passing yards.

Tanner Sessions led the defense, getting in on nine tackles. Justin Lawrence had three tackles and an interception. Tyler Park had a sack and a tackle for loss and Jonathan Deese had a sack.

The Tigers are back on the road this Friday, traveling to Minico to take on the Spartans in non-conference play.

Coach Rodney wants to build on the momentum of the Twin Falls win as they take on the Spartans.

"I feel we have something good to build on going forward into Minico," the coach said. "We will face a pretty good Minico football team who will be at home for the first time this year, and we must play well. We must continue to work hard, be consistent, and make ourselves better every day."

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday night at Minico High School in Rupert.