Tigers fall to Hawks 42-20

There's a saying in sports about being "late getting off the bus," meaning the team did not show up ready to play at the beginning of the game.

Such was the case for the Mountain Home Tigers offense Friday night at Skyview, when the Tigers fell behind 23-0 to the Hawks at halftime, before coming back in the second half to make a game of it before losing, 42-20.

The Tigers had a good first play of the game, Georgio Sutton gaining 11 yards on a sweep.

It would be Mountain Home's biggest gain of the first half, and only first down of the half, as the Tigers ended the first half with just 10 yards of total offense at halftime.

After the first down on the first play, Mountain Home went three-and-out and punted the ball to Skyview, then stopped the Hawks' initial drive, forcing a punt.

Again the Tigers went one, two, three, punt. Skyview put together a 60-yard 10-play drive, led by Derek Mestrovich, who took it in from two yards out. The PAT was no good, but the Hawks led, 6-0, with 1:17 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers failed to recover the ball on the ensuing kick-off, and Skyview pounced on it at the Mountain Home 23 yard-line.

Matt Kaiserman broke a number of tackles and scored on the first play from scrimmage, but it was called back by a penalty.

Four plays later Skyview quarterback Matt Ballenger, who had missed a couple games with a shoulder injury, threw to Louie Beech for a 16-yard score. Kord Hubbard's PAT was good this time, and Skyview led, 13-0, with 11:54 left in the first half.

The Tigers offensive woes continued, and Skyview took advantage of a short field -- they averaged starting each drive in the first half on the Mountain Home 41-yard line -- getting a field goal and another score before halftime to lead 23-0 heading into the locker room.

While the Hawks had 196 total yards (168 rushing, 28 passing) at halftime, Mountain Home struggled to 10 total yards (12 yards rushing on 17 rushes, and minus two passing).

Skyview received the kickoff to start the second half, and wasted little time in scoring, going 52 yards in just three plays, Darren Lynn taking it in from 11 yards out. Kord Hubbard booted the PAT to make it 30-0, Skyview, just 67 seconds into the second half.

Mountain Home took advantage of a short field after Bob Daniels' 60-yard return put the ball at the Skyview 27-yard line. After four straight running plays put the ball at the five yard-line, Bob Daniels faked the handoff up the middle, and passed to Kori Andrews for the touchdown.

Kyle Clark's PAT was blocked, but the Tigers were finally on the scoreboard, trailing, 30-6, with 8:30 left in the third quarter.

The on-side kick was recovered by Skyview at the Mountain Home 49. Four plays later, Daren Lynn scored from three yards out to make it 36-6, with 7:02 left in the third quarter.

Mountain Home again got a great kick-off return, Zacq Hale running it back 68 yards to the Skyview 27, and again, five plays later, the Tigers were in the end zone, Chris Knudson taking it in from the one. Georgio Sutton ran in the two-point conversion to make it 36-14, with 5:10 left in the third quarter.

A drive that started in the closing seconds of the third period, ended with an 80-yard, nine-play scoring drive, Bob Daniels connecting with Jason Ward on a 36-yard scoring pass. The run for the two-point conversion failed, but the Tigers had cut the Hawks lead to 36-20, with 8:29 left in the ball game.

Skyview ran the kickoff back to the Mountain Home 41 yard-line, and scored in four plays, Darren Lynn scoring his third touchdown of the night, this one from 26 yards out, and Skyview led, 42-20, with seven minutes left in the game.

Mountain Home kept Skyview out of the end zone the rest of the way, but were unable to mount another scoring drive of their own.

"For some reason, they weren't firing off the line, they weren't holding blocks," said Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd, of the first half debacle. "It was extremely frustrating. We couldn't even get a pass off."

So what did Coach Floyd attribute the second half effort?

"The weird thing was, we ran the same stuff in the second half, and all we did was switch from a right or pro to a 'T' formation. During halftime we didn't go in the locker room, we just took the kids over to the grass and ran plays, because they weren't coming off the ball, weren't sustaining. We didn't talk to them too much at halftime besides running plays, and had the captains talk to them, and they came out and responded, and that's the way we can play.

"Watching the film, we made a lot of mistakes, but even with those mistakes, they had the same line in. They had their defensive starters in just about the whole game, especially when we started getting going. We make that two-point conversion, we're only down two touchdowns, with nine minutes or so to go. I just don't understand why it was they couldn't play that way in the first half. Maybe they were just scared, timid -- and that's what it looked like, that they were just very, very timid. We'll work on that this week."

The Tigers rushed the ball 44 times for 119 yards, led by Chris Knudson with 86 yards on 19 rushes. Zacq Hale had 21 yards on four carries, Georgio Sutton had 20 yards on 13 rushes, Nick Barrie had one rush for two yards, and Bob Daniels had minus 10 yards on seven rushes.

The Tigers ended the night with 74 yards through the air, as Bob Daniels completed six of eight passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Jason Ward caught two passes for 43 yards and a touchdown, Nick Barrie had one catch for 21 yards, Georgio Sutton had one catch for seven yards, Kori Andrews caught one pass for five yards and a touchdown, and Zacq Hale had one catch for minus two yards.

The Hawks rushed the ball 42 times for 333 yards, led by Derek Mestrovich, who had 136 yards on 14 rushes, and passed for 46 more yards. Matt Ballenger completed four of 11 passes for 46 yards and a score. He had one pass picked off.

The Tigers host the Bishop Kelly Knights for Homecoming Friday night. Coach Floyd hopes to have wide receiver/defensive back Josh Reynolds back for this week's game, but will still be without Tyson Sessions.

Bishop Kelly had a scare from Caldwell, before pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 48-21 win over the Cougars last Friday night.

Coach Floyd says a big key is preparing for them mentally.

"They're a sound football team. Caldwell played them pretty tough for a while. Caldwell doesn't really have their number, but they play so well against them because they're not afraid. The other teams, they show up and they're already beat. We've been working on that pretty much all year, ever since last (year's) BK game, trying not to be scared of them."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Tiger Field.