Tigers fall to BK; face Skyview in state playoffs

The Mountain Home Tigers defense recorded eight sacks Friday night at Bishop Kelly, but turnovers killed key drives for the Tigers and the BK Knights prevailed on the scoreboard, 31-9.

Bishop Kelly scored on their opening drive, going 82 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 35-yard pass from Kyle Cefalo to his favorite receiver on the night, Ryan Bokan. With Cefalo's PAT, it was 7-0, Knights, with 7:06 left in the first quarter.

Mountain Home started their first series on their own 43, and moved the ball down to the Bishop Kelly 30 before the drive fizzled out, the Knights taking over on downs on their 30-yard line.

A Kyle Clark sack stalled Bishop Kelly's drive, and Mountain Home received the ball back on their own 20.

The Tigers then moved the ball down to the Knight's seven before settling for a Kyle Clark 26-yard field goal. That made it 7-3 with 9:58 left in the first half.

Mountain Home forced the Knights to punt again on their next possession, and the Tigers once again had success moving the ball, moving it from their own 18 down to the Knights' 17. Again the drive stall, and this time Kyle Clarks 35-yard field goal attempt was short.

The Knights then moved the ball 80 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 10-yard run. Kyle Cefalo's PAT made it 14-3, Knights, with a minute left in the first half, which ended with Bishop Kelly leading 14-3.

The Tigers opening drive of the second half stalled on the Bishop Kelly 36, where they gave the ball over on downs.

The Knights moved from there down the field, helped out by three major penalties that moved the ball down to the Tiger eight-yard line. Kyle Cefalo then hit Matt Dickenson on an eight-yard score, and with the PAT, the Knights moved out to a 21-3 lead, a lead they took into the fourth quarter.

Kyle Cefalo booted a 25-yard field goal to make it 24-7, Knights, with 7:46 left in the game.

The Tigers then moved the ball down the field 80 yards in nine plays, Robert Daniels taking it in from eight yards out. The pass for two failed, and it was 24-9, Bishop Kelly, with 4:27 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home's defense stopped the Knights' next drive and forced a punt, and the Tigers had the ball back with just under three minutes left. But Josh Osich intercepted a Jake Posey pass and took it down the sidelines 40 yards for a score, as the Knights put it out of reach, 31-9.

Tiger head coach Brian Floyd thought the final score was very misleading of the ball game.

"We played with them, match for match. They just took advantage of what they got. We were in the red zone three times and only came away with three points in the first half. Our stats have us out gaining them in yardage. We hit hard and did what we wanted to do, we just didn't score the points -- it's as simple as that."

The Tigers rushed for 174 yards, led by Robert Daniels with 90 yards on 18 rushes. Zacq Hale gained 42 yards on nine carries, Jake Posey had 30 yards on five rushes, Brandon Doble rushed once for seven yards, and Tyson Sessions had three carries for five yards.

Jake Posey completed 14 of 25 passes for 148 yards. He had four passes picked off.

Nick Barrie caught four passes for 55 yards, Zacq Hale had four catches for 48 yards, Brandon Doble had three for 44, and Robert Daniels two for three yards.

The Knights picked up just 53 yards rushing on 33 rushing attempts, but Kyle Cefalo threw for 271 yards yards.

Defensively for the Tigers, Tyson Sessions had 20 tackles, a sack and a deflected pass. Robert Daniels had seven tackles and a pass interception. Brandon Doble had five tackles and a pass deflection, Kyle Clark and Matt Ward both had three tackles, Clark had two sacks, Ward, one. Chris Knudson, Reggie High, Nick Barrie and Josh Driskell all had two tackles, Knudson had two sacks, Driskell, one. Blake Pharis also had a sack.

The Tigers had their five-game winning streak snapped with the loss, and finish the regular season, 6-3, and 5-2 in conference.

They open 4A State Playoff action this Friday at Skyview against the Hawks, at Skyview.

"You have to go through Skyview either way, so we might as well get them done first," said coach Floyd. "We feel comfortable about it, and the kids are fired up and ready to go."

Bishop Kelly, with their win over Mountain Home took the number two seed from District III and travel north to open the playoffs at Sandpoint.