Tigers advance to state semifinals with 10-7 win

The Mountain Home Tigers held off the Sandpoint Bulldogs, 10-7, last Friday night in the rain and the mud at Sandpoint to advance to the 4A State semi-finals this week.

A wet, rainy and later muddy field pretty much washed out both teams' passing games, with the running games taking over.

Sandpoint took the opening kickoff and got two big runs by Ben Fisher to get to the Tigers' 21-yard line. A penalty nullified a first down at the Tiger 10, moving it back to the 25. A quarterback sack put the Bulldogs at the 30, and a delay of game penalty moved it back to the 35. An incomplete pass then forced a punt.

Mountain Home managed one first down on their first drive before being forced to punt, and neither team was able to mount any kind of drive the rest of the first quarter, which ended in a scoreless tie.

It looked like the Tigers would get in the end zone about midway through the second quarter when Kyle Kerfoot raced 46 yards down to the Sandpoint 10 yard-line. But on the next play, the Tigers fumbled it away to the Bulldogs on the Sandpoint six.

The Tigers got down inside the Sandpoint 30-yard line late in the second quarter, but fumbled it away again. The first half ended 0-0.

Mountain Home finally scored in the third quarter, going 80 yards in 11 plays, Tallon Pauley picking up 74 yards on the drive and Kyle Kerfoot scoring from five yards out. Chris Maholick's PAT made it 7-0 Tigers with 3:14 left in the third quarter.

On Sandpoint's next drive, Tiger Jake Lewis scooped up a fumble and rambled down to the Bulldogs' five-yard line. Two penalties hurt the Tigers on the drive, and Chris Maholick booted a 22-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a 10-0 lead.

That sparked the Bulldogs into a 59-yard six-play scoring drive, all on runs by Ben Fisher, who scored from 25 yards out. The PAT cut the Tigers margin to 10-7 with 10:20 left in the game.

The Tigers picked up one first down on their next possession, but then turned the ball over on downs to Sandpoint at the Mountain Home 39-yard line.

Jake Semones picked up nine yards on a quarterback option, but on second down and less than a yard he tried to pass and it was intercepted by Jesse Donez.

The Tigers had the ball on their own 27 with 6:30 left in the game, and managed to pick up two first downs and run off some clock before they were forced to punt.

Sandpoint got the ball back on their 18 with 2:17 left and managed to pick up one first down before Ricky Lee intercepted a pass at the Mountain Home 49 with 39 seconds left.

Mountain Home then ran the ball three plays to run out the clock on their 10-7 win to advance to the semi-finals.

Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd was pleased with the play of his team.

"Our front line played very well for us. We turned the ball over a few times, in their territory where we really should have had touchdowns, but a win's a win, and that's hard to do up there."

Coach Floyd thought the Tiger defense rose to the occasion when they needed it.

"In the first quarter they tried to throw a lot and we had six sacks. I think we finished with eight or nine. He (Jake Semones, Sandpoint quarterback) didn't have much time to throw at all, and then after the first quarter, he didn't want to drop back any more.

"The offensive line, that was the best performance they've had. We were able to get good yards pretty much all the time."

The Tigers rushed for 331 yards in the game. Tallon Pauley had 28 rushes for 188 yards. Kyle Kerfoot had 123 yards and a score on 17 carries.

Kerfoot completed just one of nine passes for 8 yards, that to Ricky Lee.

Ethan Standlee led the Tigers with eight tackles and 3.5 sacks. Chris Maholick, Billy Dereome, Jacob Allies, Tom Hennessey and Jesse Donez all had five tackles, Donez had an interception, Allies had three sacks and Maholick had a half a sack. Ricky Lee also picked off a pass and Jake Lewis recovered a fumble and took it 60 yards.

Sandpoint rushed for 225 yards -- 212 of that by Ben Fisher -- and passed for minus four yards.

The win advances the Tigers to the 4A State semi-finals against Hillcrest, which won its ninth straight game Friday night, rolling over Pocatello, 42-21, at Hillcrest.

"They're a really good team," said Coach Floyd. "They do the double wing like Middleton does, but it's a little different than what Middleton does, and I think that makes it harder. They've been scoring 40-plus points a game for a while now and they're a good team. We've got to travel up there, which shouldn't be a problem since we just did such a long trip, but you never know."

The Tiger-Hillcrest game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday night at Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls. Jerome plays at Minico Friday night in the other 4A semi-final.