Tigers come up short of earning state tourney shot

Once again the Mountain Home Tiger boys soccer team finished one win away from going to the State 4A Boys Soccer Tournament, although this year they did finish third at the District III 4A Boys Soccer Tournament.

Mountain Home 2, Columbia 1

The Tigers bounced back from their tough shoot-out loss to the Middleton Vikings on Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Columbia Wildcats on Monday at Bishop Kelly.

Jalen Gibbons and Raif Armstrong both scored goals, Casey Pehlke had an assist while Fernando Salas had 10 saves on goal.

Mountain 2, Knights 1

The Tigers stayed alive last Wednesday, ending the Bishop Kelly Knights' season with a 2-1 win. Casey Pehlke and Francisco Dominguez each scored goals for Mountain Home and Raif Armstrong had an assist. Fernando Salas had 11 saves on goal.

Mountain 4, Emmett 1

Mountain Home brought home the third-place trophy from the district tourney last Thursday with their 4-1 win over Emmett in the third-place game.

Raif Armstrong scored two goals and Francisco Dominguez and Lucas Marsh both score one goal. Casey Pehlke had an assist. Fernando Salas had six saves on goal for the Tigers.

Bonneville 3, Mountain Home 2

In year's past, winning third would have qualified the Tigers to this week's State 4A Tournament at Caldwell, but this year the third-place team had to face the District 6 runner-up for a state tourney berth.

It started well for the Tigers on Saturday at Twin Falls, as they scored first, but Bonneville came back to win the game 3-2.

Raif Armstrong and Tyler McCloud scored the Mountain Home goals against Bonneville. Fernando Salas and Tomas Guillen combined for eight saves.

"It was a good game," said Tiger boys soccer coach Paul Walsh. "The guys played well, and we scored first, but about half the game went our way and about half the game went their way."

The Tigers finished the season 12-6-1. Coach Walsh was proud of their season.

"It was a great season," the coach added. "Going into it, losing Isaiah and Dominic right off the bat, we kind of wondered if it would be as good as we thought, but as it turned out, it was better. I really couldn't have drawn this up any better, except for probably one more win -- at least."