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Tigers open season with 28-21 win over Jerome
The Mountain Home Tigers opened their football season with a 28-21 win over the Jerome Tigers Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.
Jerome received the ball to start the ball game, but three plays later were forced to punt and their punter's 58-yard wind-aided kick took punt returner J.T. Cristobal near the goal line. He was tackled in the end zone for a safety trying to find some running room and Jerome led 2-0 with 10:23 left in the first quarter.
With the safety, Mountain Home had to kick the ball back to Jerome, but Dion Salinas recovered a fumble on the first play of the next Jerome possession, and Mountain Home took over on its own 36-yard line.
After a one-yard gain and a penalty put the ball back on the 32, Jake Hennessey passed to J.T. Cristobal near the sidelines and Cristobal raced down the field 68 yards for a score.
Dion Salinas booted the PAT to put Mountain Home up 7-2 with 9:03 left in the first quarter.
That was all the scoring of the first half until the final minutes of the half when Jerome moved the ball 62 yards in 11 plays, Jake Hollifield passing to Riley Parrish for a 22-yard score as time ran out of the half.
The PAT try for two failed, but Jerome had the lead, 8-7, at the half.
Mountain Home received the kickoff to start the second half, but fumbled the ball away on the second play from scrimmage, Jerome recovering the ball on the Mountain Home 47-yard line.
Jerome scored in five plays, Dylan Dowton scoring from 29 yards out on a "wildcat" play. The PAT was no good, but the Jerome Tigers had increased their lead to 14-7 with 8:53 left in the third quarter.
Mountain Home's next series ended with a pass interception by Jerome's Cody Davis, but the Mountain Home defense held and forced a punt.
Mountain Home then went 67 yards in three plays, the big play a 56-yard pass from Jake Hennessey to Tyler Wright for the touchdown.
Dion Salinas tied the game at 14-14 with his PAT, with 4:42 left in the third quarter.
After Mountain Home stopped Jerome's next drive and forced a punt, Mountain Home had its best sustained drive of the game, starting on their own 10-yard line, and moving the ball 90 yards in six plays. Jake Hennessey connected with J.T. Cristobal again on a 22-yard pass for the score to open the fourth quarter.
Dion Salinas booted the PAT to make it 21-14, Mountain Home, with 11:53 left in the game.
The two teams exchanged punts, but on Mountain Home's punt, Ricky Castillo recovered a fumble to give Mountain Home the ball on Jerome's 35-yard line. A penalty moved it down to the Jerome 25.
Mountain Home looked in good position to add to their lead, but three plays later Cody Davis picked off his second Jake Hennessey pass and returned this one down to the Mountain Home eight-yard line. Three plays later, Dylan Dowton took it in for a score from three yards out.
Spencer Parker booted the PAT to tie the game at 21-21, with 6:24 left in the ball game.
Mountain Home then followed with another sustained scoring drive, going 72 yards in 10 plays, Jake Hennessey and J.T. Cristobal hooking up again, this time on a 15-yard pass play.
The PAT by Dion Salinas made it 28-21, Mountain Home, with 1:41 left in the ball game.
Jerome started on their 36-yard line and moved the ball down the field to the Mountain Home 18 with five seconds left. On the last play of the game, Jake Hollifield's pass fell incomplete in the end zone and the Tigers of Mountain Home won, 28-21.
"It was pretty sloppy across the board, but a win's a win," said Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd of the win.
"The kids fought really hard. We don't have a lot (of players), so by the end of the game they were definitely tired, but I thought they played very well.
"They played well for each other. That's one of our things -- unity -- and they played with passion. They got after it. I was really impressed."
Mountain Home rushed 26 times for 110 yards. Tyler Wright had two rushes for 45 yards, Colton Zamora and Curtis Jackson both rushed for 23 yards, Austin Clark had one carry for 13 yards, J.T. Cristobal had two carried for nine yards, Anthony Castillo had one rush for four yards and Jake Hennessey had seven carries for minus seven yards.
Jake Hennessey completed 19 of 34 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns. He had two passes picked off.
J.T. Cristobal caught nine passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns. Anthony Castillo had three catches for 31 yards, Tyler Wright caught two passes for 76 yards and a score, Juan Silva had two catches for 32 yards, Curtis Jackson had one catch for six yards and Tyler Knauth caught a five-yard pass.
Jerome rushed the ball 36 times for 107 yards and Jake Hollifield completed 15 of 28 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. He had one pass picked off.
Defensively for Mountain Home, Colton Zamora led the Tigers with 10 tackles. Jesse Corbet had 9.5 tackles and half a sack. Tyler Wright had seven tackles (four for losses) and a sack. Deion Brown and Curtis Jackson both had four tackles. Brown had a sack. Luke Filipovich had three tackles, John Ryan had a tackle and half a sack and Anthony Castillo, Ricky Castillo and Dion Salinas each had a tackle. Ricky Castillo recovered a fumble and Tyler Knauth had a pass interception.
Coach Floyd tabbed both Deion Brown and Anthony Castillo for Block of the Week, and Jesse Corbet for Stick of the Week. Special Teams Player awards went to Jamz Wright for three tackles and Dion Salinas for going four-four four on PATs.
Mountain Home has a bye this week, returning to action on Sept. 9 for a Thursday night game at Bronco Stadium in Boise against the Timberline Wolves.
Coach Floyd will use the week off to heal up some injuries.
"We have some injuries to get through. We should have a lot of players back next week, and guys getting their 10 practices, so we should have some guys back after the bye week."