Tigers rebound in 21-14 victory over Wildcats

The Mountain Home Tigers scored 21 unanswered points Friday night to battle back to defeat the Columbia Wildcats, 21-14, in conference football at Columbia High School in Nampa.

In the first six minutes of the first quarter it was the Jacob Garcia show, as the Columbia senior scored on runs of 59 and 19 yards to help the Wildcats shoot out to a 14-0 lead. The Wildcats then kicked a field goal early in the second quarter to extend their lead to 17-0.

That's when the Mountain Home offense finally woke up.

Held to just 25 total yards in the first quarter, the Tigers got things going, mounting an 85-yard drive, the big play being a 50-yard pass from Colton Zamora to J.T. Cristobal that put the Tigers at the Columbia four-yard line.

Three plays later, Curtis Jackson took it in from a yard out to get Mountain Home on the scoreboard. With the point-after try by Dion Salinas, it was 17-7, with 5:35 left in the half.

The Tigers defense forced a punt on Columbia's next possession and Mountain Home's offense was back in business, this time going 80 yards, Jake Hennessey hooking up with Colton Zamora on a 21-yard pass for the score with 18 left on the clock. Dion Salinas' PAT made it 17-14 at halftime.

The third quarter has been the Tigers bad quarter this year, with the team outscored 54-28 in that period in its first four games.

The Tiger offense had its problems, but the Tiger defense played great, holding Columbia to just six yards on six plays in the quarter.

The Tiger defense continued to shut out Columbia in the fourth quarter, but Mountain Home was also unable to generate much offense until they were able to recover a fumbled punt at the Wildcat seven-yard line.

Three plays later, the Tigers had a fourth and goal from the eight.

Dion Salinas lined up to kick the field goal, but a roughing the kicker penalty was called on the play, giving the Tigers a first and goal from the four.

Three plays later, Curtis Jackson took it in from two yards out for the score.

The PAT by Dion Salinas gave the Tigers a 21-17 lead with 3:17 left in the ball game.

Columbia took over on its 35-yard line and managed to move it down to the Tiger 35, but on fourth down quarterback Zach March was sacked at the Mountain Home 42 to end the drive. Mountain Home took over with 1:17 left and were able to run out the clock for the win.

Tiger football coach Brian Floyd was happy with the comeback effort.

"It didn't start off very well for us, but the kids responded, and we got those two touchdowns before half to get it down to 17-14. We challenged the defense the rest of the way out and we gave up 42 yards on the ground the second half. We came out and played extremely well.

"Offensively, we're still having issues with turnovers that we've got to work on, and there's things we need to clean up, but I was extremely happy for the kids."

The Tigers rushed for 137 yards, led by Curtis Jackson who rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns on 19 rushes. Colton Zamora rushed for 35 yards on six carries, Jake Hennessey had 20 yards on nine rushes, and Juan Silva rushed three times for one yard.

Jake Hennessey completed six of 18 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He also had two passes picked off.

Meanwhile, Colton Zamora completed one pass for 50 yards. Zamora also caught four passes for 36 yards and a touchdown. J.T. Cristobal caught two passes for 58 yards and Tyler Wright had one catch for 16 yards.

Defensively, Zamora led the Tigers with 10.5 tackles. Anthony Castillo had 10 tackles, Jesse Corbett and Deion Brown both had 4.5 tackles, Luke Filipovich had three tackles, Adam Miller had 2.5, Juan Silva, Dion Salinas and Ricky Castillo each had two tackles, and J.T. Cristobal, Jacob Perry, John Casper. Tyler Knauth and Curtis Jackson each had one tackle.

Cristobal had an interception and fumble recovery while Jackson had a sack during Mountain Home's winning effort. The victory improved the Tigers to 3-2 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.

The Tigers take on the Bishop Kelly Knights Friday night at Bishop Kelly.

"They're a good ball club," said Coach Floyd of the Knights, "but I think so are we. I think we match up pretty well against them, so we'll see how it goes."

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday night at Bishop Kelly.