Second-half rally falls short as Tigers fall to Kavemen

The Mountain Home Tigers scored 28 unanswered points in the second half, but their effort fell short as the Kuna Kavemen scored the final 14 points of the game to beat the Tigers 34-28 Friday night at Kuna.

Mountain Home moved the ball on the opening drive, going from the Tigers' own 20 down to the Kuna 8 before the drive stalled.

A 27-yard field goal attempt by Tony McKenzie was no good, with the Tigers coming up empty.

After forcing a three-and-out and punt by Kuna, Mountain Home had another good drive going that got to the Kaveman 29 before it also stalled with Kuna taking over on downs at their own 34.

Kuna then went on a 66-yard, 10-play drive, capped of by a 15-yard run by Chris Millspaugh. The point-after try fell short, but the Kavemen led by six with 9:41 left in the first half.

A 47-yard pass from Jake Hennessey to Dion Salinas put the Tigers on the Kuna 10 yard-line on their next possession. But once again, the drive fizzled, and the 30-yard field goal was blocked.

Kuna scored on its next possession with Kenny Berger connecting with Spencer Trautman on a 70-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was good, making it 13-0, Kuna, with 4:35 left in the first half.

Mountain Home went three-and-out its next possession and punted the ball back the Kavemen, who took it 50 yard in eight plays as Kenny Berger again hooked up with Spencer Trautman, this one for 19 yards. With the PAT, the Kavemen took a 30-0 lead into the locker room at half-time.

Kuna received the ball to start the second half but were unable to pick up a first down. The Kavemen faked the punt and were unsuccessful, Mountain Home took over on the Kuna 26.

On the first play from scrimmage, Robert Jackio took it 26 yards in for a score. With the PAT by Tony McKenzie, the Tigers had cut the lead to 20-, with 10:49 left in the third quarter.

A 61-yard run by Jake Hennessey on the Tigers' next drive helped the Tigers on an 89-yard, five-play drive with Hennessey taking it in from three yards out. Tony McKenzie's PAT cut the Kuna lead to 20-14 with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

The Kavemen went three-and-out again, and punted the ball back to Mountain Home, but the 57-yard punt put the Tigers at their own 3.

The Tigers were only able to pick up a couple yards before being forced to punt the ball back to the Kavemen, but the punt bounced off a Kuna player, and Mountain Home got the ball back on its own 28.

A 46-yard pass play to Robert Jackio helped the Tigers on their next drive. Jake Hennessey passed to Mike Daniels for a 15-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Tony McKenzie's PAT gave Mountain Home its first lead of the game, 21-20, with 11:53 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home's defense forced another three-and-out by the Kavemen, and the Tigers took over on their 33 and moved the ball 67yards in seven plays, Jake Hennessey hitting J.T. Cristobal on a 65-yardscoring strike. With the PAT by Tony McKenzie, the Tigers had built their lead to 28-20, with 7:08 left in the game.

Kuna's Chris Millspaugh returned the Tiger kickoff 55 yards to the Mountain Home 35. Randy Emery rushed for 32 of the 35 yards, including the final four, as the Kavemen scored with 3:28 left, but Kuna went for two, and failed, and Mountain Home still led, 28-26.

Mountain Home received the ball with 3:22 left hoping to be able to run out the clock. But their drive stalled, and they were forced to punt the ball back to Kuna. An 18-yard return by Chris Millspaugh gave the Kavemen a short field again from the Mountain Home 28.

Once again it was Randy Emery time, as the junior running back carried three times for all 28 yards, including the final five. Chris Millspaugh ran in the two-point conversion to make it 34-28, Kuna, with 1:34 left in the game.

Mountain Home started its next drive on their 24 with 1:25 left in the game, but a fumble -- the Tigers' only turnover of the game -- gave Kuna the ball at the Mountain Home 22, with 1:11 left in the game.

Kuna was able to run out the clock for the 34-28 win -- their first of the season.

Despite the loss, Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd was proud of the way his team battled back from a 20-0 deficit to take the lead.

"The second half we played awesome -- at least the third quarter on defense I thought we played extremely well and very physical. I saw some things from our O-line -- we went for it on fourth down and won, and we were playing really well.

"We just played two quarters, though, and Kuna played four," the coach added. "That really hurt us. I felt we left 20 points on the field in the first half that we should have had. It was encouraging to see how we rallied back -- they never quit -- and I was happy about the second half effort. With about five minutes to go, or so, we did lose some discipline on defense, and we've got to work on that. But other than that, it was a lot of improvement."

Mountain Home rushed the ball for 131 yards, led by Jake Hennessey with 94 yards and a touchdown on 16 rushes. Robert Jackio had 26 yards and a touchdown on five rushes, Tyler Knauth rushed once for six yards, Ben Ceccarelli had one carry for four yards, Skyler Podesek rushed three times for two yards, and Juan Silva had three rushes for minus one yard.

Jake Hennessey was 18 of 33 for 316 yards and two touchdowns. J.T. Cristobal caught nine passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, Dion Salinas caught three passes for 55 yards, Robert Jackio had two catches for 47 yards, Mike Daniels caught two passes for 36 yards and a score, Juan Silva had one catch for 24 yards and Tyler Knauth had one catch for 11 yards.

The Tigers are back on the road again this week, traveling over to Middleton to face the Vikings, who suffered their first conference loss to Skyview last week. Coach Floyd expects to see the Vikings run the ball.

"They run the ball -- a lot. We're going to have to be fast on offense and make sure we're saving as much time as we can, as well as making sure that our D-line is getting to where they need to be, and they've got to be low. It's going to be a good challenge for them, and I want to see how they react to it. I think they're going to react well to it."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Middleton. The Tigers close out their season Oct. 28 at home against Emmett for Senior Night.