Tigers start season on sour note with loss to Jerome

The Mountain Home Tigers came up short at Jerome on Friday night, losing to the Jerome Tigers, 21-14, in their 2013 football opener.

Jerome got on the scoreboard first, using just six plays to score on its opening drive. Zach Thibault hit Gunner Gridley on a 15-yard touchdown pass for the six. Gridley added the point-after try to put Jerome up 7-0 with 7:53 left to go in the first quarter.

Mountain Home tied the game midway through the second quarter, Jesse Cobos hitting Jiame Martinez on a 15-yard pass play. Martinez then booted the PAT to knot the score at 7 with 6:44 left to go in the opening half.

Jerome regained the lead late in the quarter when Zach Thibault again connected with Gunner Gridley, this time on a 40-yard scoring strike. Gridley's PAT pushed the home Jerome Tigers up 14-7 at the half.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively in the second half until the last four minutes of the game when Jerome scored again on another pass play, Zach Thibault hitting D. Thibault on an 18-yard scoring strike. With Gunner Gridley's PAT, it was 21-7, Jerome, with 3:32 left in the game.

Back came Mountain Home.

After a nice kick-off return by Justin Lawrence, coupled with penalties that gave the visiting Tigers the ball at the Jerome 10, Jesse Cobos capped off the drive, scoring from two yards out. Jiame Martinez booted the PAT to make it 21-14 with 2:33 left.

Jerome was able to run out the clock for a 21-14 victory.

"I thought we played well enough to win, but a few mental mistakes down the stretch cost us," said Mountain Home Tigers head football coach Aaron Rodney.

"The kids fought hard and we are getting better," the coach added. " This (Jerome) is a team that beat us 40-6 last year. We are closing the gap, but we also need to put some notches in the win column."

Mountain Home opens its SIC 4A schedule at home this Friday night against the Emmett Huskies. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Tiger Field.