Victory at last!

"Tigers win!"

It's been a long time since anyone has been able to say that after a Mountain Home Tigers varsity football game.

Would you believe three years ago?

Oct. 1, 2010. That's when the Mountain Home Tigers last won, a 21-17 win over the Columbia Wildcats. They would go on to drop their final four games of the 2010 season to Bishop Kelly, Nampa, Skyview and Emmett, all nine games in 2011 and 2012 and the first four games of the 2013 season -- 26 straight. During that time, Mountain Home scored 333 points (just under 13 a game), while giving up 980 points (just under 38 a game).

But Friday night the streak was broken with a 31-26 win over Caldwell at Caldwell.

It was far from an easy easy win, with the Tigers having to battle many obstacles, including a hostile Caldwell homecoming crowd that was hoping their Cougars would make it two straight wins (they earned their first win of the season the week before, beating Columbia, 31-15, at Columbia).

In the beginning, the Caldwell crowd certainly had much to cheer about.

Cameron Gabiola-Weitz took the opening kickoff, found an early seam and ran it back 88 yards for a Caldwell score. The kick on the point-after try was missed, but 13 seconds in to the game the Cougars led, 6-0.

Mountain Home picked up a couple of first downs on its opening drive before having to punt the ball back to the Cougars, who picked up one first down before punting the ball back to the Tigers.

Ryan Eckstrom capped off a nine-play 57-yard drive, taking it in for a score from a yard out. The PAT was blocked, but the Tigers had tied the game at six.

Caldwell used a pass interception to set up their next score, using four plays to go 35 yards for a score with Cameron Gabiola-Weitz taking it in from 11 yards out. The PAT kick was blocked, but the Cougars had regained the lead, 12-6, with 9:44 left in the first half.

Mountain Home went three-and-out its next possession and punted the ball back to the Cougars, who had a good drive going until the Tigers recovered a Caldwell fumble at the Mountain Home 16.

The Tigers then went 84 yards in six plays, scoring on a 55-yard pass from Jesse Cobos to Ryan Eckstrom. With the PAT by Jiame Martinez, Mountain Home led, 13-12, with 3:47 left in the half, a lead they took into the locker room at halftime.

Mountain Home received the kickoff to start the third quarter, and as the kick bounced near the goal line, the Tiger receiver anticipated the ball bouncing into the end zone and so did not try to field it. An alert Caldwell Cougar came down and dove on the ball at the Mountain Home one-yard line.

Alex Harlow scored on the next play to give the Cougars the lead back and, with a successful two-point pass, it was Caldwell 20, Mountain Home 13, just 13 seconds into the third quarter.

Mountain Home answered the call, however, as Jake Ryan ran the ensuing kickoff back 73 yards for a score. The PAT attempt failed, and Caldwell still led, 20-19.

The two teams exchanged the ball twice before there was another score.

Mountain Home went 67 yards in four plays, helped out by a major penalty. Ryan Eckstrom took it in from five yards out for the score. The run attempt for two failed, but the Tigers led, 25-20, with 3:41 left in the third quarter.

Caldwell's next possession ended with the Cougars giving the ball over on downs at the Tiger 21.

Mountain Home then seemed to be going the wrong way. Jesse Cobos was sacked at the 15, a penalty pushed it back to the 10 and Cobos was sacked again at the two yard-line.

That's when Ryan Eckstrom took the hand-off and burst through the line and headed for the sidelines racing 98 yards for another Tiger score.

The PAT failed, but Mountain Home had upped its lead to 31-20, with 10:20 left in the game.

Caldwell then brought in Austin Van Horne at quarterback and he sparked the Cougars down the field, running and passing, as Caldwell went 58 yards in six plays with Van Horne passing to Brandon McIntyre for a six-yard score. The pass for two failed and Mountain Home's lead was 31-26 with 7:49 left in the game.

Mountain Home went three-and-out on its next possession and Caldwell got the ball back with 5:43 left.

Austin Van Horne again led the Cougars down the field and Caldwell had a first and goal at the Mountain Home three.

This time the Tigers defense tightened and Mountain Home took over on downs at their own 10 with 1:05 left.

Mountain Home was faced with fourth and inches with the ball near its own 20-yard line. Jesse Cobos picked up the first down on a quarterback sneak and the Tigers were able to run the clock out for the win.

Tigers coach Aaron Rodney was glad to see the streak come to an end.

"Yeah! It is (over)! I'm speechless -- I don't know what to say! The kids fought for four quarters. They did everything we asked. We asked them to improve in key areas and they did.

"Our third down conversions were better. Our red zone conversions were better. We cut down the turnovers significantly.

"I can't say enough about how hard these kids fought," he said. "I want them to enjoy this. I'm really proud of them. It's been a long time coming for this school and it's nice to be back in the win column.

"What I'm most proud of is that they fought through the adversity," the coach added. "We had a talk last night -- all the players -- and I asked them what they wanted it to be. They had a choice -- we can knock out outside influences, or we can believe and trust in ourselves. In weeks past, when we'd hit adversity, the guys would hang their heads a little bit, but these guys believed that they were going to win this game, we fought through adversity. They played a heck of a job and the kids deserved it."

Ryan Eckstrom led the Tigers rushing attack with 154 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. Justin Lawrence rushed thee times for 49 yards.

Jesse Cobos completed eight passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Nigel Whitfield caught four passes for 55 yards, Ryan Eckstrom caught one pass for 55 yards and a touchdown, Jordan Pendleton caught one for 15 yards and Paul Tancredi caught one for five yards.

The Tigers will go after their second straight win Thursday night when they host the Nampa Bulldogs at Tiger Field.

The Bulldogs are coming off their first win of the season -- a 23-16 win over Columbia.