Tiger mauled by Bruins

It took the Twin Falls Bruins a while to get going, but once they did there was no stopping them Friday night, as the 5A Bruins scored 50 unanswered points on their way to a lopsided 50-21 victory.

Mountain Home never really got anything going offensively. True, they were in the end zone in less than a minute of their first possession -- and just two plays -- when Tiger quarterback Brock Zamora pitched the ball to wingback Keith Yagues, who connected with Tiger receiver Mike Thornsberry for a 49-yard touchdown. Stephen Reinschmidt's PAT made it 7-0 Mountain Home with 9:03 left in the first quarter.

But Tiger fans had little to celebrate for quite a while after that -- not even a first down.

After Mountain Home forced the Bruins, to punt on their first two possessions, field position helped Twin Falls on their next drive, which they started on the Tiger 44-yard line. Four plays later, Bruin quarterback Luke Martin connected with Eric Snow on a 29-yard touchdown. Carl Ott's PAT tied the game at 7-7 with 3:48 left in the first quarter.

Mountain Home went three-and-out their next possession, and the Bruins were back in business on their own 48. A pass from Martin to Snow gave Twin Falls a first and goal at the Tiger nine. Two plays later, Martin found Snow again, on a seven-yard strike. Ott's PAT made it 14-7 in the final seconds of the first quarter.

Field position became ever important, and the Bruins, added 29 more points in the second period, as Bruin running back Alex Castagno scored three touchdowns on the ground, and Martin connected with Snow one more time. Twin Falls went into the locker room at halftime, up 43-7.

Twin Falls scored their final touchdown of the night early in the third quarter, once again taking advantage of great field position, starting on the Tiger 33-yard line. Four plays later Alex Castagno scored for the fourth time, this time from six yards out, and with Carl Ott's PAT, it was 50-7, Twin Falls, with 8:53 left in the third quarter.

Mountain Home did manage to score in both the third and fourth quarters.

Matt Maurer broke through the line and broke a number of tackles on the way to a 76-yard touchdown run. Stephen Reinschmidt's PAT made it 50-14 with 4:19 left in the third period.

After Stan Bessey recovered a Bruin fumble on the Twin Falls 25-yard line, Brock Zamora threaded a pass in between two Bruin defenders to Mike Thornsberry for a 25-yard touchdown in the final quarter. Reinschmidt booted the PAT to make it 50-21 with 11:08 left in the ball game, and that would close out the scoring on the night for both teams.

Tiger head football coach Tony Kerfoot enjoyed the lead early, but saw things come crashing down after that.

"That was nice to come out and get on top, and we stopped them the first couple of times, too, and defensively, we had a pretty good scheme, but then we started breaking away from that."

Kerfoot lamented the lack of an offensive attack, as his Tigers failed to have a first down all night.

"We didn't execute at all. We had guys going the wrong way, wrong guys going in motion -- you name it, and it went wrong offensively in our backfield. So we've got a lot of work to do offensively."

Kerfoot was encouraged by the play defensively in the second half, despite being down 43-7 at half-time.

"I thought defensively we played much better in the second half, and we were able to put together a couple offensive plays -- they weren't drives -- and I think a lot of that just points to our inexperience and how young we are, and we've got to become of age pretty quickly now."

Just how important was field position? Both teams had 15 possessions, and Mountain Home's average field position start was their own 29-yard line. The Bruins averaged starting on the Mountain Home 48-yard line.

The Tigers rushed the ball 27 times for 110 yards, with Matt Maurer getting 76 of those on his touchdown carry. Billy O'Brien rushed nine times for 31 yards. Anthony Pomerlee had six rushes for 17 yards. Keith Yagues had two carries for seven yards, Emex Shephard carried twice for three yards, and Brock Zamora was sacked five times in seven carries, for minus-24 yards.

Through the air, Brock Zamora completed two of nine passes for 24 yards and a score. Keith Yagues was one-for-one for 49 yards and a touchdown. Mike Thornsberry caught two passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Keith Yagues caught one pass for minus-one yard.

Alex Castagno led Twin Falls with 22 rushes for 180 yards and four touchdowns. Luke Martin completed 10 of 12 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns, with Eric Snow catching four passes for 122 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively, Matt Maurer led the Tigers with 16 tackles, including a sack. Kole Spaulding was in on 15 tackles. Tiger freshman Tyson Sessions and Shawn Morin were both in on 13 tackles, Sessions had a sack. Josh Stanek was in on 12 tackles, had a sack and a fumble recovery. Mike Thornsberry had 11 tackles, Caom Hansen, 10, including a sack, Stan Bessey had a sack and fumble recovery, and Jarrod Roberson had a batted down pass.

Mountain Home returns to action tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7 p.m. at Bronco Stadium against the Timberline Wolves, who were 43-40 winners over Borah in their season opener last week. Coach Kerfoot expects another tough battle from the Wolves.

"They've got some real weapons. They're a much improved team over what they have been."

Last year, they were much improved -- possibly the best team they ever had at Timberline -- and I think this one's a little bit better.

"Last year they had a quarterback (Parker Mangum) who started this last weekend at St. Mary's College as a freshman, and they think this kid (Russell Hill) they have this year that's a junior is better than he was, and they've got some real speedsters as receivers.

"They're going to spread you out and throw the ball, and they've got a good power running back inside, so we're going to have our work cut out this week."