Tigers open season against Wood River

The Mountain Home Tigers open their 2004 football season at Wood River High School Friday night in a non-conference game against the Wolverines.

The game marks the head coaching debut of Tiger coach Brian Floyd, who moves up from an assistant position last year.

The Tigers have been practicing since August 9, with what Coach Floyd described as an "okay" turnout.

"It wasn't the best turnout that we've had. We had to move the freshmen up to the JV and cut our freshmen games off."

Floyd indicated the varsity squad numbers, "between 32 and 42, depending upon injuries."

Although he would have liked more players out, he is happy with the quality of the group he has out, especially defensively.

"We're solid defensively. Teams are going to have to work to score on us. We have a lot of guys coming back. We did have Jarrod Roberson get injured during a rodeo last week, so he's going to be out for a while, but we have guys that can fill in for him.

"We're a little young on the outside, but the guys are gamers, they're good.

"Up front we found replacements for (Josh) Stanek and Caom (Hansen) and they're both doing very well. Our inside guys are both returning and they've both gained weight and are faster and stronger, so we look good, and we've got Kole (Spaulding) and (Matt) Maurer in the middle (linebackers), and Maurer was First Team All State, and Kole was Second Team middle linebacker in the SIC and (Tyson) Sessions returns as a freshman starter last year, so we're looking good on defense.

"I have no problems with the defense, and all those guys are going to be playing on defense first."

The Tigers struggled on offense last year, and although the offensive remains a big question mark, Floyd has been pleased with the practices lately.

"We're starting to come together really well on offense. I think we're going to be a lot more explosive. We're still going to run the veer, but we've added a twist to everything. I think teams will be very surprised by our passing attack. We've been working on it a lot, and we're actually doing very well, so I'm looking forward to that."

The Tigers open Friday night at Wood River against a Wolverine team that won only one game last year, and moves up to the 4A ranks this year.

"That's going to be a tough game, because they've got good athletes."

The Tiger-Wolverine game has a 7:30 p.m. starting time at Wood River High School in Hailey.