Tiger victory over Vallivue sets up match of unbeatens

The Mountain Home Tigers improved to 3-0 on the season with a 31-12 SIC 4A football conference win over the Vallivue Falcons Thursday night at Tiger Field in their home opener.

For the first time this season, Mountain Home found themselves behind, as Kyle Christofferson intercepted a Keith Yagues pass and ran it in from 25 yards out to give Vallivue a 6-0 lead. The PAT was no good, but the Falcons led 6-0 with 6:24 left in the first quarter.

The Falcons would not score again for another 40 minutes, as Mountain Home tallied 31 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.

After Christofferson's interception return gave Vallivue the lead, Mountain Home put together a 54-yard, 10-play drive, scoring on a three-yard run by Shawn Morin.

Kyle Clark's PAT was wide, so the game was tied at 6-6 with 2:56 left in the first quarter.

Vallivue put together a 13-play drive that ended on the Tiger 10-yard line, and Mountain Home took over on downs.

The Tigers then went 90 yards in 10 plays to take the lead, scoring on a 33-yard option run by Keith Yagues.

Kyle Clark's PAT was good, and it was 13-6 Mountain Home with 4:46 left in the first half.

The Tigers mounted another drive their next possession, going 63 yards in eight plays, Georgio Sutton took it in from a yard out. Mountain Home tried for two and failed, but increased their lead to 19-6, a lead they took in to the locker room at halftime.

Mountain Home wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the second half, stopping the Falcons' opening drive of the third quarter, and forcing a punt.

Shawn Morin blocked the punt, and the Tigers recoverd on the Vallivue 14-yard line. Keith Yagues ran it in for a score from there.

The try for two again failed, but Mountain Home led 25-6 just 66 seconds into the second half.

The Falcons next possession was stopped at the Mountain Home 40, when Josh Reynolds intercepted a Cory Barnes pass there.

Three plays later, Georgio Sutton found a hole and raced 51 yards for a score.

The PAT failed, but Mountain Home had stretched its lead to 31-6, with 4:20 left in the third quarter.

Vallivue finally scored again late in the fourth quarter, as John Whitfill capped off a 74-yard 12-play drive with a five-yard run to make it 31-12 with 2:10 left.

Mountain Home then ran out the clock for a 31-12 win, improving to 3-0 on the season.

"It was another good SIC win," said Tiger coach Brian Floyd.

"It was a good win all across the board. I just wish we'd played better in the first half. We came out just really flat in the first quarter and it took until the second quarter for us get going, and once we did, we started putting points on the board, but we wasted a whole quarter and kept them in the game, and that's the worst thing you can do for a team like that when you give them life by making the wrong reads and throwing an interception.

"We don't want to GIVE them life, we just want to take it away from them."

Georgio Sutton led the Tigers offensive effort that saw Mountain Home rush the ball 47 times for 333 yards. Sutton had 10 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

Matt Maurer had 12 rushes for 86 yards. Keith Yagues ran the ball 11 times for 56 yards and a two touchdowns.

Shawn Morin had four rushes for 19 yards and a a score, Tyson Sessions carried six times for 17 yards, and Zach Hale had one carry for two yards.

Keith Yagues passed the ball five times, completing one for nine yards to Shawn Morin. He also had one pass intercepted.

The Vallivue Falcons rushed the ball 42 times for 145 yards, with over half of that coming in the fourth quarter as Mountain Home began subbing. They completed five of 16 passes for 48 yards.

Defensively, Kole Spaulding and Matt Maurer led the Tigers in tackles. Spaulding had 10 tackles and Maurer had nine.

Something has to give this Friday night when the Tigers travel to Emmett to face the Huskies, as both Mountain Home and Emmett are 3-0 on the season.

"They have a very good offense," said Coach Floyd of the Huskies.

"They score quickly and have some of the fastest guys in 4A that are on the offensive side of the ball.

What we need to do is just play ball control offense and we'll be fine."

Friday night's Mountain Home-Emmett football game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Emmett High School.