Tigers lose opener to Spartans 36-15

The Minico Spartans broke open a close game, scoring 15 points in the third quarter on their way to a 36-15 season-opening win over the Mountain Home Tigers Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

The Spartans scored on their opening drive of the ball game, going 59 yards in four plays.

The big play, a 45-yard pass from quarterback Dane Broadhead to Bryce Hafso ,put Minico on the Tiger 17-yard line. Dale Sayles took it in from there for the score. With the PAT by Dallas Garner, the Spartans led, 7-0, just 79 seconds into the ball game.

The Tigers looked like they were going to answer, moving the ball from their own 25 down to the Minico nine-yard line, but on fourth and two, Bob Daniels was sacked back at the 17 to kill the drive, and the Spartans took over from there.

Mountain Home had three other scoring drives that picked up good yardage, but failed to produce any points in the first half.

Minico scored on their final drive of the first half, going 62 yards in eight plays, Dale Sayles taking it in from three yards out. Dallas Garner made it 14-0, Spartans, with his PAT, and Minico went in the locker room with a 14-0 lead.

In the third quarter, after the Tigers opening drive stalled and they were forced to punt, Minico went 58 yards in eight plays for a score, Dale Sayles taking it in from five yards out.

The two-point conversion try failed, but the Spartans led, 20-0, with 6:08 left in the first quarter.

Things then went from bad to worse for the Tigers in the third quarter, as Minico scored a safety, to go up 22-0, and the Spartans recovered a Tiger fumble on the Mountain Home 28, with Matt Tracy taking it in for a score from 24 yards out. Dallas Garner's PAT made it 29-0, with 2:10 left in the third quarter.

Jacob Duncan intercepted a Bob Daniels pass and returned it to the Tiger 21 to help set up Minico's final touchdown of the night, a five-yard score by Dale Sayles. With Dallas Garner's PAT, it was 36-0, Minico, with 9:51 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home then put together an eight-play 81-yard drive, Georgio Sutton picking up 75 of those yards on five rushes. Nick Barrie took it the final seven yards for the score. Kyle Clark's PAT made it 36-7, with 8:10 left in the ball game.

The Tigers had the final score of the night after a Minico punt put the Tigers in a hole, starting from their one yard-line. Dave Anderson passed to Josh Reynolds, who had beaten his defender, and Reynolds hauled it in and raced down the field on a 99-yard touchdown reception.

Kori Andrews then passed to Nick Barrie for the two-point conversion, and it was 36-15, with 1:48 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home got the ball back one last time, but their drive ended on the Spartan 37-yard line when time ran out.

Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd talked about their first game losing effort against the Spartans.

"Mostly it was from a couple guys taking plays off on defense and offense. We had them on third and long in the first half many, many times, and just a couple guys take a play off and they get the first down when we should have the ball, and on offense, it came down to running backs not running to the proper hole, and a couple linemen doing the wrong things here and there, and that's really all I can say about it. That's as simple as it was."

The Tigers went into the second half just trailing 14-0, but were shut down offensively, and unable to stop the Spartans from going up 36-0. Coach Floyd had some explanation for the third-quarter collapse.

"The third quarter was probably the worst quarter I've ever seen played here at Mountain Home High School. This is my third year here, and that was the worst effort I've ever seen displayed. We've talked about that, and I can't explain why, especially the way we were moving the ball -- we had over 200 yards of offense in the first half. We went to the 20, the 20, the 20, but just little mistakes, penalties pushed us back, or a guy doing the wrong thing kept us out of the end zone, and the third quarter we came out flat as can be. I'm at a loss, I really don't know why."

One factor in that third quarter had to do with field position. The Tigers averaged starting from their 14-yard line in the third quarter, while Minico averaged starting on the Mountain Home 32. For the game, Mountain Home averaged starting on their own 23-yard line, the Spartans, on their own 48.

Mountain Home enjoyed their best success moving the ball through the air, passing for 300 yards. Bob Daniels, who was 13 of 19 for 171 yards at halftime, ended with 14 of 28 for 191 yards. Dave Anderson completed two of four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Josh Reynolds was the Tigers leading receiver, catching 10 passes for 223 yards. Kori Andrews caught two passes for 38 yards, Zacq Hale had two receptions for 25 yards, and Georgio Sutton had two catches for 14 yards.

Georgio Sutton led the Tiger ground game, rushing 12 times for 88 yards. Bob Daniels had eight rushes for 27 yards, Tyson Sessions rushed the ball seven times for 20 yards, Nick Barrie had one carry for seven yards and a score, and Zacq Hale had two carries for one yard.

Mountain Home rushed for 132 yards and passed for 300 for a total of 432 total yards. Minico had 203 yards rushing and 123 passing for 326 total yards.

This Friday night the Tigers open their SIC 4A conference schedule, hosting the Nampa Bulldogs at Tiger Field. The Bulldogs also opened lat Friday, beating Middleton at Nampa.

"Supposedly, they changed their offense to more of an 'I', but we're watching film on them and really, now they seem to be running more what we do," said Floyd.

"Last year they were pretty much a basic winged-T team, with belly sweep and power, and now they're doing a lot more trips, a little more tosses, isos. Other than that, I haven't seen too much. We just started breaking down the film."

Game time is 7 p.m. Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.