Tigers end season with 35-12 loss to Caldwell

The Caldwell Cougars rolled up 28 first-quarter points Friday night and that proved more than enough to hold off the Mountain Home Tigers, 35-12, at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

The Cougars took an early 7-0 lead when Mike Messier ran back the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.

Mountain Home had a good drive on its opening possession, moving the ball from its own 35 down to the Cougar 19-yard line before the drive stalled. Kyle Clark's 38-yard field goal attempt was off to the right and the Tigers came up empty.

The Cougars then went 80 yards in four plays, scoring on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Brett Hopkins to Doug Adams. Eric Garza booted the PAT to make it 14-0, with 8:34 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers fumbled the ball back to Caldwell on the first play of their next possession, the Cougars taking over on the Mountain Home 34, and scoring in six plays, Andrew Puga taking it in from the one-yard line. Eric Garza made it 21-0, with 4:50 left in the first quarter.

Mountain Home went three-and-out their next possession, while the Cougars scored again, going 68 yards in five plays, Brett Hopkins connecting with Jed Elsberry on an eight-yard touchdown pass. With Eric Garza's PAT, the Cougars led 28-0 with 1:12 still left in the first quarter.

The Tigers then went 63 yards in six plays, Bob Daniels connecting with Josh Reynolds on a 14-yard scoring pass. The PAT was no good, but Mountain Home was on the scoreboard, and trailed, 28-6, with 11:44 left in the first half.

The Cougars put together an 11-play, 62-yard drive late in the first half, with Brett Hopkins connecting with Doug Adams again, this time from three yards out. The Cougars went to the locker room up, 35-6, at halftime.

The Tigers dominated play in the second half, but scored only once more, that on a 12-yard run by Bob Daniels to make it a 35-12 final.

Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd said the first 12 minutes of the game were frustrating.

"The stuff they were doing were the exact stuff we worked on all week long, and it was stuff that shouldn't have happened, especially the kickoff, because we went over the kickoff return a lot this week, and we showed our middle guys how to get into the wedge, and heck, there was no one there! We practiced that a lot to make sure that wouldn't happen. It's just frustrating."

Bob Daniels had a career best rushing the ball, carrying 23 times for 123 yards and a touchdown. Nick Barrie rushed for 28 yards on six carries, Georgio Sutton rushed four times for 15 yards, and Chris Knudson rushed for 15 yards on seven carries.

Bob Daniels completed five of 14 passes for 53 yards. Nick Barrie caught two passes for 22 yards, Josh Reynolds caught one for 14 yards and a score, Dave Anderson caught one pass for 12 yards, and Kori Andrews had one catch for five yards.

The Cougars managed only 79 yards rushing on 28 attempts, but three Caldwell quarterbacks completed 16 of 24 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns.

The Tigers end the season, 1-8, overall, and 1-6 in conference play.