Tigers score 57-22 win; head to playoffs Friday

The Mountain Home Tigers scored 42 unanswered points on their way to a 57-22 win over the Kuna Kavemen Friday night in their regular season finale at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

The Mountain Home Tigers will face Sandpoint Friday night in the State 4A football playoffs.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the ballgame Friday night after honoring 27 seniors during Senior Night festivities before the game.

The Tigers moved the ball 65 yards in seven plays, Kyle Kerfoot connecting with Ricky Lee on a 13-yard scoring strike. Kerfoot ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Tigers with 9:12 to go in the first quarter.

Kuna answered the Tiger score, going 75 yards in 11 plays, Matt Smith taking it in from 12 yards out. Patrick Stanley then passed to Drew Bongiovi for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8 with 4:30 left in the first quarter.

Ricky Lee ran the Kuna kickoff back to the Kavemen 47-yard line. Two plays later, Kyle Kerfoot scampered 43 yards for a score. Chris Maholick booted the PAT to make it 15-8 Tigers with 3:37 left in the first quarter.

The Kavemen picked up a couple first downs on their next possession, but Mountain Home's defense stopped the drive and took over on downs at the Tiger 43-yard line.

The Tigers then went 57 yards in five plays, Tallon Pauley taking it in from a yard out for the score. Chris Maholick's PAT made it 22-8 with 11:05 left in the first half.

The Tigers closed out the first half with a 50-yard five-play scoring drive, Kyle Kerfoot taking it the final yard for the score. With Chris Maholick's PAT, the Tigers took a 29-8 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Ricky Lee intercepted a Patrick Stanley pass on the opening drive of the third quarter and the Tigers took over on their own 40. A 37-yard run by Tommy Miller sparked the Tigers' 60-yard four-play drive, capped by Kyle Kerfoot taking it in from six yards out. With the PAT by Chris Maholick, the Tigers led 36-8 with 9:36 left in the third quarter.

That would be the first of three Tiger scores in the third quarter. Kyle Kerfoot raced 69 yards for a score on Mountain Home's next possession, and Kerfoot's 27-yard pass to Jesse Donez capped off a 92-yard six-play drive as the Tigers upped their lead to 50-8 after three quarters.

Mountain Home went to their second- and third-team players in the fourth quarter and the offense struggled. On the second possession of the quarter a pitch was fumbled and Kuna recovered on the Tiger three-yard line. Brandon DeLao took it in for a score on the first play, and Patrick Stanley passed to Matt Smith for the two-point conversion to make it 50-16 with 5:59 left in the game.

The Kavemen recovered the ensuing onside kick at the Mountain Home 41, but four incomplete passes turned the ball back over to the Tigers.

Two plays later, the Tigers fumbled the ball back to Kuna at the Tiger 34. Patrick Stanley then hit Ian Stark on a pass to the Tigers eight-yard line. Brandon DeLao then scored from eight yards out. The pass for two failed, and the Mountain Home's lead was cut to 50-22, with 4:57 left.

Kuna again recovered the onside kick, this time at the Tiger 47. With a number of first-team defensive players coming back in, Mountain Home held, and took over on downs at the Tiger 42.

The Tigers then went 58 yards in nine plays, Tallon Pauley scoring from eight yards out. Chris Maholick's PAT made it a 57-22 final.

Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd was pleased with the Kuna win.

"Yeah, that one felt real good. I thought maybe I pulled off a little too early, then I had to put the firsts back in, just to get the game over with, but we were doing excellent all night --the line did an amazing job -- I'm very proud of them."

The Tigers racked up nearly 500 yards in total offense. Kyle Kerfoot led the Tigers rushing effort with 184 yards and four touchdowns. Tallon Pauley rushed for 120 yards and two scores. Tommy Miller had 37 yards rushing, Jacob Viola 12, and Nick Stover one.

Kerfoot completed six of 10 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

Ricky Lee caught three passes for 50 yards and a score, Jesse Donez had two catches for 73 yards and a score, and Daniel Katsules had one catch for 18 yards.

The Tigers defense held Kuna to just 94 yards rushing on 34 rushing attempts, and 158 yards passing

The Tigers finished their regular season schedule 8-1 overall and 6-1 in conference, tied with Nampa for first place. Since Nampa beat the Tigers, they get the number one seed going into the 4A state playoffs.

The Bulldogs will host Jerome this week while Mountain Home will head north to face the north Idaho champion.

Until last Friday night, the Tigers expected that to be Sandpoint, but the Bulldogs from Sandpoint were upset by Lakeland, 38-28, to force a Kansas City playoff between Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow. Sandpoint had edged Moscow, 21-20, and Moscow had beaten Lakeland, so all three teams went 1-1 in conference. The Kansas City playoff was held at Coeur d'Alene High School on Monday night.

The Sandpoint Bulldogs beat both Moscow and Lakeland Monday night in the Kansas City Playoff at Coeur d'Alene to win the 4A District 1-2 championship.

The Mountain Home-Sandpoint game will kick off Friday night at 8 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

Coach Floyd believes his Tigers are playing their best ball right now, so it does not matter which of the three teams they will face, he feels optimistic.

"No matter who we play, I think we're a pretty good team right now, and I think we can get a lot better, so whoever's going to play us, they'll have to bring their 'A' game, because we're playing extremely physical, we're playing fast, and it's a good thing to see -- something we've been working for all year."