Tigers drop 3rd conference game against Knights

The Mountain Home Tigers dropped their third straight conference game Friday night, losing to the Bishop Kelly Knights 28-18 at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Early on, it looked like the Knights, who came in 3-0 in conference, would romp, as they scored two quick touchdowns to go up 14-0, but Mountain Home recovered and made a game of it.

Bishop Kelly had great field position to start the game, running the opening kickoff back to their 49-yard line. The Tigers stopped the Knights, forcing an apparent punt, but it was a fake, and despite a bad snap, Jake Wylie managed to complete a pass to Jake Hardee at the Mountain Home 25. Two plays later, Matt Sato scored from six yards out. With the PAT by Chris Horne, it was 7-0, Knights, just 109 seconds into the ball game.

A penalty on the kickoff return put the Tigers on their own 10-yard line to start their first possession. Three running plays produced just three yards, forcing a Tiger punt. James Simmon took over the punting duties this game, and his first effort was a high one that went straight up, and was downed on the Mountain Home 17.

With an extremely short field, the Knights wasted little time scoring, Jake Wylie taking it in from six yards out. With Horne's PAT, the Knights led 14-0 just over five minutes into the game.

Juan Silva returned the kickoff 57 yards and a horsecollar 15-yard penalty put the Tigers on the Bishop Kelly 18-yard line. After three plays produced just four yards, the Tigers attempted a 31-yard field goal by Fernando Salas, which was good, but a penalty against Bishop Kelly gave the Tigers a first down on the Knights' seven-yard line.

Three plays later, Jake Hennessey passed five yards to Tommy Miller for a touchdown. The PAT was no good and it was 14-6, Bishop Kelly, with 4:42 left in the first half.

Bishop Kelly started its next series on its own 47, but on first down Trevor Woodruff intercepted a Jake Wylie pass and the Tigers took over on their own 37.

Mountain Home got as far as the Knights' 35 before turning the ball over on downs.

The Tigers forced a three-and-out by Bishop Kelly and then blocked the punt, taking over on the Knight's 20-yard line.

After Tommy Miller picked up four yards to the 16, Jake Hennessey connected with J.T. Cristobal in the back of the end zone, but it was ruled incomplete, with Cristobal stepping out of the end zone. The next pass, to Trevor Woodruff in the same general area, was off the hands of Woodruff, incomplete.

That brought up fourth down, and Fernando Salas, who plays goalkeeper on the Tiger boys soccer team, attempted a 32-yard field goal that was good, making the score 14-9 Bishop Kelly, with 9:51 left in the first half.

Kevin Anderson then kicked off for the Tigers. The ball headed towards the sidelines, but stayed in bounds. The Knights, thinking the ball was going out of bounds, did not attempt to pick up the live ball, and Mountain Home recovered on the Bishop Kelly 26.

When three plays produced just three yards, Salas was called on again, and this time connected on a 39-yard field goal. With 8:42 left in the half, the Tigers had narrowed the gap to 14-12.

Bishop Kelly then put together a 52-yard 13-play drive, Jake Wylie capping it off with a five-yard pass to Jake Hardee. The Pat made it 21-12, Knights, going into halftime.

The third quarter was pretty much a defensive struggle, with neither team able to do much offensively.

Bishop Kelly did score late in the quarter after Nate Lothrop intercepted a Jake Hennessey pass at the Tiger 25. Three plays later Jake Wylie ran it in from 16 yards out for the score. The PAT made it 28-12, with 1:38 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers put together an 83-yard, eight-play drive for a score late in the fourth quarter, Jake Hennessey passing 30 yards to Tommy Miller for the score. The two-point conversion failed, making it 28-18 with 1:16 left in the game.

Mountain Home's on-side kick attempt failed and Bishop Kelly was able to run out the clock for the 28-18 win.

Tiger football coach Brian Floyd called it another tough loss.

"Yeah, it was another one of those. They were getting touchdowns and we were getting field goals -- that was the big difference in the game. We had a lot of penalty yards that hurt us.

"We got down 14-0 early, but the kids came back and they rallied, and that's the way they can play. They did a great job, even the defense, but we gave up too many first downs by penalties and we gave them a lot of second chances, and they cashed in on it, but we didn't cash in on their mistakes."

The Tigers' ground game was held to just 85 yards on 32 rushing attempts. Tommy Miller had 35 yards rushing on 15 rushes. Juan Silva carried the ball six times for 20 yards, Tom Hennessey had 19 yards on seven carries, Jake Hennessey rushed for 8 yards on three rushes and Brock Morris had one for three yards.

Jake Hennessey completed 12 of 30 passes for 141 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Tom Hennessey completed one pass for minus two yards.

Tommy Miller caught four passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns, Trevor Woodruff had two catches for 32 yards, JT Cristobal had two catches for 17 yards, Brock Morris caught two for 10 yards, Colton Zamora had one catch for seven yards, Tom Hennessey had one for four yards and Curtis Jackson caught one pass for minus two yards.

The Knights rushed the ball 41 times for 158 yards, led by Matt Sato with 108 yards on 28 carries. Jake Wylie completed seven of 22 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. He had two passes picked off, both by Trevor Woodruff.

The Tigers dropped to 1-3 in conference and 1-5 on the season. They host the Nampa Bulldogs for homecoming Friday night.

"Nampa's a big game -- the kids are fired up about it," said Coach Floyd. "It's a pride thing, and we'll get after them."

Kickoff for the homecoming game is at 7 p.m. Friday night at Tiger Field.