Power outage doesn't deter Tigers in Kuna rout

The only thing that could stop the Mountain Home Tigers football team last Friday night at Tiger Field was a power outage that darkened the stadium at halftime.

The game was continued at 1 p.m. on Saturday, with Mountain Home leading Kuna 28-0. The Tigers came away with a 42-7 win over the Kavemen during the two-day contest.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the game and moved it from its own 34-yard line down the field 66 yards in eight plays, scoring on a 39-yard pass from Colton Zamora to J.T. Cristobal.

With the PAT by Dion Salinas, the Tigers led 7-0 with 9:07 left in the first quarter.

Mountain Home turned the ball over on its next two possessions, but the Tiger defense kept the Kuna offense in check all night.

The Tigers did get back on the scoreboard in the second quarter, Colton Zamora hauling in a 20-yard pass from Jake Hennessey for a touchdown.

Dion Salinas added the PAT to make it 14-0, Tigers, with 6:01 left to go in the first half.

After recovering a Kuna fumble on the Kaveman 41-yard line, the Tigers took just three plays to score, Curtis Jackson taking it in from 19 yards out.

The point-after try was no good, but Mountain Home led 20-0 with 4:15 left in the half.

After Kuna went three-and-out and punted the ball back to the Tigers, Mountain Home went 69 yards in seven plays, Curtis Jackson running it in from 23 yards out.

Jake Hennessey passed to Jackson for the two-point conversion to make it 28-0 Tigers with 42 seconds left in the half.

During halftime, the power outage hit the northern portion of Mountain Home at about 7 p.m. including Tiger Field. With the power out for about 45 minutes, and no idea of when it would be coming back on that night, the game was suspended until Saturday.

After the longest halftime in school history, Kuna received the ball to start the second half the next day. The Kavemen picked up a couple of first downs before Mountain Home stopped their drive, forcing a punt.

A penalty on the punt return pushed the Tigers back to their eight-yard line to start their first drive of the half. After two running plays netted just two yards, Jake Hennessey hooked up with J.T. Cristobal on a 90-yard touchdown pass down the sidelines to put the Tigers back on the scoreboard.

Dion Salinas booted the PAT to make it 35-0, Tigers.

Kuna's lone score came on the ensuing kickoff, when Kuna's Chris Millspaugh returned the ball 93 yards for a touchdown. Tyler Shoemate booted the PAT to cut the Tiger lead to 35-7.

Mountain Home countered with a scoring drive of its own, going 78 yards in eight plays, Jake Hennessey taking it in from a yard out.

Dion Salinas again added the PAT, making it 42-7, still in the third quarter. That would end the scoring in the game.

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

"The guys played very well. We had a couple turnovers in the first half, which kind of slowed us up a bit, but we played very well. We played smart, and a lot of credit goes to Jake (Hennessey) for directing the offense the way he did.

"There were a lot of checks going on and he did an excellent job. I thought he managed the game very well.

"It was just a good game all around," Floyd said. "The kids are starting to believe in themselves, and that's good to see."

Mountain Home rushed for 139 yards against the Kavemen. Curtis Jackson once again led the way with 89 yards and two touchdowns on 15 rushes. Juan Silva had 30 yards on three carries. J.T. Cristobal rushed twice for 17 yards, John Payton had three carries for 12 yards, Austin Clark had five rushes for minus one yard, Colton Zamora rushed twice for minus three yards and Jake Hennessey had minus five yards and a touchdown on four rushes.

Mountain Home passed for 414 yards. Hennessey completed 20 of 31 passes for 375 yards and two touchdowns. He had one pass picked off. Colton Zamora completed a 39-yard pass for a touchdown.

J.T. Cristobal caught eight passes for 183 yards and two scores. Colton Zamora had four catches for 106 yards and a score. Tyler Knauth caught four passes for 81 yards, John Payton had two catches for 22 yards, Curtis Jackson had two receptions for eight yards, and Austin Clark caught one pass for 14 yards.

The Tigers defense limited the Kuna Kavemen to just 76 yards rushing on 34 rushes and 25 yards through the air on three of 12 passing.

Leading the Tigers defensively was Colton Zamora with nine tackles. Tyler Wright, Tyler Knauth and Adam Miller each had 5.5 tackles. Wright had a sack. Deion Brown, Anthony Castillo and Dion Salinas each had four tackles. Castillo had a fumble recovery. Tyler Casey had three tackles, Jesse Corbett had two tackles, and Juan Silva, John Ryan, Zach Young, Curtis Jackson and Alex Rodriguez each had one tackle.

The Tigers host the Middleton Vikings for homecoming Friday night beginning at 7 p.m. at Tiger Field. Halftime will feature the crowning of the homecoming queen.

Coach Floyd is confident his guys will be ready to face a tough Middleton team.

"All these league games are going to be extremely tough, and we're just going to go play-by-play, game-by-game. That's how the guys had their mind set on Friday and Saturday, and they did really well. I was impressed.

"Middleton's going to be extremely tough. They're always well coached, and they're very disciplined, and we have to take advantage of any miss-matches that we get."