Big plays propel Bishop Kelly over Tigers in 35-6 rout

Big scoring plays by Bishop Kelly helped the Knights pull away for a 35-6 conference football win over the Mountain Home Tigers Friday night at Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the ball game, but on the first play from scrimmage Jake Hennessey's pass sailed off his receiver's hands into a Bishop Kelly defender's hands for an interception.

The Knights then started their first possession from the Mountain Home 20-yard line, but four plays later Knights quarterback Jesse Rohr had a pass picked off in the end zone by Colton Zamora.

As those series indicated, the defenses controlled the game for the most of the first quarter, although Bishop Kelly did go 91 yards in six plays to score. The big play was a pass from Jesse Rohr to Nate Lothrop for 45 yards that put the Knights on the Mountain Home three-yard line. Cody McCarthy ran it in from three yards out on the next play. With the point-after try by Devin Felton, Bishop Kelly led 7-0 with 3:25 left to go in the first quarter.

After the Tigers quickly went three-and-out and punted the ball back to the Knights, a good punt return by Chris Berry put the Knights in business on the Mountain Home 35.

Jesse Rohr hit Nate Lothrop for a pass to the Tiger 12, and from there Hunter Griffith ran it in for a score. Devin Felton made it 14-0, Knights, with 1:17 left in the first quarter.

The score stayed at 14-0 until late in the first half when Jake Hennessey's punt was blocked and Bishop Kelly recovered on the Tiger 14. Hunter Griffith took the handoff from Jesse Rohr, rolled out and threw to Nate Lothrop for a 14-yard score. Rohr ran in the two-point conversion to make it 22-0 Knights at halftime.

The Tiger defense forced Bishop Kelly to give the ball over on downs at the Mountain Home 16-yard line on Bishop Kelly's opening drive of the second half.

Mountain Home had another three-and-out series to start its half and punted the ball back to the Knights at the Tigers' 49.

An eight-play drive produced another Knight touchdown with Jesse Rohr passing 12 yards to Cody McCarthy for the score. With the PAT, it was 29-0, Knights, with 4:35 left in the third quarter.

After another three-and out by the Tigers, Bishop Kelly scored its final touchdown of the night. After a 35-yard pass from Jesse Rohr to Hunter Griffith put the Knights on the Mountain Home 15-yard line, Rohr again went to Griffith, this time for 15 yards and a score. The PAT made it 35-0, Knights, with a minute left in the third quarter.

The Mountain Home offense struggled all night, and what big plays they came up with were nullified by penalties.

Mountain Home's only score of the night came in the fourth quarter, as Dion Salinas intercepted Knights back-up quarterback Josh Ertz and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. The Tigers went for two on the PAT, but the pass was incomplete, making it 35-6, Bishop Kelly, with 9:24 left in the ball game.

Neither team was able to score the rest of the way, as the Knights kept their unbeaten record intact with a 35-6 win over the Tigers.

"They had a lot of big plays, and every big play we had was called back (by a penalty), so it was a frustrating night," said Mountain Home Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd. We had a lot of misalignment on offense, which really hurt us. We've got to sustain our blocks better on the O-line."

Mountain Home rushed the ball 20 times for 125 yards. Curtis Jackson was the Tigers' leading ball carrier with 63 yards on 12 rushes. Colton Zamora had 52 yards on eight carries. Juan Silva rushed the ball three times for 21 yards and Jake Hennessey ended with minus four yards on six rushes.

Jake Hennessey completed nine of 24 passes for 83 yards and had three passes picked off.

Tyler Wright completed one pass for 42 yards.

J.T. Cristobal caught six passes for 89 yards, Colton Zamora and Tyler Wright both caught two passes, Zamora for 23 yards and Wright for 13.

Defensively, Jesse Corbett led the Tigers in tackles with 7.5. Colton Zamora and Dion Salinas both had five tackles and both picked off interceptions. Luke Filipovich, Adam Miller and Tyler Wright both had four tackles, Ricky Castillo and Jacob Perry each had 3.5. Castillo also had an interception.

Meanwhile, Anthony Castillo had three tackles, J.T. Cristobal and Ben Ceccarelli each had two, Deion Brown had one, and Tyler Knauth and Curtis Jackson each had a half-tackle.

The Bishop Kelly loss evens the Tigers' record at 2-2 in conference and 3-3 overall.

Mountain Home travels to Nampa to face the Bulldogs Friday night.

Coach Floyd hopes to regroup and get back in the win column.

"Nampa's a big rivalry game and they're a good team as well, so we just need to regroup and focus and get after it."

The Nampa Bulldogs are also 2-2 in league play. That game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Bulldog Bowl stadium at Nampa High School.