Bulldogs crush Mountain Home during 45-27 rout

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Devan Lesley led a Nampa running game that rushed for over 400 yards with 288 yards and four touchdowns as the Bulldogs crushed the Mountain Home Tigers 45-27 Friday night at Bulldog Bowl in Nampa.

Lesley wasted little time getting the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, taking the handoff from quarterback Hayden Wright and getting through the Mountain Home defense into an open field, racing 60 yards for a touchdown on Nampa's first play from scrimmage in the game.

Chase Wangen's PAT made it 7-0, Bulldogs, just 20 seconds into the ball game.

After Mountain Home went three-and-out on their first possession, Nampa got the ball back on its 30 and moved it 70 yards down the field in 11 plays, Lesley running it in from 20 yards out for the score. With Chase Wangen's PAT, it was 14-0, Bulldogs, with 4:59 left in the first quarter and things were looking bad for Mountain Home.

The Tigers had another three-and-out series and Nampa returned the punt to the Mountain Home 37-yard line to start their next drive.

But the Mountain Home defense rose up and stopped the Bulldogs, taking over on downs at the 31.

Mountain Home got some semblance of offense going and moved into Nampa territory for the first time as the first quarter ended. The drive got to the Nampa 38-yard line before an interception ended the drive at the Nampa 19.

The Bulldogs moved the ball out to their 48-yard line before their drive stalled and Mountain Home took over on downs.

A holding penalty called back a 17-yard touchdown pass, but Jake Hennessey hit Anthony Castillo on a 28-yard pass play that got the Tigers on the scoreboard.

The Tigers faked the PAT kick and went for two, but was unsuccessful, although Mountain Home had cut the Nampa lead to 14-6 with 1:26 left in the half. That was the score at half- time.

Mountain Home received the ball to start the second half and moved it 65 yards in six plays, Jake Hennessey running it on from 14 yards out.

The PAT was no good, and Nampa led 14-12 with 10:30 left in the third quarter.

Nampa picked up a first down before having to punt the ball back to the Tigers. J.T. Cristobal then gathered in a perfect pass from Jake Hennessey and raced 60 yards for a score. With Dion Salinas's PAT, it was 19-14, Tigers, with 6:51 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldog offense then woke up, going 58 yards in 10 plays, Hayden Wright taking it in from 10 yards out for the score. Wright's pass for two was incomplete, but Nampa had regained the lead 20-19 with 2:08 left in the third quarter. It would be a lead they would not give up the rest of the night.

Mountain Home went three-and-out their next possession, and a nice runback on the punt set the Bulldogs up on the Tiger 32. After Hayden Wright picked up a one-yard gain to the 31, he passed 31 yards to Josh Bostrom for a touchdown. Wright then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 28-19 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.

Mountain Home again went three-and out and punted the ball back to the Bulldogs.

After Wright picked up two yards on the first play of the series, Lesley took off on a 72-yard romp for another touchdown. The Wangen PAT made it 35-19 with 9:44 left in the ball game.

Mountain Home again went three-and-out. The Bulldogs then moved the ball down to the Tiger 10-yard line before the drive stalled.Chase Wangen then booted a 27-yard field goal to increase the Nampa lead to 38-19 with 5:28 left in the game.

Nampa then picked off a deflected pass to set up the Bulldogs' final score of the night, Lesley capping off a 73-yard drive with a 56-yard run for a score. With the PAT, Nampa led 45-19 with 1:11 left.

Mountain Home then put together an 80-yard scoring drive, Jake Hennessey connecting with J.T. Cristobal on a 13-yard scoring strike. Hennessey ran in the two-point conversion to make it a 45-27 final.

Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd said it was frustrating to see his squad battle back to take the lead, only to lose it again.

"I think that (taking the lead) was some of the problem," the coach said. "We kind of relaxed at that point, thinking the game was going to be our game."

Coach Floyd said that once again the big plays did them in.

"When we got the ball back and tried to retake the lead, and that first play, we fumble it and lose five yards. Watching it on film, it would have been a touchdown if we don't fumble. It's really frustrating."

Mountain Home managed just 51 rushing yards on 25 rushes.

Curtis Jackson rushed seven times for 17 yards, J.T. Cristobal rushed three times for 13 yards, Juan Silva had 12 yards on five carries, Alex Rodriguez rushed once for five yards, Anthony Castillo had two yards on one rush, Colton Zamora had one rush for zero yards and Jake Hennessey rushed seven times for zero yards and a touchdown.

Hennessey completed 18 of 28 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. He had two passes picked off.

J.T. Cristobal caught seven passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns, Tyler Wright caught three passes for 57 yards, Anthony Castillo had three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown, Colton Zamora caught two passes for 33 yards, Ricky Castillo had two catches for 19 yards and Juan Silva caught one pass for seven yards.

The Tigers dropped to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play. They host the Skyview Hawks Friday night for Senior Night.

With the playoff pictured pretty well shattered for the Tigers, Coach Floyd hopes his players can focus on closing out the season with a couple of wins.

"Right now, there would have to be a lot of things happen in the next two weeks for that to happen (make postseason play), and there's too many variables, so right now I'm not going to spend any time worrying about that. We're just going to go and win these last two games."

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