Soccer competition begins

The Mountain Home Tiger boys soccer team opens its season this week with three games.

Jay Lockett takes over the head coach's job after being an assistant the last few years.

Coach Lockett indicated they had a "great turnout" for boys soccer.

"In summer conditioning, we averaged around 40 players," the coach said. This year, we've had 42 try out and we've kept everybody so far."

But Lockett said his varsity squad, though high on numbers, is low on experience.

"We're very young," the coach added. "We have about seven freshmen and about eight to ten sophomores, and we have a few seniors and a few juniors, so we're very young, but we have a lot of talent."

Lockett sees this year's conference race to be up for grabs, with no one team dominating.

"There was a Jamboree last weekend -- we didn't go, but most of the other 4A teams went, and Middleton came out ahead. I was very surprised. Bishop Kelly didn't show up and we didn't go, but Middleton got first and Skyview got fourth and Columbia got third.

"I think the conference is well balanced this year. I don't think anyone is dominant this year. We all lost a lot of seniors last year."

The Tigers opened their season at Columbia on Tuesday, travel to Nampa Thursday and host Caldwell for a 2:30 p.m. match at Eastside Park on Saturday.