Scrimmage helps Tigers prepare for 2012 season

Mountain Home High School's varsity and junior varsity football players mix it up on the field during this weekend's Black and Orange Scrimmage. Held at Legacy Park, the Saturday event marked the Tigers' first formal public appearance as they prepare for this year's season, which begins Aug. 24 with a home game against Jerome. Photo by Brian S. Orban

The Mountain Home Tigers passed the first hurdle as they continue preparing for their 2012 opening football game.

The Tigers held a Black and Orange scrimmage Saturday at Legacy Park. After a two-hour workout, head coach Aaron Rodney saw some positives.

"Well, I think we did some good things. I think one of the things we really need to work on with this team is mental and physical toughness.

Members of the high school's cheerleading squad perform a stunt during Saturday's scrimmage. Acrobatic performances like this are just part of the squad's routines they will perform as the football teams compete against teams across southern Idaho. Photo by Brian S. Orban

"When we start getting tired, we make a lot of mistakes, and we made a lot of mistakes today. We didn't make a lot of good reads, running backs missed holes, linemen didn't get down field, the defense didn't pursue. We started doing that after we started getting tired.

"Early on, we were crisp, we were sharp.

"We're in a situation where a lot of guys are going to have to play both way," he noted. "We don't have the numbers of some of the schools we're playing, so one of the things we've been beating into these kids is they've got to be physically tough, they've got to be mentally tough and they've got to play hard for 48 minutes.

"We did some things good, but we've got a lot of things to clean up, and this program, we have the opportunity to be successful and I think we're on the right path for that right now.

"We've got a lot of good kids here. We don't have a lot of problems. We have a lot of good kids that are doing the right thing and want to get better and want to have some success, so as coaches, it's up to us to put them in the right positions to get them to have some success. But it's going to take a team effort, and like I said, we're going to have to play a lot of guys both ways, and we've got to work on getting mentally and physically tougher."

The Tigers have a jamboree this Friday evening at Columbia. Coach Rodney is looking forward to getting his guys ready to play.

"This will be a good jamboree for us. The last I looked at the schedule we've got three scrimmages against Burley, Fruitland and Parma, I believe, so that will be a real measuring stick of where we're at.

"Burley's a 4A team and the other two are pretty good 3A teams, so it'll be a good measuring stick of where we're at. Our goal is to get through the jamboree and have some success. If we can get some success and get these kids believing and come out of it relatively healthy, we'll do pretty good.

The jamboree is Friday evening at Columbia, with junior varsity teams starting at 4:30 p.m., and the varsity teams at 6 p.m. The Tigers will open their season at home on Aug. 24 at Tiger Field against Jerome.