Tigers struggle during 49-7 loss to Skyview

A one-hour bus ride to Skyview High School took two hours Friday as the Mountain Home Tiger football team's bus was delayed by an accident in the two-way traffic construction section of Interstate 84 near the Boise Stage Stop.

Once they finally arrived at Skyview, it was like they never got off the bus, at least their offense seemed that way, as the Hawks scored early and often on their way to a 49-7 win over the Tigers.

Defensively, the Tigers started strong, bending but not breaking on Skyview's opening drive of the game, forcing the Hawks to turn the ball over on downs at the Mountain Home 26.

Mountain Home's offense struggled and went three-and-out, punting the ball back to the Hawks, who fumbled the return and Mountain Home had the ball back at the 50.

The Tigers again went three-and-out and punted the ball back to Skyview.

This time, the Hawks got their offense rolling, going 74 yards in six plays, helped out by a personal foul penalty. Jaxon Pryor taking it in from two yards out for the first score of the night. With the point-after try, the Hawks led, 7-0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.

That seemed to open the flood gates, so to speak, as the Tigers turned the ball over deep in their own territory on their next two possessions and the Hawks lead 20-0 after a quarter.

The Mountain Home offense continue to struggle in the first half, and the Hawks added another score to go in the locker room at halftime up 28-0.

Mountain Home managed to make it into Skyview territory on their opening drive of the second half, but were forced to punt the ball back to the Hawks.

Skyview took the ball 90 yards in six plays, the big play a 66-yard touchdown pass, as the Hawks increased their lead to 35-0 midway through the third quarter.

Less than three minutes later, the Hawks scored again to up their lead to 42-0.

Skyview took a batted pass back 76 yards for another score late in the quarter to up their lead to 49-0 as the third quarter ended.

Mountain Home finally got on the scoreboard late in the game, as Ryan Eckstrom took it in from five yards out after 71-yard pass play from Jesse Cobos to Eckstrom set up the score. With Jiame Martinez's PAT, it was 49-7 with 1:35 left in the game.

Skyview fumbled the kickoff and Mountain Home recovered, but the clock ran out on the Tigers before they could score again. The final score was 49-7, Skyview.

"The offense struggled, the defense struggled -- we didn't play our brand of football at all," lamented Tiger head coach Aaron Rodney after the game.

"One of the things that is a problem is our kids are afraid of Skyview -- they have been for some time. I don't know what the deal is, but they played scared tonight, and there's no excuse for that. We lined up wrong, we weren't disciplined, we missed tackles, we couldn't convert, we played horrible. We've got to somehow change that, because they're not that much better than us -- they're not 49-7 better than us.

"There's no excuse for that. We had a good week of practice and then they stepped out here and they forgot everything. They didn't do the things that they were coached to do, so not a very good showing. I'm extremely disappointed in our effort tonight -- that's all around -- coaches, players, I'm extremely disappointed in our effort tonight and there's no excuse for that."

The Tigers, who had just 33 total yards at halftime, ended up the night with 65 yards on the ground and 131 through the air for 196 total yards.

Ryan Eckstrom rushed 25 times for 91 yards and a score, Michael Knapp had four yards on seven rushes and Jesse Cobos rushed for minus 30 yards on 14 carries. Jesse Cobos completed seven of 20 passes for 131 yards.

Ryan Eckstrom caught one pass for 71 yards, Nigel Whitfield caught one pass for 35 yards, Danny Brescia had three catches for 25 yards and Michael Knapp had two catches for no yards. Skyview rushed the ball 40 times for 239 yards and passed for 259 for 508 total yards.

Defensively for the Tigers, Jake Ryan led the way with eight tackles while Paul Tancredi, Tanner Sessions and Jacob Sheffield all had five tackles.

The Tigers are on the road to Caldwell Friday night to face the Cougars, a game Coach Rodney believes is winnable.

"I think we have a great opportunity to win that game. They're in kind of the same boat we're in -- they're struggling a lot. I think they were expecting some big things, but they've struggled and we're going to go out there and get after them.

"This is a good opportunity we're going to have to get a win, but we've got to play a heck of a lot better than we did against Skyview, because if we don't, it's going to be the same thing."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Caldwell.