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Tigers come up short during season debut
The Mountain Home Tigers showed the promise of things to come, but came up short in their season opener with the Canyon Ridge River Hawks Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.
The River Hawks from Twin Falls found the scoreboard first, scoring on a couple pass plays to take a 13-0 lead.
Mountain Home capped off a drive with a run by Jesse Cobos. The point-after try by Jose Ortiz brought the Tigers within six heading into the second quarter.
Canyon Ridge upped its lead early in the second quarter, running back a pass interception for a score. It also scored on another pass and got two-point conversions after each score to up the lead to 29-7 with just under nine minutes left in the half.
Mountain Home capped off a scoring drive with a five-yard run by Jacob Ryan. The pass for two to Tyler Park made it 29-15 with 4:37 left in the half.
Mountain Home then recovered a fumble on the Canyon Ridge 26. Six plays later Jacob Ryan took it in for another score. Jose Ortiz's PAT was blocked, but the Tigers had cut the deficit to 29-21 going into the locker room at the half.
Canyon Ridge received the ball to start the second half and was having success with their running game moving the ball. The River Hawks then tried a pass and Brad Foreman intercepted it and ran it back 52 yards for a score. The pass for two points was incomplete, but the Tigers had narrowed the gap to two, 29-27, with 8:53 left in the third quarter.
Canyon Ridge's next possession ended with a fumble recovery by the Tigers at the River Hawks' 40-yard line.
The Tigers failed to pick up a first down and turned the ball over on downs to Canyon Ridge. The River Hawks took just four plays to go 69 yards for another score. The PAT failed but Canyon Ridge led 35-27 with 5:21 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers turned the ball right back over to Canyon Ridge on a fumble at the end of a pass play and Canyon Ridge moved the ball 56 yards in six plays for another score. The pass for two failed, but they increased their lead to 41-27 with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
The score stayed there until the Tigers took advantage of a poor punt and started a fourth-quarter drive at the River Hawk 48.
Jesse Cobos capped off an eight-play drive with a pass to Tyler Park for the score. The PAT kick was no good and Mountain Home was back within eight, 41-33, with 9:08 left in the game.
Canyon Ridge answered the Mountain Home drive with one of its own, scoring on a pass from 11 yards out on fourth down. The two-point conversion upped the lead to 49-33 with 4:50 left on the clock
Mountain Home fought back, and moved the ball down to the River Hawks' 15-yard line until a fourth-down interception killed the drive.
Canyon Ridge then ran out the clock for a 49-33 win.
Mountain Home had some impressive offensive numbers for the night with 364 total yards. Jacob Ryan led the Tiger rushers, carrying 17 times for 13 yards and two touchdowns.
Jesse Cobos completed 20 of 38 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. He had two passes picked off.
Tyler Park led the Mountain Home receivers with seven receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown. AJ Daniels caught five passes for 60 yards, and Chris Wright had five catches for 27 yards.
Defensively, Tanner Sessions and Jacob Ryan led the Tigers in tackles with 16 and 13, respectively. Brad Foreman had a pass interception return for a touchdown and Luke Lockard also picked off a pass.
Despite the loss, Tigers coach Aaron Rodney was positive about his Tigers.
"I was pleased with how hard our kids played and kept clawing back. They showed a lot of character," he said. "Canyon Ridge gave us opportunities to take the game, but we couldn't capitalize. We showed glimpses of being very good, but we need to be more consistent on both sides of the ball."
The Tigers will face another Great Basin team from the Magic Valley this Friday night when they travel to Twin Falls to face the Bruins.
"Twin Falls will be another challenge for us and we are excited about getting back on the field and have an opportunity to bring a win back to Mountain Home," the coach said.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Twin Falls High School.