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Tigers falter in fourth for homecoming defeat
The Jerome Tigers scored 28 points in under a six-minute period of time in the fourth quarter to break open a close game and beat the Mountain Home Tigers 42-14 during Friday night's homecoming game at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.
Up until that fourth quarter, the game was a good defensive battle, with the defenses bending, but not breaking.
Jerome scored on its second possession in the first quarter to go up 7-0.
It was the only score of the first half until Mountain Home scored on its final possession of the half. It came after Jerome was threatening to score but fumbled the ball into the end zone, which was recovered by Mountain Home, with 3:23 left in the half.
The home Tigers then moved the ball down the field 80 yards in 11 plays with Jesse Cobos passing to Luke Lockard on a six-yard touchdown pass. The point-after try was no good, and Jerome went into the locker room at halftime up, 7-6.
Mountain Home received the ball to start the third quarter, and put together an 11-play, 50-yard drive that stalled on the Jerome 25-yard line, Jerome taking the ball over on downs.
The visiting Tigers then put together a 75-yard, 10-play scoring drive to up their lead to 14-6 with 3:07 left in the third quarter.
Mountain Home answered with a 68-yard, nine-play drive, Jesse Cobos connecting with Tyler Park on a 17-yard scoring strike. Chris Wright ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 11:40 left in the ball game.
Mountain Home then intercepted a Jerome pass, but the play was nullified by a penalty. Mountain Home's defense held and forced a punt, but the punt return was fumbled, and Jerome had the ball back on the Mountain Home 15-yard line.
A pass interference call set up Jerome on the Mountain Home six, and they then passed for the go-ahead score, making it 21-14, Jerome, with 7:05 left in the game.
Mountain Home started its next series on its own 20-yard line and two plays later a pass was intercepted and returned for a Jerome score, making it 28-14 with 6:28 left in the game.
Mountain Home coughed up the ball on a fumble on its next possession and five plays later it was 35-14, Jerome, with 2:56 left
Mountain Home then started its next drive on its own 21-yard line, but four incomplete passes later they gave the ball over on downs to Jerome at the 21.
Two plays later, Jerome was in the end zone again, making it 42-14 with 1:53 left.
Mountain Home got a good runback on the kickoff to the Jerome 38, but time ran out before they could get into the end zone.
"We played well enough to win for three and a half quarters," said Mountain Home head football coach Aaron Rodney. "But some very questionable calls during the last seven minutes flustered us and we let the game get away down the stretch."
Jake Ryan led the Tigers' rushing game with 107 yards on 19 carries before suffering an injury in the fourth quarter. Tanner Sessions rushed nine times for 37 yards.
Tyler Park led the Mountain Home receivers with five catches for 45 yards and a touchdown. Chris Smith had four receptions for 33 yards.
Defensively, Tanner Sessions led the Tigers with 11 tackles, including four tackles for loss and one quarterback sack.
The Tigers open their conference season Friday night at Bishop Kelly. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.