Turnovers prove costly in Tigers' 14-26 loss to Jerome

Mountain Home's offense line barrels through Jerome's defense as the Tigers picked up several yards on the play during Friday's season opener. Mountain Home trailed by four going into the half before Jerome extended its lead in the second to seal the win.

Turnovers proved costly for Mountain Home in the opening half with Jerome using them to score 12 points against the Tigers during Friday's season opener at Tiger Field.

Running back Chris Wright received the opening kickoff to take the ball to the 30. However, a fumble on the opening drive allowed Jerome's Alex Clay to run it back for an opening touchdown.

Mountain Home blocked the extra-point kick to keep Jerome to a 6-0 lead.

On the Tigers' second drive, Mountain Home pushed deep into Jerome's territory. With the ball on the six yard line with a third-and-four play pending, another fumble kept the Tigers out of the endzone with Jerome taking possession.

Jerome's passing plays allowed the team to move the ball down to Mountain Home's 40. Unable to pick up the first down, the Tigers took over with 1:38 left in the opening quarter.

Once again, Mountain Home's offensive drive stalled early in the second quarter with Jerome's running plays taking it down to the one before the team took it into the endzone with 8:01 left in the half. The Tigers once again thwarted the two-point attempt, but Jerome continued to lead, 12-0.

On the team's next drive, Jerome ended up going four-and-out before Mountain Home took over on downs. With 3:34 left in the first half, Wright ran the ball to the 10.

On the next play, quarterback Michael Campbell found a gap in Jerome's defense and ran it in for the Tigers' first touchdown of the season. Campbell then connected with Wright off a short pass for the two-point conversion with the Tigers trailing by four going into halftime.

The second half remained a defensive battle before Jerome completed an eight-yard run with 7:52 left in the third quarter. Once again, Jerome's two-point conversion fell short, but the team still held a 20-8 lead.

Five minutes later, the Tigers came back as Campbell completed a 60-yard pass to Walker Harris, who then ran it into the end zone. Jose Pedroza put away the point-after try with the Tigers still trailing, 14-20.

Jerome put the icing on the cake off a 40-yard run with 9:10 left in the game while keeping Mountain Home out of the endzone to finish the game, 26-14.

Jerome finished the game with 321 total yards off 54 plays while Mountain Home had 309 total yards from 50 plays. While Jerome had fewer completed passes, the team accumulated 227 combined yards compared to the Tigers, who completed seven out of 11 passes for 115 total yards.

Mountain Home had better luck on rushing plays with 194 yards off 39 attempts compared to Jerome which finished the evening with 94 yards.

In addition to five fumbles that led to three turnovers for the Tigers, penalties during the game cost Mountain Home 65 yards. Jerome lost 30 total yards off four penalties.

Wright led the Tigers on rushing with 73 yards compared to Campbell who had 71. Mitch Aguirre added 30 yards of rushing for Mountain Home while Sergio Figueroa had 13.

Harris finished the game with 103 yards from five receptions with Wright adding 10 yards off one completed pass. Aguirre was credited with one completed pass for two yards.

On defense, Kyler Proffit had six solo tackles and assisted with another to lead the Tigers that evening. Austin Tetrault and Jose Pedroza had two solo tackles but were each credited with two tackle assists.