Falcons down Tigers 49-16

The Vallivue Falcons took advantage of three pass interceptions and three fumble recoveries to stymie the Tigers offensively, and Corey Barnes threw three touchdown passes to help lead the Falcons past the Tigers, 49-16, in a non-conference football game Friday night at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home fumbled the ball away on their opening series, the Falcons recovering on the Mountain Home 39-yard line. Five plays later, Barnes connected with Andrew Castaneda on an 11-yard scoring pass. With Ricky Rojos' PAT, the Falcons led, 7-0, with 6:37 left in the first quarter.

Vallivue recovered the ensuing on-side kick at the Tiger 38-yard line, but a major penalty and a couple sacks killed Vallivue's drive, forcing a punt.

A Mountain Home fumble following a 41-yard running play killed a Tiger drive at the Vallivue 11-yard line early in the second quarter.

The two teams continued exchanging punts until Reggie High recovered a Falcon fumble on the Vallivue 43 yard-line. Two straight running plays by Tyson Sessions moved the ball down to the Falcon 24 before the drive stalled.

Kyle Clark got the Tigers on the scoreboard with a 42-yard field goal, making the score 7-3, Vallivue, with 5:06 left in the half.

Van Drumgoole then rambled 81 yards on a reverse for a touchdown for the Falcons, and Ricky Rojos again booted the PAT, and the Falcons went up 14-3 with 4:23 left in the half.

The Tigers then went three-and-out and had to punt the ball back to Vallivue, and Andrew Castaneda ran it back 53 yards to the Tiger 22-yard line. Three plays later Drew Wright raced 16 yards for a score. The PAT was no good, but the Falcons led, 20-3, with a minute left in the first half.

The Tigers then excited the hometown crowd, Jake Posey connecting with Brandon Doble down the sidelines on an 80-yard touchdown pass. Josh Lindsay booted the PAT to make it 20-10, Vallivue at the half.

The Falcons received the ball to start the third quarter, and moved the ball down the field 81 yards in nine plays, Van Drumgoole taking it in from 20 yards out for the score. Corey Barnes then passed to Andrew Castaneda for the two-point conversion to make it 28-10, Vallivue, with 9:07 remaining in the third quarter.

Mountain Home's first series of the third quarter was ended by a pass interception by Daniel Weaver, who returned the ball to the Tiger 15 yard-line.

Two straight penalties by Mountain Home put the ball on the five, where Corey Barnes connected with Andrew Castaneda again for a five-yard score. Van Drumgoole ran in the two-point conversion, and it was 36-10, Vallivue, with 6:42 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons scored again in the third quarter, as Barnes hooked up again with Castaneda, this time on a 60-yard scoring toss, to make it 42-10, Vallivue heading into the fourth quarter.

A 45-yard run by Drew Wright early in the fourth quarter set up the Falcons' final score of the night, as Parker Hamilton took it in from a yard out. Ricky Rojos booted the PAT to make it 49-10, Falcons, with 11:14 left in the game.

With the JV players in, the Tigers took the ball down the field 50 yards in 12 plays, Kyle Kerfoot scoring from 10 yards out to make it 49-16, with 2:08 left. The Falcons then ran out the clock for the victory.

Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd thought mistakes really hurt them, but put the game into perspective.

"It's a good learning experience. It's good that the game doesn't count -- it means nothing for the playoffs. So if you're going to lose one, this is the one to lose. It's tough that it has to be like that. I'd rather have played a great ball game and lost than giving the game away like we did. They didn't beat us, we beat ourselves."

The Tigers rushed the ball for 196 yards, led by Robert Daniels with 60 yards on 15 rushes. Zacq Hale rushed for 38 yards on three carries, Tyson Sessions had five rushes for 33 yards, Kyle Kerfoot rushed three times for 21 yards and a score. Jake Posey had six carries for 15 yards, Nick Barrie rushed twice for 10 yards, Tallon Pauley rushed once for eight yards, Billy Derome carried two times for seven yards, and Chris Knudson had two rushes for four yards.

The Tigers completed eight of 23 passes for 118 yards. Jake Posey connected on six of 17 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown. He had three passes picked off. Kyle Kerfoot completed two of five passes for 14 yards. Brandon Doble caught two passes for 91 yards and a touchdown, Zacq Hale caught three passes for 11 yards, Billy Derome had one catch for eight yards, Jesse Donez caught one for six yards, and Robert Daniels had a two-yard catch.

Defensively, Tyson Sessions led the Tigers with 14 tackles and a sack. Chris Knudson had six tackles and two sacks, and Kyle Clark had six tackles and a sack. Robert Daniels had four tackles, Reed Borgholthaus had a sack, and Reggie High had a fumble recovery.

Vallivue, with Drew Wright and Van Drumgoole both over 100 yards rushing, rushed 32 times for 218 yards. Corey Barnes completed eight of 16 passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns, all three to Andrew Castaneda who had six catches for 101 yards.

The Tigers open their SIC 4A conference schedule Friday night hosting the Skyview Hawks, who are also 1-1 on the season, coming off a 55-48 win over Caldwell last week.

"One thing about them, they don't run a gimmick offense," said Coach Floyd. "If you think about their whole scheme of things, getting people to their gaps where they need to be, it helps us out a lot. They put points up faster than anybody in the state probably and they're a good team, but if we play the way we can, I like our chances."

Friday night's Skyview game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. at Tiger Field in Mountain Home.