Written by: Brandon Baney
Rarely do we see the first game of the year have a direct impact on whether a team makes the playoffs or not, but that's exactly what happened to the Mountain Home Tigers in 2021.
The Tigers outlasted conference rival Burley 28-21 in a Week One game last August. No one knew it at the time, but the Great Basin Conference's third and final playoff spot came down to a tie between Mountain Home and Burley. The Tigers, by virtue of their head-to-head win over the Bobcats, earned the playoff bid, and were defeated by top-seeded Sandpoint 46-0 in the opening round.
The shutout loss concluded a 3-7 overall season that was marred by injuries to several key players. Health has been a problem that has plagued Mountain Home the past few seasons. When comparing starting lineups, the Tigers match up favorably with most teams in their league. But when their depth takes a hit, it can get ugly fast.
Mountain Home said goodbye to a talented group of seniors in the offseason, and because of that, head coach Jim Clark has characterized his team as "a giant question mark."
But Clark also boasts that his team has a secret weapon. "We have a 240 pound brawler at quarterback in Gus Winings," Clark said. "He took giant steps this summer at camp in developing and understanding his reads that will end up making us or breaking us."
With a name like Winings, the story almost writes itself. But games aren't played on paper, and you can't win many games with just one standout player.
"We have a solid receiving crew led by 6-foot-1 Jamie Sabol and 6-foot-6 Jon Tetreault," said Clark. "And our running back crew is very shifty and fast with Dylan Jalos and underclassmen Cash WIley."
"UWiley) is a future All-State running back, in my opinion," Clark added.
The offensive line also has good size, with 6-foot-5, 250 pound Elijah Goodell and 6-foot-1, 260 pound Jesus Sanchez leading the way.
There are no shortage of fine offenses in the Great Basin Conference, so a young and inexperienced defense will have to learn quickly. "Our defense will be an area we will be working on all season to try and improve," Clark said.
Not many are predicting success at Mountain Home this season, but only one opinion matters to coach Clark. "The bottom line is, I believe Mountain Home can be a very good team and even win the conference," Clark proclaimed.
He did add one caveat to his conference-winning prediction, though: "We can make a run if injuries do not become a factor."