Puckett leads Tigers

Timberlake senior running back Nick Puckett has been bottled up of late.

After going seven quarters without a touchdown, Puckett uncorked three beauties, including a school-record 99-yard run, in the fourth quarter of a 46-18 victory over Kellogg in both teams’ Intermountain League opener at Spirit Lake.

Puckett, held in check for 56 yards on 12 carries until midway through the fourth, racked up 176 yards, adding TD runs of 9 and 42 yards, on his final four carries.

“They came out with a really weird defensive front, so we made a lot of adjustments at halftime,” Puckett said. “Obviously, I’m really happy with the way we played in the second half.”

His beaming smile made it clear that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“Last week at Riverside, I didn’t get in the end zone, and I was peeved about it all week,” Puckett said. “So I made it a point to run hard and keep my shoulders square and just run, run, run today.”

Timberlake (3-1 overall, 1-0 IML) got on the board just a minute in, going 59 yards in four plays with senior running back Matt Jutila taking it in from 23 yards out.

Senior quarterback Levi Powers made it 14-0, punching it in on the ground from 5 yards out after the first of three turnovers by the Wildcats.

Kellogg (2-2, 0-1) fought back with a 37-yard Jonathan Bauer field goal early in the second quarter and cut the lead to four at 14-10 when senior QB Ty Ketchum took advantage of the first of two Timberlake turnovers, finding senior wideout Jeremiah Big Spring from 5 yards out.

Powers, Puckett and the Tigers’ offense, however, ended up to be too much for the Kellogg defense to handle down the stretch.

Timberlake coach Roy Albertson said that there is always room for improvement.

“I’m not happy with the fact that we’re slow starters – it takes us too long to get going,” Albertson said. “The second half of ballgames, we do a great job.

“We’ve got to come to play hard from now on, or we’re not going to get where we want to be.”

Kellogg coach Al Williams had a hard time finding anything negative to say about his team’s play.

“I was real pleased with our effort,” Williams said. “I think part of our problem was we got a little too aggressive and overran plays, and that’s what gave them some of their big plays.

“Defensively, we pretty much had them figured out, and we started to try to make big plays instead of just making the plays.”