R-C Sports Notebook: Story of the Decade

Seems everyone in the sports world is doing their stories, coaches and athletes of the decade stories, so I felt compelled to weigh in on it, at least a little.

I contemplated doing the best athletes of the decade, the best single games of the decade, best teams of the decade and even the best plays of the decade.

It was all intriguing - the type of column I could sink a whole month into if I wanted (or had the time). But what I settled on was simply talking about the one story of the decade that will last (or even grow) with time. You already know what I'm talking about.

It happened on a chilly November night in 2003.

I was still the business reporter at The R-C at the time, but I'd taken to showing up on the sidelines during the Douglas High School football team's run through the playoffs in 2003.

So dominant was the team that year that when I pulled into the school parking lot that frigid night and saw the scoreboard reading 22-0 in favor of the visiting Reno Huskies, I thought it was some horrible joke.

Maybe even a momentary mistake on the scorekeeper's part.

It simply couldn't be. These were the same Reno Huskies that Douglas had beaten 34-14 just about a month earlier in the season.

Teams like the 2003 Tigers simply don't happen. Not here. Maybe in Northwest Reno. But not in Carson Valley.

Even after the 2002 squad lost in the first-round of the playoffs on a mud-soaked field against an inferior Galena squad, you could see the 2003 season coming at full speed.

31 seniors returning. A once-in-a-lifetime quarterback. A stiff-necked defense to compliment a frustratingly-balanced offense.

But, from the opening kickoff, it appeared the Tigers were going to be even better than expected.

First up was Reed, a team Douglas had only beaten a handful of times since joining the large-school classification. 42-16. Win.

Next was a trip to Elko, at the time one of the hardest places in the state to play against one of the most talented teams. 30-7. Win.

The next week, Douglas held that same Galena Mud Bowl team to just 77 yards of total offense, winning 49-0.

Blowout wins over North Valleys, South Tahoe, Hug, Reno, Wooster and Carson followed.

But then came the playoffs. Galena again. 42-0. Win.

Semifinals? Hug. 37-14, win.

It became the talk of the town. Heck, it was the talk of Northern Nevada. Was the school from little Minden going to claim the crown of the biggest sport in the region?

It seemed a sure thing. The matchups all went Douglas' way. They'd outscored their opponents 485-134 on the year.

Even as pre-game warm-ups started, there wasn't a thing in the world that pointed to a Tiger defeat. But, as they tend to say, that's why you play the game.

When the teams came out of the locker rooms for the game, a thick blanket of snow had covered the field.

Volunteers had to take snow shovels out to dig out the yard lines during the game.

Veteran sports writer Joe Santoro later said there wasn't another place in the state where it snowed that night. He said it seemed like the clouds had gathered right over Keith "Duke" Roman Field.

In all honesty, he wasn't that far off. Even a mile away, the snow hadn't fallen as thick or as hard.

Douglas head coach Mike Rippee has often been the first to point out that two teams have to play in bad conditions. He's repeatedly said that in reference to the 2003 championship game.

But the reality was, the slick field was a benefit to Reno's straight-ahead power run attack and the conditions did nothing to help the intricate Tiger passing game.

The Huskies scored 91 seconds into the game and didn't look back. They led 22-0 before the first quarter was even out and held off a late rally to take the regional title 34-14.

Two weeks later, they won the state title.

Over and over again in the years since, I've talked with countless coaches, officials, players and even casual fans who were either at that game or were paying close attention to it. To a man, they all say that was Douglas' state-championship to win.

You hate for a loss to be the lasting memory of a decade. But it's not the fact that the team lost that makes it so memorable. It was the remarkable conditions surrounding it.

Without that snow storm, it's likely I'm writing this column today about the school's first-ever large-school state championship in one of the big three sports being the story of the decade.

Even so, you can't allow a little snow to cover up what in the end was the most impressive body of work in Carson Valley this decade.

I made a lot of notes during the course of putting this column together and jotted down the 10 most-impressive individual performances of the decade:

10. DJ Brady throws back-to-back no-hitters in 2006. OK, so he did it against South Tahoe and Hug. But still, a no-hitter is a no-hitter and doing it twice in a row is unheard of. He was near perfect against the Vikings. The two games, combined with a start against North Valleys prior to the hitless streak to mark a stretch during which he struck out 30 batters, allowed two hits and just one run.

9. Chris Chappell wins back-to-back state titles in the pole vault (1999-2000). Ask anyone on the track team, winning a state title is hard (same goes for any other sport, but considering track probably has the widest participation out of any other high school sport, you get the idea). You've got to be something else to do it in consecutive years. Chappell was for the pole vault what Wade Meddles is quickly becoming in the middle distances in this area. He went on to have a nice college career at Arizona.

8. Tyler Tinstman returns three punts for touchdowns against South Tahoe in 2006. The fact that he kept getting punts sent his direction was surprise enough, but Tinstman did in one half (he, along with much of the Tiger starting lineup, sat out the second half in a 75-7 win over the Vikings) what most players don't do in a full high school career.

7. Shane Miller goes 50-1 on the wrestling mat in 2007, with his lone loss coming at an out-of-state tournament. He went on to win the state wrestling title in the 189-pound class and place at the national championships.

6. Amelia Ritger wins 70 consecutive matches on Northern Nevada soil, 2007-09. She came on the scene as a freshman so unassuming that most of her opponents didn't take her seriously. Less than two months later, she was holding the regional championship trophy without a loss to her name. She kept her streak alive, and brought home another title, the following year and only saw her streak end two matches into this season. Upon the loss, she just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to rattle off another 38 wins before falling in the regional title match. To date, her career record is 109-2 in Northern Nevada.

5. Tim Rudnick passes for 342 yards against Las Vegas, 2008. Rippee said the team would throw the ball more often heading into the year, but after the running game sputtered to start the game, Rudnick found his stride as a passer. He completed 21 passes and threw three touchdowns to help keep Douglas in a tight game, but the 342-yard total sent me searching back through our archives to verify the record. Still haven't found anything to beat it.

4. Brock Peterson rushes for 343 yards against Carson, 2007. I remember sitting down after this game and adding the numbers up. And adding them up again. And again. And again. I couldn't believe it. I still don't believe it. What was crazy about it was he had long touchdown runs of 44 and 50 yards, but really no other breakaway runs to pad the stats. Everything he got that night was earned by pounding the ball up the middle and off tackle. Needless to say, it was a school record.

3. James TenBroeck wins the state tennis title, 2009. The enormity of the task aside, the fact that TenBroeck won the title as a sophomore and in Las Vegas on the top players' basic home court was amazing. That he did it without losing a single set will only add to the lore.

2. Wade Meddles takes third at the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships, 2009. Time will tell what kind of runner Meddles ends up being. He says he's shooting for the Olympics. I don't put it past him. Remember, he's only in his second year of cross country and fourth year of distance running. The sky is the limit for what is likely the best distance runner the state has ever seen.

1. Ryan Laing hits four home runs against Hug in 2006. I don't care if it was Hug. You hit four home runs in one game against anyone (he had a solo shot, a two-run shot, a three-run shot and a grand slam in racking up 10 RBIs), it's a special day. Show me someone somewhere else who's done it. I dare you.

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Visit recordcourier.com/profootball to sign up and make your picks.

Here are my picks for week 17:

Bills over Colts

Panthers over Saints

Jaguars over Browns

Cowboys over Eagles

Bears over Lions

Patriots over Texans

Steelers over Dolphins

Vikings over Giants

Jets over Bengals

49ers over Rams

Bucs over Falcons

Packers over Cardinals

Broncos over Chiefs

Ravens over Raiders

Chargers over Redskins

Seahawks 21, Titans 14

Tiebreaker: Cowboys 21, Redskins 3

Last week: 9-7. Season: 154-86. Season Survivor: Out.

Two weeks in and I am 7-5. Really regretting the Wolf Pack pick. And the Boston College pick, for that matter.

WRONG. New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State over Wyoming

RIGHT. St. Petersburg Bowl: Rutgers over Central Florida

WRONG. R+L Carriers Bowl (These bowl names get lamer by the year: Southern Miss over Middle Tennessee

RIGHT. Las Vegas Bowl: BYU over Oregon State (I know, not likely, but my hope is that the Mountain West can show how under-rated it is)

RIGHT. Poinsettia Bowl: Utah over Cal (Same thinking as above)

WRONG. Hawaii Bowl: Nevada over SMU

WRONG. Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (Lest only one pizza place gets its own bowl game: Ohio over Marshall (Seriously, call me the worst football fan in the world, but I totally thought these two were still in the MAC East together. That's how far Marshall's fallen off my radar.)

RIGHT. Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pitt over North Carolina (How can a top-10 caliber team like Pitt be playing in bowl named after the company that takes care of your car's exhaust system?)

WRONG. Emerald Bowl: Boston College over USC (Hey, they Trojans are hurting right now.)

RIGHT. Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky

RIGHT. Independence Bowl: Georgia over Texas A&M (Still mad at the Aggies for not finishing it off against Texas)

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin over Miami (Call me crazy, but I think the Badgers are really underrated this year)

RIGHT. EagleBank Bowl: UCLA over Temple (I was kind of pulling for Army to make it, because that might have been a better matchup.)

Humanitarian Bowl: Idaho over Bowling Green (Can't pick against the Vandals in their own state).

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska over Arizona (Probably the best defensive matchup of the bowl season)

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Air Force

Sun Bowl: Stanford over Oklahoma (Toby Gerhart against the Sooner defense will be great theater)

Texas Bowl: Navy over Missouri (I like the upset here. Navy's rushing attack can throw all kinds of wrinkles at you)

Insight Bowl: Minnesota over Iowa State

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech over Tennessee

Outback Bowl: Northwestern over Auburn (The Wildcats have been quietly building out there. I pick them for a big win)

Capital One Bowl: Penn State over LSU

Gator Bowl: West Virginia over Florida State

International: South Florida over Northern Illinois

Cotton Bowl: Ole' Miss over Oklahoma State

Papajohns.com Bowl (Because we know them much more for their Web site instead of their pizza): UConn over South Carolina

Liberty Bowl: East Carolina over Arkansas (I think the Pirates may have just enough for the huge upset)

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech over Michigan State

GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan over Troy

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State

Sugar Bowl Florida over Cincinnati

Fiesta Bowl: TCU over Boise State

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Iowa

BCS Championship: Alabama 35, Texas 13

Time for this week's installment of Edd Roush's All-Stars (Formerly "This Wacky World of Sports") - Celebrating Edd Roush, the only player ever ejected from a Major League Baseball game for sleeping in the outfield.

Apparently, a Canadian man is planning to run 250 marathons in 2010. Two hundred and fifty. That a marathon for every day of the week with Fridays and Saturdays to rest.

His original plan was to run 365 marathons in a year, but his wife sent him to a doctor, who talked him down to five runs a week.

He'll compete in 12 official marathons, and do the other 238 on the foothills in his town.

The whole effort is to raise money for charity, and the man - Martin Parnell - is an avid runner who has done some ultra distance events, including ironman triathlons, in the past several years.

Still, all I can say is ouch.

On a related note, I'm actually beginning to train for a marathon in November. There'll be more on that in the coming weeks. I started a runner's blog section in this notebook several years ago and it was met with a decent reception. I stopped writing the blog, although I never stopped running.

I will restart the blog in the coming weeks, but I'll host it offsite at blogger.com or something. I'll let you know where it's at when it's up.