For years, the Douglas High School football program has considered the second half to be its stomping ground.
Friday night at Reed, however, the Raiders just found ways to keep Douglas from putting any kind of momentum out of the locker room, racing to a 21-0 victory in the season-opener for both schools in Sparks.
"We truly work hard to come out in the second half and dominate and we simply didn't do it," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "I felt the defense played fairly well in the first half but when it came time to bow our necks and continue to play well, when we weren't really getting our offense going, we gave up too many yards and too many big plays."
The Raiders only held a 6-0 lead heading into the second half, but put up three more scores to take the win.
Douglas did manage to hold the normally explosive Raider offense to limited gains, however, giving up 128 yards on the ground and 169 yards in the air.
Jerel Clark led the Raiders with 64 yards on 14 carries with a two-yard touchdown run. Tony Maldonado passed for 169 yards on eight completions with touchdown passes of 19 and 47 yards.
"We didn't make the stops we needed to but there were bright spots, there's no doubt about it," RIppee said. "It's wasn't all dismal."
The longest gain on the ground that the Tigers allowed was a 19-yard option scramble by Maldonado, which came late in the game.
The Raiders did most of their damage through the air, scoring on a 19-yard pass from Maldonado late in the first half and again on a 47-yard screen pass with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
Douglas didn't allow the Raiders to convert on a single extra-point, blocking one kick and stifling two two-point conversion attempts.
Reed picked up the remainder of their points on a 38-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Two of Reed's scoring drives started inside Tiger territory.
Offensively, Douglas didn't show any signs of trouble moving the ball early on, but simply couldn't find a way to break through.
The Tigers drove 52 yards on the opening drive of the game before missing a field goal wide right. They fumbled on the second play of their second drive, but then drove 57 yards early in the second quarter before letting it die at the Raiders' 22-yard line.
That was as close as Douglas would come to hitting pay dirt for the rest of the game.
"In the first half, we had some opportunities," Rippee said. "We were always just a play or a trip or a penalty away.
"It just didn't work tonight. We're going to sit down and evaluate and see what we have to do to get better."
After the promising first half, the Tigers struggled to find any sort of rhythm in the second.
"I'm really dissappointed with the second half," Rippee said. "We just have to get those things right and get the kids ready to come to play next week."
Douglas' best opportunity of the game actually came on defense when defensive end Nate Whalin appeared to scoop a Maldonado pass up and bolt to the end zone with it midway through the second quarter. However, the play was ruled an incomplete pass.
David Laird completed seven passes for 64 yards to lead the Tiger offense and Reese Kizer carried the ball 13 times for 45 yards.
Brock Peterson had four carries for 28 yards and Brandon Lawrence carried it three times for 11 yards.
Devin Barker caught two passes and Kyle Heidt caught one for 22 yards. Kizer had a catch for 15 yards, Kevin Emm had a catch for 13 yards and Brent Koontz caught a pass for nine yards.
Defensively, Emm and Whalin each had a sack and Jeff Nady was in on two sacks. Koontz appeared to have forced a fumble in the first quarter but the play was called back on an errant whistle.
Douglas dropped to 0-1 with the loss while Reed improved to 1-0. Douglas takes on Spanish Springs at Spanish Springs next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
n Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
