by Joey Crandall
Sports Editor
While crews from Sportexe are busy trying to tack down the new artifical turf at Douglas High School's Keith Duke Roman Field, school administrators are busily hammering out the details for just in case the field isn't completed in time for next week's regular-season finale against Wooster.
Douglas athletic director Jeff Evans said that should the field not be ready for the Oct. 26 homecoming game, the Douglas-Wooster game will be played at either Dayton or Yerington on the same day, but probably at 5 or 6 p.m. so that the school could get the players back in time for the homecoming dance.
That may not end up being a problem, however, as the turf is completely rolled out and sewn together as of Tuesday afternoon. Crews had finished marking the hashes on the field and are busy cutting away areas to add soccer lines and assorted logos.
A small concrete curb must still be laid around the perimeter of the field to anchor the turf down and the articifial "dirt" made of recycled rubber remains to be added, but by all accounts, the field looks beautiful.
"If they aren't done for next week, we still have high hopes of hosting the playoff game the week after," Evans said.
Crews from Sportexe have done a good job of getting the turf laid out with limited time. They began last Monday and had the entire field covered by last Friday.
- Initial concerns over having the wrong goal posts have been laid to rest for the time being. As it stands, the current Y-shaped goalposts, installed in late July, stick almost a yard in to each end zone, the result of the "gooseneck" piece being too long. However, Evans has conferred with the National Federation of High Schools and determined that as long as both participating schools consent to playing on the field, a contest can be conducted even with the wrong-soze goal posts. He said Wooster hasn't objected to the prospect of kicking at uprights that are a yard closer.
- University of Nevada offensive line/tight ends coach Cameron Norcross was on the Tiger football sideline for last Friday's Douglas-Hug game in Reno. While coaches are not allowed to comment on recruitable athletes, it's assumed he got a good look at Douglas senior linebacker Brent Koontz, who at 6-1, 215 pounds, is probably the Tigers' top candidate to play Division I ball.
Koontz had a sack and a number of big tackles in the game and has four interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown this season.
Senior safety/punter Cole Hamzik got off two beautiful punts and junior quarterback David Laird (6-2, 222) passed for 96 yards, including some of his best-looking passes this season.
- Douglas senior soccer standout Mike Gransbery's chase of the state, region and school records for goals in a season and region and school records for goals in a career took a blow last week as he broke his toe against South Tahoe.
He'll keep playing on it, but word is, the foot looks pretty bad.
With 58 career goals, it's believed that he may already have the Northern 4A and school records, but statistics from the 1996-98 seasons for the Douglas boys' soccer program have been hard to come by. If anyone else has more goals than Gransbery, it would most-likely be the former Tigers Jeremy Louthan or Dylan Sheridan.
Louthan has the school, Northern 4A and state 4A records for goals in a season with 31 during the 1999 campaign. Gransbery has 27 in 18 games so far this year.
- With the loss to Damonte Ranch last week, the Douglas volleyball team fell out of contention for the Sierra League title, meaning that for the first time since the Sierra League was drawn up seven years ago, the Tigers will not bring home the league crown.
While Reno has the inside track to win it all and Damonte Ranch will most-likely end up in the No. 2 spot, Douglas has been playing its best volleyball of the season over the last week and should come charging into the regional playoffs with momentum on its side.
The No. 3 seed out of the Sierra League may not be the worst thing in the world for the Tigers as it appears the High Desert League is on the weaker side this season.
Douglas would face the No. 2 seed out of the High Desert - Fallon, Galena or McQueen depending on how the next two weeks play out - and should the Tigers advance, they'd probably take on Reno, a team they'd have seen twice this season, in the second round.
If they can find a way to win there, they earn a berth at the state tournament the following week.
- With two of the three fall individual sports wrapped up for the year, it is safe to say this may be an area where Douglas becomes a regional power over the next few years.
The Tigers' girls' golf, tennis and cross country teams are all laden with underclassmen and all had, or are having, breakthrough seasons.
In golf, the Tigers qualified for Regionals without a single senior on their roster and even pulled off a stunning upset of Reno and Carson late in the regular season.
The boys' tennis team is led by sophomore phenom Robert Shawhan, who is well on his way to becoming the school's all-time winningest player after posting a 49-9 record over his first two seasons.
The girls' tennis squad was senior-rich on the singles side but had a bumper-crop of talented juniors, sophomores and freshmen in the doubles' bracket. Douglas' doubles teams carried the squad to a regional team playoff berth this season, compiling 56 of the team's 97 points.
The team should also gain current eighth-grader Amelia Ritger next season. Ritger has established herself on the Northern Nevada Junior Satellelite circuit over the last season.
For cross country coach Keith Cole, he has more underclassmen than he knows what to do with.
Juniors Whitney Lindsey, Anna Chiapella, Cassie Hood, Derrik Jenkins, Seth White and David Williams , sophomore Taylor Biaggi and freshmen Sara Mangiaracina and Scott Lococo are all varsity runners this season.
- Looking ahead to winter sports, Douglas boys' basketball coach Rob Streeter is eager, to say the least, about the prospects of the 2006-07 campaign.
The Tigers are coming off one of their strongest off-season slates ever, including a tournament title at the prestigious Memorial Day Classic at Reno High School last May.
Douglas scrimmaged against Galena earlier this Fall with Douglas missing football player/basketball starters Jeff Nady, Nate Whalin, David Lair and Kevin Emm and soccer standout Mike Gransbery.
Led by Keith Olson, Jared Trowbridge, Joe Nady and a cast of junior varsity and freshmen call-ups, the Tigers hung with the Grizzlies - sans blue-chip recruit Luke Babbitt - punch for punch.
Oslon, a 6-10 standout, is said to be in the best shape of his four-year career at Douglas. He has garnered interest from Utah State and Pacific, to name a few, but has not made a decision yet on where he will be playing next year.
