The Douglas Pop Warner Tiny Mite Tigers Black, comprised of rookie football players between the ages of 5 and 7, is competing for the first year.
Last year, the Tiny Mite program featured eight teams from Carson City, South Lake Tahoe, Fallon, Reno and Sparks.
Many of those teams feature returning players.
This year, 13 teams are competing in the division and, in following with Douglas Pop Warner tradition, the Tiny Mite Tigers Black football team has surged to a 3-0 record to open the season.
In week one, Douglas defeated the Fallon Greenwave 20-6 and the Tigers took down the Reno Panthers 36-18 in week two.
Last week, Douglas hosted the Reno Falcons and delighted the hometown crowd with a 24-6 victory.
Defensively, the Tigers almost pitched two shutouts in their first three games.
Middle linebacker Jayden Foster has forced two fumbles and recovered a fumble and scored a touchdown.
Outside linebackers Tanner Souza and Leo Cruz have reacted quickly to the ball and have assisted in shutting down the opposing teams' sweeps.
Cornerback Kyale Muckel has been tremendous in shutting down running plays to his side and he intercepted a pass against the Falcons late in the game to punctuate the win.
Kyale's younger brother, Corbin, has consistently applied pressure to the opposing teams' backfield from his defensive end position.
The remainder of the strong defensive play has been by defensive tackles Kadan Hall and Jimmy Matthews, defensive ends John Ketron and Nathan Gonzales, linebacker Cody McElister and safety Teegan Valenzuela.
The Tigers feature the fly offense, which has proven successful so far.
The offense is led by quarterback Tre Jackson, who is responsible for the timing, fakes and hand-offs of the misdirectional offense. Jackson has averaged 14 yards per carry over the first three games with one touchdown.
Slotback Cruz is averaging 11 yards per carry on the sweeps and had a 50-yard touchdown called back due to a penalty.
Fullback Gabriel Alexander Wetzel averages 4.8 yards per carry and has done a great job as the lead blocker on many of the plays.
Souza has carried the ball 18 times over the first three games for an amazing 529 yards, averaging just less than 30 yards per carry and 11 touchdowns.
The offensive line has been instrumental in blocking and creating holes for the running backs. The line is anchored by Johnathon Tobias at center, Miles Warren and Cameron Northcutt at guards, Julyan Wyatt and Austin Aiken at tackles and the strong blocking of tight end Tyler Lake.
The line is the pride of the coaching staff as they continue to progress on their blocking assignments each week. Wide receiver Rece Ackerson rounds out the offense for the Tigers.
PEE WEES
Douglas improved to 3-0 with another shutout victory by defeating the Reno Patriots 32-0.
Douglas' defense has been dominating as the Tigers kept the Pats from getting any first downs the entire game.
Defensive ends EJ Rose, Sully Cauley and linebackers Michael Hoyt, Jack Crawford and Steven Werth have been instrumental in shutting down the outside attacks and in putting pressure on the quarterbacks.
With the pressure up front, the Tiger defensive backs had a heyday with five interceptions.
Dusty Fisher had two interceptions, including his first for a touchdown. Michael Nolting also had two picks and returned his first one for a touchdown as well. JP Garner picked off the final interception.
Offensively, the offensive line pounded its blocks all the way down the field. Linemen Luke Nagy, Jimmy King, Keith Becker, Antonie Ward, Joseph White, Jimmie Bryan, Steven Hiatt and Lee Rusler were awesome as Conner Peterson scored on a 70-yard touchdown and then fullback Colton McKone gained yard after yard in controlling the clock and punching in a touchdown of his own.
After the first two scores, the offensive backs switched to play the line and the offensive linemen got to carry the ball as running backs.
Linemen Jason Connolly, Jake Connolly, Jesse Urteaga, Kurtis Dimitri and Jackson Ketron were all impressive with their running back moves and tight end Connor Greth got the final carry and scored a touchdown as well.
Douglas hosts the Carson Senators tonight at 6 p.m. at Stodick Park.
JUNIOR PEE WEES
Douglas topped the South Tahoe Vikings 27-0 to remain unbeaten on the year.
The defense led the way with another shutout as the linebackers caused two fumbles.
Tyler Seamons, Kaleb Foster and Matthew Jones applied pressure to the Vikings' running game only allowing one long run.
The defensive line was in the backfield all night applying pressure to the quarterback. Kole Ackerson, Josh Curtis, Wyatt Eichhorst, Cameron Fricke, Brennan Neilon, Ian Pielier, Taylor Seamons, Seth Trivitt and Taylor Souza led the defensive line.
The corners and the safety made some outstanding tackles led by Brandon Valdez, Joseph Petrali and Reed Winans.
Cody Carter led the offense with three rushing touchdowns and two extra points.
Bryce Belanger had one touchdown and one extra point and Austin Ball added an extra point.
Conner Lyons had a couple of nice runs, Austin Dickey had a 40-yard run and quarterback Wes Hundly did a great job keeping in control of the game.
The offensive line blew holes open all night for the explosive Tiger running game led by center Ryan Philips, Justin Carney, Timothy Chandler, Nathan Clinger, Ben Cochran, Austin Dickey, Mason Garduno, Wyatt Leonard, Daniel Long, Kyle McDaniel and Colton Waggoner.
The junior pee wees play in Sparks tonight against the Wolf Pack at 6 p.m.
