Reed runs over Douglas in opener

It may have been a matchup between the defending champions of each Northern 4A league in Minden Friday night, but it quickly turned into the Zack Parker show.

Parker, Reed's senior starting quarterback, threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more, compiling 307 yards of total offense to lead the Raiders to a 38-15 win over Douglas High.

Reed drove 78 yards on 10 plays on its second drive of the game, getting on the board first with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Parker to Roman Kea and things quickly got ugly for Douglas after that.

The Tigers fumbled the ensuing kickoff return at the 19-yard line and Reed's Larry Cooper scampered into the end zone two plays later for a 17-yard score.

Reed intercepted the ball just two plays after that and Parker hit receiver Tyler Olivero for a 12-yard touchdown on the next play to boot the Raiders to an 18-0 lead with three touchdowns on just six plays from scrimmage.

Douglas was never really able to get in the game from that point on, committing an uncharacteristic 12 penalties for 75 yards, eight of which were offsides.

"We were bad," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "We were out-coached and out-played and that starts with me.

"I have to do a much better job of getting these kids prepared. Tonight, it was just penalty after penalty and mistake after mistake. It was just a poor job all the way around.

"That's just not the type of game we've come to expect around here. If we plan to win any games, we are going to have to play a lot better than that."

Parker finished the game with a game-high 102 yards rushing on 11 carries and 205 yards passing on 12 of 22 completions. His biggest highlight of the game came on a 68-yard keeper in which he bolted up the middle and then cut across for the Raiders' final touchdown of the night with six seconds left in the third quarter.

Olivero led all receivers with six catches for 92 yards, Cory Whitaker caught two for 59 and Lennox Pierce caught three for 43.

Cooper finished with 11 carries for 61 yards.

For Douglas, the Tigers did not manage a single first down on offense until Brock Peterson broke away for an 11-yard gain with 7:29 remaining in the second quarter.

Fullback Brandon Lowrance ran a dive up the middle on the ensuing play, turning it into a 59-yard touchdown run.

Douglas' other touchdown came on a 5-yard pass from quarterback David Laird to Jeff Nady with 6:48 remaining in the game.

Laird completed 10 passes for 81 yards in the game. Lowrance had three carries for 66 yards, Peterson carried 14 times for 43 yards and Will Sheerin carried eight times for 36 yards.

"This is a tough one to swallow," Rippee said. "We were out-hit. Those guys are a good team, very talented, but they were more physical than us.

"Sometimes you might get beat, but if you step up and play physical football, you can live with those things. We were just beat down tonight, it wasn't good.

"I'm blaming me, I have to do a better job of preparing these kids to play."

The Tigers struggled offensively to get anything going in the first half, but showed signs of life to start the second half as they drove 65 yards on 13 plays to the Reed 7.

Laird completed what looked like a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Emm, but the play was called back on a holding flag, putting the ball back to the 28.

Reed intercepted the ball two plays later to end the threat.

The Douglas defense clamped down and held Reed to 46 yards over the next three drives before Parker broke free for his long touchdown run.

On the opening drive of the fourth quarter, Douglas drove 75 yards on 13 plays to score on Nady's touchdown catch and Peterson punch in the two-point conversion, set the score at its final.

"We just have to get back to fundamentals," Rippee said. "There were a couple things we saw that were good, a couple of individual efforts, but we just did not play like a Douglas football team. It's as simple as that."

Douglas will pick back up at Bishop Manogue next week before returning home for Fallon on Sept. 7.

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.