R-C Sports Notebook: Breaking down the Douglas High football schedule

We're 13 weeks away from the opening kickoff of the high school football season and I managed to get a hold of the Douglas schedule for the 2008 season.

Of course, the team will still go through its summer conditioning sessions and any nunber of things could change before camp opening in early August, but Douglas will no doubt be spending plenty of time trying to plug in some holes.

Nineteen key players from last year's squad, including the entire eight-man defensive front and two out of three starters in the defensive backfield (for those counting, that 10 out of 11 starters) will be graduating the Friday.

That leaves senior-to-be and defensive back Tanner Thomas as the lone returner on defense and quarterback Tim Rudnick, receivers Zack McFadden and Ross Bertolone, lineman Parker Robertson and kicker Luis Pina as only returning starters on the offensive side of the ball.

All is far from lost however. Douglas went undefeated at both the junior varsity and freshman levels last year and there were a host of junior role players at the varsity level who could come up big as starters this year.

What we're going to talk about today, however, is the schedule. So without further ado, here's the breakdown:

Aug. 29, Douglas vs. Las Vegas, home. That's right Las Vegas. This is the first time Douglas has taken on a school from Southern Nevada that I can remember and it may very well be the first time the Tigers have taken on a southern school since moving up to the large-school classification. I simply haven't looked back that far. Either way, it's been quite a while. The deal is Douglas will host the Wildcats in the Hall of Fame game this year and will in turn travel to Las Vegas to open the 2009 campaign.

Vegas is as good as they come down south, but travel and altitude should have an effect. Tough to tell what will happen, but it should provide for some great football either way.

Sept. 5, Douglas vs. Reno, away: Yes, the Huskies have departed for the Sierra League, but the Tigers get to keep the rivlary going with a non-league matchup. Reno has a couple key players on the defensive side coming back, but lost a good deal of players to graduation. The Huskies recently won the regional weightlifting title, so they should be plenty strong.

Sept. 12, bye week: After Vegas and Reno, this will be a welcome rest for the Tigers. They'll use the week to regroup and prepare for their final non-league matchup against ...

Sept. 19: Douglas vs. Reed, away: What would the preseason be without a matchup against the Raiders. This will be the seventh time the teams have met in the last six years, so they know eachother pretty well. The catch here, because they have previously met in the Hall of Fame game, is that the freshman and JV teams have not played each other at all, so this should be a matchup of players who haven't seen much of each other yet.

Sept. 26: Douglas vs. Fallon, away: Douglas' road trip extends to three weeks with its first Sierra League match-up, against the league newcomer Greenwave. The Tigers' haven't lost to Fallon in quite a while and beat the Greenwave 41-0 last year.

Oct. 3: Douglas vs. Galena, home: This will be a tough one against two legitimate league title contenders. Galena has risen to regional prominence in the last two yeards but will also be graduating a large class, inlcuding their starting quarterback and running back. Mark this one on your calendar as a must-see, because it should be a great game.

Oct. 10: Douglas vs. Damonte Ranch, home: This will be Damonte's first trip to Minden for a football game. The Mustangs have been surprisingly stingy on defense during the past two years despite the program's relative youth. We'll see if that trend continues.

Oct. 18: Douglas vs. Wooster, away: My first thought on this one was that it was a typo, because the two teams met up in Reno last year, so this should be a home game for the Tigers. The Saturday date, though, gives it some creedence. Wooster hasn't come close to the Tigers at any level of play in the last five years and that trend should continue for at least another year. Surprises do happen.

Oct. 25: Douglas vs. Manogue, away: The second of two Saturday matchups in a row for the Tigers should be another great one. Manogue is a program on the rise and always has a fast and strong team. If for nothing else, plan on making this one just to see the Miners' exquisite facility. The football game should be pretty good as well with playoff implications no doubt on the line.

Oct. 30: Douglas vs. South Tahoe, home: The Vikings have been scrappy in recent years, but with limited numbers they haven't been able to touch the Tigers. With a returning coaching staff and rejuvenated interest in the program, don't be surprised to see South Tahoe make a run this year. The talent has always been there, it's just a matter of building the program now.

Nov. 7: Douglas vs. Carson, home: Ah yes, the annual end-of-the-year rivalry game. The Tigers have outscored the Senators 162-51 over the past four years and haven't lost this game in six years. Carson brings in a new coaching staff though, at the top of which will be former Tiger QB Blair Roman and former Douglas defensive coordinator Bob Bateman. This adds a whole new depth to the rivalry and I personally expect the Senators to surprise a lot of people next year. Time will tell.

With Bateman's departure and the recent news of offensive and defensive line coach Steve Wilcox deciding to hang up the whistle (story coming soon), the Tiger coaching staff will be sporting a couple of its own changes.

Head coach Mike Rippee will be calling the defense this season, Ernie Monfiletto will be coaching the line, Joe Andrews will coach the receivers and Brent Eddy moves up from the junior varsity level to coach the running backs.

Lance Hartzell will be coaching the JV team this year and former Tiger lineman Adam Johnson was recently hired to teach in the district and will be joining the freshman coaching staff of Ollie Herald and J.P. Albert.

Rippee said he'd like to add one more to the varsity staff, but that he is not going to force the issue if the right fit doesn't pop up.

Just a little background here: I got this wild idea in my head a couple weeks ago that I was going to attempt to compete in the all-comers track meets at South Lake Tahoe this July and August.

The idea up there is that these weekly meets, held on Thursdays and conducted by area track official Anthony Davis, are open to anyone ages 2 to 99.

I now have a little over a month to get into competition shape before the first meet.

I don't have any clue what event I'll try (I'm looking at the middle distances), but I'm looking mostly at the 800 because I can only be lapped once by each competitor (and I completely expect to have that happen).

In the last three weeks, after watching several videos online and reading a number of articles on the topic, I figured out that there was something severly wrong with my running technique.

I wasn't too surprised by this, because even when I've been in my best shape over the past five years and I was able to put out my best effort, my times were still nearly double that of what you would see in a masters' track meet in my age group.

Basically, I've been running strictly with my feet landing on my heels for the past five years. Not only does this create unnecessary impact on my joints but it leaves me in poor position to pick my foot up for the next stride.

Instead, I've learned, the object is to land toward the rear of the ball of my feet, with the foot touching the ground underneath my center of gravity. This propels my upper body slighty forward and makes for a much easier and much more efficient stride.

The best advice I read was that if you watch a five-year-old run around a playground, they're always coming down on the front ends of their feet. It's a natural form that we lose over time as we get used to walking heel-to-toe.

The thing is, it works.

I've cut almost a minute and a half off my three-mile time since implementing the change without increasing my overall effort at all. My focus has simply been to run with the correct form and it has paid some early dividends.

A couple of warnings before you try a similar shift: Make sure your feet, particularly your arches and achilles' tendons, and your calf muscles are well-stretched before attempting to run like this.

Also, don't just go out and run a mile (I know from experience). Ease into it with stretches of about 30 seconds to a minute and slowly build up to whatever your targeted distance is.

Whether or not I'll actually run in the meet remains to be seen. I think I'm just looking to prove to myself that after eight years behind a desk and a diet that largely consisted of fodder from the McDonald's extra value menu, I can get back into some reasonable shape.

After it got difficult for me to climb the bleachers at events I was covering, I knew it was time to change something.

I don't have any aspirations of actually winning an event. Instead, I'm just hoping to use competing in a meet as a goal that will keep me running on a consistent basis.

I'm going to make this a weekly column item through the summer, so anyone with any tips, suggestions or stories of their own is more than welcome to contact me at jcrandall@recordcourier.com

- The crowd at the annual powder puff game was pretty impressive. Fans filled one full bleacher case, lined the fence around the the north end of the field and filled half of the visiting bleacher case. It was comparable to a fall Friday night at Keith Roman Field.

- There are a couple more chances to see your Tiger favorites in action this month with the Kelley Baseball Classic coming up and the Sertoma Classic All-Star Football game on June 20.

"Sir, I asked you once already to put the puppet away." - The Juror, 1996.