With the Douglas girls' golf team wrapping up its second-straight regional title last week, I got to thinking (as I tend to do) about where that acheivement ranked among the other sports programs at the school. Really, what are the best dynasties to reign at Douglas since the school opened in 1909?
I looked through my records and with nods to the boys' basketball program (1913-14 and 1914-15 state champs, conference and regional champions in 1951-52 and 1952-53 and zone champs in '58-59, 59-60), the girls' volleyball program in the '70s (state champs in 1976, 1977 and 1978) I scraped together as much as I could on the most dominating periods the school has had since moving to the large-school classification in 1979.
5. Boys' Soccer 1996-99: During this four-year stretch, Douglas was the elite program in the region. The Tigers won regional titles in '96 and '97, league titles in '97 and '98, ran up a 17-game win streak in '98 and even ended up with a national ranking for a period of time. The program went 63-13-9 in four years and advanced to state twice.
4. Girls' Golf 2007-08: Two years is a tough sell as a dynasty, but the style in which this team has won their two regional titles has been impressive to say the least. Douglas did not lose a tournament in Northern Nevada in the last two years (Tuesday's state results pending, of course) and were winning tournaments this season by upwards of 60 strokes.
3. Girls Soccer 1998-2002: Douglas came up with two regional/state titles (the Northern 4A tournament counts for both since the south plays in the winter), appeared in the regional championship game three times, won a trio of league titles and posted a 78-11-8 record during that stretch. They also went unbeaten in league play between 1998 and 1999
2. Softball 1991-93. Two state titles, three regional titles. What more can you really say? Well, here's a start. Dena Pitts (regional player of the year in '92 and '93 recorded more than 500 strikeouts in her career and logged many, many no-hitters (I was able to track down at least eight... our records back then were a little incomplete). The crazy part is she didn't even pitch the majority of Douglas' games. Douglas used a two- to three-player rotation in all but Pitts' senior season. Kim Capra was the region's player on the year in 1991.
1. Volleyball 1995-present: Thirteen years is a long time for any one team to dominate a sport, but Douglas volleyball has been the elite program in the region through that time period. The Tigers have three regional titles and one state title during that stretch and have been in the regional title game in all but three of those seasons.
Douglas has captured all but one league title since the leagues were established in 2000 and has gone undefeated in league play four times since 2001.
The craziest part is Douglas has had eight different coaches at the helm in 13 years and average a coaching change about every 1.5 seasons.
- Douglas quarterback Tim Rudnick stands second place on the school's all-time list for passing touchdowns in a career with 24. He trails Luke Rippee's 39.
He needs 158 yards to move into second place on the career list for passing yards (he is currently at 2,313) and his 147 completions now rank third on the career list.
Rudnick also moved into second place for yards in a season with 1,626, captured sole possession of second place in season touchdown passes with 16 and moved into a tie for third in season completions with Chris Griffith at 105. He still trails Rippee in yardage (1,968) and touchdowns (17).
- Zach McFadden moved into a tie for fourth in career receptions with Brady Ovard at 65, moved into second place in in career yardage with 1,057 and remains in third in career touchdown catches with 11. Andy McIntosh leads all three categories with 104 catches for 1,816 yards and 17 touchdowns between 2001-03.
On the season lists, McFadden moved into third place in yardage with 718 behind McIntosh's 884 in 2003 and Robert LeGrand's 831 in 1983. His seven touchdowns put him in a tie for fifth with Carlos Veredja and Joey Manoukian, trailing McIntosh, Ovard and Cary Hart who are all tied at eight.
- Freshman Tia Lyons is within striking distance of the girls' soccer state record for goals in a season with 21. The record, held by former Tiger standout Morgan LeFever, is 26.
Douglas has two games remaining in the regular season.
Lyons' 21 goals put her in a tie for second on the school's all-time list with Hannah Sullivan, who had 21 in 2003.
Douglas has three teams in contention for league titles.
Volleyball must win two more matches to clinch. A win over Manogue and a Damonte loss to Carson or Manogue could clinch it this week.
Girls' soccer must win its two games this week to clinch or can win once and hope for a Tahoe loss to Carson on Saturday. After that it gets complicated.
The football team needs a win over Manogue to take control in the league race. A loss would leave Douglas needing to win out and Manogue to lose its final two games.
Things looked pretty bleak along the Douglas football sideline Saturday, despite the 49-6 final score. The Tigers had 12 players in street clothes due to various injuries, starting running back Johnny Pollack among them.
The good news is standout tackle Parker Robertson is expected back this week and Pollack could return to action as well. Their presence would be a boost to the Tigers against Manogue.
The Miners have an offense more prone to the run, but they can throw it pretty well too.
In all the hype about Douglas' offense this season, a little lost in the mix has been that the Tigers also boast a pretty strong defense.
The Tigers have only allowed four rushing touchdowns in seven games and are surrendering 133.8 yards per game on the ground. f you take away the season-opening game against the potent Las Vegas offense, teams are only averaging 115 yards per game on the ground against the Tigers.
They are giving up 146.3 yards per game through the air.
- The Douglas and Galena volleyball teams both wore their home white jerseys at last week's match in Minden. To make matters a little more complicated, both teams have the same long-sleeve template, so at first glance it appeared they were all wearing the same uniforms. Not that it mattered.
- Manogue's girls' soccer coach is former Douglas standout Amber Gwinn.
- The Douglas boys' soccer team will miss the regional playoffs for the first time since 2002 when the team went 7-7-1 overall and 4-7 in Sierra League play. It'll be only the third time they haven't had a postseason since 1995.
That's not to say anything about the quality of the team. Five of their seven league losses came by one-goal deficits and four of those came on late goals.
Everyone talked about how good the Sierra League was going to be, and the league as a whole certainly lived up to its billing.
- Here's an example of just how good the Sierra League is in boys' soccer this year. Both the defending regional champ (Douglas) and the defending regional runner-up (South Tahoe) will miss the playoffs. The four teams going (Carson, Manogue, Galena and Wooster) could very well sweep the first round of the regional tournament.
- The Douglas football team suited up four running backs for Saturday's game against Wooster, but none had ever seen any first-half experience in a varsity game. All four ended up with at least one carry.
- Douglas' win over Wooster extended the Tigers' road win streak to 15 games. It was their 12th-straight win in their white jerseys.
- After only one win against Wooster between 1983 and 2001, Douglas has won the last seven meetings between the two schools.
- It may have just been me, but I was sure I saw Manogue athletic director Joe Sellers out at the Douglas-Wooster football game for a period of time. Getting a scouting report for this week's Douglas-Manogue game or checking in on his former program? Probably a little of both.
- Bo Sellers is coaching defense for the Wooster football team. He doesn't have a ton to work with, but I could see that program making a return to competitiveness in the next four years. They play hard and show a whole lot of heart despite a roster size of only about 30.
- The Douglas girls' soccer team has outscored its opponents by 50 goals this season. They are averaging almost four goals a game. Have I mentioned lately that 46 percent of the Tigers' starting lineup is made up of freshmen?
- Carson volleyball defeats Manogue in five games. Let's get this out of the way first - Manogue is really, really good. But so is Carson. Carson was without its starting setter in the first matchup between the two schools and Manogue naturally cruised to a victory. Carson came back last week at full strength, however, and picked up a big win.
- Hug football beats Reed 53-47. The fact that Hug won isn't as surprising to me as the fact that the two teams combined for 100 points in the game. Sure, Reed runs a potent passing attack, but remember Hug has a pair of top Division I recruits in the defensive backfield. What happened there?
- Douglas volleyball sweeps Damonte Ranch. Douglas just seemed to play on entirely different level than the Mustangs in last Tuesday's matchup. I expected at least four, if not five games from this one. Damonte is strong, particularly defensively, but Douglas played its best match of the season as a team. If that's the type of volleyball they play when the postseason rolls around they could be looking at another banner or two for the home gym. When the Tigers are firing on all cylinders, there is not a team in the state that can touch them.
- Douglas' Marissa Delgadillo and Niki Hamzik upset High Desert League No. 1 seed at regional tennis. I've written of this Tiger duo in this column before, but this was one of the big upsets of the regional tournament. They are solid players and play well together, but together they only have about three years of competitive tennis experience between them.
Not-so-much. Reno's Jeff Mullen wins regional tennis title. Mullen missed nearly the entire year with an injury and looked a little hobbled during his trip to Minden in the last week of the regular season. The 6-foot, 7-inch defending champ looked as sharp as ever this weekend though and had his only real challenge from Douglas freshman James TenBroeck in the finals.
If I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional football honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:
1. Kyle Van Noy, McQueen; 2. Tim Rudnick, Douglas; 3. Patrick Riggs, Manogue; 4. Courtney Gardner, Hug; 5. Ray Daniels, Damonte Ranch
"Let's keep our guns ... and our jobs," " radio political advertisement.
The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competition, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the state/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.
Fall Sports
1. Bethany Wurster, golf
2. Amelia Ritger, tennis
3. Megan Mitchell, volleyball
4. Tim Rudnick, football
5. Tanner Thomas, football
6. Johnny Pollack, football
7. Tia Lyons, soccer
8. Ally Freitas, soccer
9. Ross Gardner, soccer
10. Taryn Williams, volleyball
If there were more spots on the list: Taylor Biaggi, cross country; Alex Laing, soccer; Jourdan Burke, volleyball; Katie Dry, girls' soccer; James McLaughlin, football; Jessica Waggoner, volleyball; James TenBroeck, tennis; Parker Robertson, football; Zach McFadden, football.
Did Bob Schieffer's mother really used to say "Go vote. It'll make you feel big and strong"? I mean, how old was he when she said that? Eight?
You know those new Campbell's V8 vegetable soups being advertised on TV? All I see is a big bowl of baby food.
This past week I made my picks going against my snap reaction to every game. The result?
Pretty much exactly the same. I'll go back to my normal picking strategy this week. St. Louis over Dallas? What can you do?
You can still sign up for the weekely contest at www.recordcourier.profootball.upickem.net.
Congratulations to the week 7 winner, Dennis Essary.
Here are my picks for week 8:
Dolphins over Bills
Raiders over Ravens
Panthers over Cardinals
Buccaneers over Cowboys
Falcons over Eagles
Chiefs over Jets
Saints over Chargers
Patriots over Rams
Redskins over Lions
Jaguars over Browns
Bengals over Texans
49ers over Seahawks
Titans over Colts
Tiebreaker: Steelers 21, Giants 14
Season record: 51-51. Record last week: 7-7. Season survivor: Out.
- Eluding the black smoke cloud is scheduled to become an Olympic sport in 2016, replacing rhythmic gymnastics.
