R-C Sports Notebook: Ground game is the engine that drives the aerial attack

Douglas football coach Mike Rippee has been preaching it all season and it certainly proved true Friday night against Reed.

As long as the Tiger ground game is clicking, the passing game will be able to do just about whatever it wants. No ground game, though, and things grind quickly to a halt.

Douglas was having its way against Reed, piling up 246 total yards in the first half to go with four touchdowns, before hitting a bump in the road midway through the third quarter.

The Tigers had driven 33 yards on five plays to open the second half but the drive sputtered on three consecutive incomplete passes.

The next two Tiger drives went three-and-out as Douglas managed just five yards on the ground, which might have proven to be the turning point in the game had the Tiger defense not been taking care of business (Douglas ended three of Reed's first four drives of the half with an interception, including one that Luis Pina-Duarte returned 70 yards for a touchdown).

On Douglas' third drive of the half, running back Johnny Pollack, who was caring the load due to an injury earlier in the week to Jordan Cruz, gained 17 yards on the first two carries and then came limping off.

"We have to stick to the run," Rippee said. "You can see where we sputtered a bit in the second half. It just gives the other team an opportunity to get back into it, especially a team as explosive as Reed.

"We have to run the clock, get first downs. Johnny was carrying the load, Cruz was out, it's important to keep running the ball.

Douglas certainly adhered to that philosophy through the start of the game, running the ball on 15 out of a total 37 offensive plays in the first half.

"As much as everyone loves the aerial attack " it's pretty to see the ball in the air " you are not going to win a big game unless you are running the ball well. As long as you have the ball, the other team can't score."

Indeed, much has been made of Douglas' passing proficiency this season. When you step back and look at the stat sheets, though, there is no way around the fact that this year's team has a strictly balanced offense.

Through three games, the Tigers have logged 96 carries and have 106 pass attempts. The more success Douglas has running the ball, the more gaudy numbers you'll see on the passing side.

It simply will not work the other way around.

If you were there, you already know what this is about. Simply put, you may never see a better play in high school football than what happened just before halftime at Reed Friday night.

Set up at the Reed 45-yard line with 5 seconds left on the clock, Tim Rudnick dropped back for what was going to be a desperation hail mary pass.

What happened next, though, was nothing short of incredible. First of all, speedy receiver Zach McFadden broke about a step away from his coverage and had a clear route to the end zone.

Rudnick dropped back at least 10 yards as the play developed and uncorked an absolute rocket.

McFadden shifted into another gear and caught the ball in stride about five yards deep in the end zone.

So let's add this all up. That's 45 yards officially, 10 yards from the point of launch and five yards deep. That's a 60-yard pass. It was picture-perfect.

In my opinion, if you were to pick one play that decided the game (and there never really is just one), that one would have been it.

- The Douglas volleyball team sure turned on its serving game last week. In its first two Sierra League matches, the Tigers had a combined 24 aces.

- Between the girls' golf team, sophomore tennis standout Amelia Ritger, the volleyball team and the girls' soccer team, the combined win streak is at 89 on Northern Nevada soil.

- Don't look now but the Tiger girls' tennis team is just about through with the toughest part of their schedule (Carson and Reno are the biggest names looming on the horizon) and they have a 4-2 record. It's not entirely unrealistic for the Tigers to host their second home playoff match in as many years.

- A large part of the tennis team's success has been due to their standout singles players Amelia Ritger (16-0 on the year) and Cesarina Ceglia (13-5), but the doubles team of Niki Hamzik and Marissa Delgadillo has also come on strong in the last week. The duo is 12-2 on the year and has the potential to win itself a seeding when the regional playoffs role around.

- Over the past five seasons, the Reed defense has given the Douglas football team fits, including handing the Tigers their only shutout in the new millenium in 2006. The eight times Douglas has scored against Reed in the last five years, five times it has been on a passing touchdown. Things didn't change much Friday night as Douglas had four touchdown passes and one touchdown on the ground.

- It's nice to see the Reed football team has gone back to its traditional gold helmets. They've been wearing blue for at least the past five seasons, but made the switch back this year.

- Just for the record, that's 13 consecutive wins away from home for the Tiger football team. It's 10 straight in their white jerseys. The last loss while wearing them? A 21-0 setback at Reed to open the 2006 season.

- Through three games, Douglas wide receiver Zach McFadden has already surpassed his team-leading total receptions and receiving yards from last season. He is five catches and 51 yards from moving in fifth place on the Douglas High all-time lists for both categories.

- Rudnick has also already obliterated his season totals in passing yards, completions and touchdown passes from last year. He is 53 yards from moving into sixth place on the career lists and is on pace for a 3,157-yard season, which would shatter the single-season record at Douglas by more than 1,100 yards.

Should Rudnick move into sixth place, who will he be replacing?

Having already written at length about Rudnick's pass Friday night, this week's play of the week was a little more subtle.

Jourdan Burke made a spectacular one-handed, over-the-shoulder save on the run about 10 feet out of bounds to get the ball back over the net against the Fallon volleyball team Tuesday night. The Tigers ended up losing the point, but the effort couldn't go without acknowledgement. Plus, they won the match in a sweep.

- Wooster boys' soccer 4, Douglas 1. Wooster was one of my surprises last week, but I still haven't been able to grasp the depth of how good they really are this season. Putting up four goals on this Tiger team is an accomplishment. With Carson's recent injuries, the Colts are my new favorite to win the region. For those of you keeping track, they weren't even in my preseason picks to make the playoffs.

- Manogue's Philip Hinojosa defeating Douglas' James TenBroeck 6-0 in tennis. Hinojosa has been thought to be the regional favorite this season, but he came out with guns blazing against the freshman TenBroeck Thursday in Reno. TenBroeck was coming off a busy weekend at the junior nationals and has been nursing an elbow injury all season. It's entirely possible these two will be meeting up again in the regional finals in a best out of three setting.

- McQueen football 24, Junipero Serra 7. I thought there may have been a chance that the Lancers come up and totally blindside Serra. But in the back of my head I was thinking, "Come on, this is Tom Brady's school. They are on an entirely different level." Apparently not. McQueen has lived up to all the hype so far. They have decimated two legitimate out-of-state powers. They've barely blinked in wins over Northern 4A schools. This is a very extraordinary squad.

- Spanish Springs football is 4-0 while Reno is 1-3. The Cougars made it through their non-league schedule spotless while Reno struggled mightily. I'll tell you this though, Reno is far from through. They have an exceptional defense and they could run the ball through a brick wall if they wanted. The Huskies may have the worst overall record in the High Desert League heading in, but I see them as a playoff team. I'll tell you this, I've seen Reno and Reed so far this year and Reno was the better of the two.

- Not-so-much: Galena boys' soccer upend Carson 2-0. Carson was down several key players for the match and Galena is very good. There's still a lot of soccer left to be played, but the league title race is still wide open. At this point Wooster has the inside track (and I'll say again, they are my current favorite to win it all), but Manogue, Carson, Douglas and Galena all have shots at the title. A very good team, though, will miss the playoffs entirely.

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. Duke Williams, Hug 4. Anthony Stolo, McQueen; 5. Patrick Riggs, Manogue

"That gentleman is no gentleman," Prairie Dawn, Sesame Street.

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. Amelia Ritger, tennis

2. Megan Mitchell, volleyball

3. Bethany Wurster, golf

4. Ross Gardner, soccer

5. Tim Rudnick, football

6. Ally Freitas, soccer

7. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball

8. Taylor Biaggi, cross country

9. Tia Lyons, soccer

10. Tanner Thomas, football

If there were more spots on the list: Johnny Pollack, football; Alex Laing, soccer; Jourdan Burke, volleyball; James McLaughlin, football; Corbin Zumpft, soccer; Parker Robertson, football; James TenBroeck, tennis; Jordan Cruz, football; Cesarina Ceglia, girls' tennis; Zach McFadden, football.

Necessary Roughness (1991)

Scott Bakula plays a 42-year-old freshman for the Texas State University football team. The school's program is facing heavy sanctions by the NCAA and is whittled down to a team of non-scholarship athletes. Sinbad is a grad student turned offensive tackle, Robert Loggia is a real American hero and one of the characters is listed as "Samorai" (sic) in the closing credits.

It's eight different types of awful.

Greatest gaffe: Aside from the technical flaws with NCAA Eligibility age issues, keep an eye on the lettering on the front of Sinbad's helmet when he participates in practice the first time.

Reason to watch: A young Rob Schneider gives his best Major League Bob Uecker impression as the school's closed-circuit radio announcer.

"I hope you stay tuned as the Texas State marching band does its salute to gun racks and open beverage containers; which is only legal in Texas."

There is about a 15-second period every night when my daughter wakes up crying where my wife and I lay in bed hoping that the other doesn't realize we are also awake. We then take turns gesturing for the door until one of us finally gets up.

I'm staying true to form, floating just above .500, which if I were a baseball player would be phenomenal, but for this game it means I'm near the bottom of the standings.

You can still sign up on our web site (go to the sports section, look for the "Links" box and click on the "Upickem Pro Football Challenge" link.

The top scorer locally every week will win a large pizza and a soda from either Pizza Barn or Wildhorse. You'll also have a shot at national prizes.

Contgratulations to the week 3 winner, Wilfred Burse.

Here are my picks for week 4:

Jaguars over Texans

Broncos over Chiefs

49ers over Saints

Bengals over Browns

Panthers over Falcons

Jets over Cardinals

Titans over Vikings

Packers over Buccaneers

Chargers over Raiders

Bills over Rams

Cowboys over Redskins

Ravens over Steelers

Tiebreaker: Eagles 21, Bears 14

Season survivor sure thing: Jaguars.

Season record: 24-23. Record last week: 8-8. Season survivor: Still alive.

My co-worker Sheila Gardner has just recently started watching re-runs of "Lost" on the Sci-Fi channel. I agreed not to spoil any of it for her, but it did spur a new item for the notebook.

- Oceanic Flight 815 was not brought down by a sudden burst of electromagnetic energy emitting from the island as implied at the end of Season 2. As it turns out, the plane simply couldn't bear up under the weight of the main characters' emotional baggage.

George Streeter, 1,573 yards between 1991 and 1992.