We at The R-C annually take an issue to offer up an overview of what to look for in the next three months as the fall athletic teams at Douglas open camp. Detailed season-previews for each fall sport will be run in the issues leading up the the official start of the season (Aug. 28). For now, here's a small preview of what's to come.
Defending Champs
The Douglas girls' golf team won the Northern 4A and Sierra League team titles for the second-consecutive year while Bethany Wurster won her second-consecutive individual regional and league titles as well.
Amelia Ritger won her second-consecutive Northern 4A girls' tennis singles title.
Volleyball and girls' soccer each won their respective Sierra League titles as well.
Sierra Lutheran's boys' cross country team ran away with the 2A state and regional titles last year while Wade Meddles won the regional title and posted the top time at any level at the state championships.
Biggest rebuilding project
Girls' golf: Wurster is back, and so is standout senior Heather Henderson, but the team's depth was gutted by graduation. No matter what way you cut it, the team will have a very difficult time preserving its 13-tournament win streak within Sierra League play. After a solid summer, though, don't be surprised to see Wurster claim her third-straight regional title and breakthrough at the state level.
Most to live up to
Girls' soccer: Out of 11 spots on the field, seven starters are returning. On top of that, four others who saw significant playing time last year will be back. So, on paper, it's reasonable to think the team will have a shot at bettering its state runner-up performance from last year, which included school records in total wins (19) and longest win-streak (10 games).
However, the departures - which include standout goal-scorer Ally Freitas (24 last year and 55 in her career), midfielder Danyelle Heidt (10 assists last year) and defenders Sage Lyons and Mackenzie Cauley - are pretty significant.
That being said, this group of underclassmen, which included five starting freshmen and one sophomore last year, will be among the best to ever come through the 17-year-old program.
Douglas will also bring in a strong group from the junior varsity level last year, so all the ingredients will be in place for continued success. Now it's just a matter of playing it out on the field.
Most to work with
Volleyball: This season will be the proving ground for coach Suzi Townsell's investment in playing time last year. Sure, the Tigers lose three exceptional components in first-team all-leaguers Jessica Waggoner, Taryn Williams and Megan Mitchell, but 10 players, including four starters, are set to return.
For most teams, that's pretty good. In Douglas' case, though, it's like having 10 starters back.
Townsell made little secret about her strategy last year of using the entire bench, regardless of the score, in every match. There were times where that was a little more adventurous than some might have liked, but it's hard to argue the result: The Tigers lost just two matches, and only one on Nevada soil, the entire year.
Now, they'll bring back a loaded, battle-tested group.
Townsell said she wants to keep an abnormally large roster again (most teams keep 12, Douglas had 14 last year), in order to foster that same depth.
How many yards will Coleville's Jason Peters end with?
Peters has thrown for 6,026 yards in three years. After throwing for 3,477 last season alone, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could top the 10,000-yard mark. It's a longshot, but it's possible.
Just for reference, he needs only 18 yards to break the state record for career passing yards. He already owns the records for career and season passing touchdowns, career and season total offense and season passing yardage.
Just how good is Wade Meddles?
Meddles made a quick rise on the cross country radar last year after winning state and regionals and posting a number of solid times at prestigious national invitationals.
The shocker here was that Meddles' had never even run cross country before starting workouts with Sierra Lutheran a few weeks before the season started.
With a year of experience under his belt, and probably a number of college coaches looking on, this could be a big season for the Minden senior.
Who will start at QB?
This will be the first time since the 2004 season that the Douglas football team will enter the year without a quarterback who has started at least one game for the team.
The battle will be between senior Luke Peterson, who took a couple snaps late in games last year but never attempted a pass, and junior Zack Williams, who started for the once-beaten junior varsity squad last season.
Peterson has the varsity experience, but each of Douglas' last four primary starting quarterbacks (Tim Rudnick, David Laird, Roman Davis and Luke Rippee) have won the starting spot as juniors (Rippee was a sophomore).
How long will the win streak last?
Douglas junior Amelia Ritger enters her third varsity season having never lost to a Northern Nevada opponent.
The stretch constitutes 67 consecutive matches.
It's an impressive enough streak on its own, but she'll have to put it on the line every match. After a tough first week (Reed and Galena) the schedule drops off a bit, but getting through that week will be key.
No turnover here
For the second-consecutive season, the major fall sports at Douglas High (football, volleyball and soccer) will be taking the field with the same head coaches as they did the previous season. It's long been our opinion that continuity breeds success and the eight regional titles and seven Sierra League titles won over the past two falls tend to back that up.
Boys' tennis will be welcoming a new coach, but other than that, the fall lineup is identical to that of last season.
Big game mentality
It'll be interesting to see how this year's football season progresses. This class of juniors (along with a select number of seniors) features quite a few of the players who led the Douglas Pop Warner Pee Wee football team to a national runner-up finish at the Pop Warner Super Bowl in 2004.
They also have lost just one game at the freshman and junior varsity level over the past two years.
Coach Mike Rippee wil be the first to tell you there's a big difference between varsity and junior varsity, but even he - a self-proclaimed sand-bagger - admits he is excited about the group.
"It's a pretty special group," he said last fall while preparing for the playoffs. "It's a good group of kids who are not afraid to work hard."
Now we just have to wait to see how it plays out.
Golf
Wurster, now a junior, set the state record for lowest score in relation to par in an 18-hole tournament (6 under 66) at Genoa Lakes last year. She's coming off a strong summer and on the right afternoon might even find a way to top that.
Soccer
Douglas senior Edgar Arceo needs a 22-goal season to break the Douglas High School record for goals in a career (60).
It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility - Two players (Mike Gransbery and David Sturgess) have topped that season mark in the past four years and Arceo scored 16 goals as a junior.
What he'll need is an additional threat to devlop on offense (someone like senior Cole Cline or junior Kegan Rahe) to take some of the opposing pressure off of him, and a strong center midfielder to step up to direct the offensive attack.
Arceo enters the year as one of the most electric players to ever come through the program. If the supporting cast is there (and with six returning starters and 10 returning lettermen it really should be), the boys' soccer team could make a nice run through the playoffs.
Outside of that, there are no real looming records on the horizon. One player to keep an eye will be girls' soccer sophomore Tia Lyons, who scored 24 goals as a freshman.
The school career record is 56 and the school and state season record is 26. If she tops the latter, she will be in solid position to break the state career mark (Brandi Vega, Carson, 77) heading into her junior year.
Joey Crandall can be reached at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
