Football: Tigers, Miners showdown for 1st tonight

The inside track to the Sierra League title will be on the line tonight as the Manogue Miners travel to Minden for a football game against Douglas at 7 p.m.

It'll be a similar scenario to when the teams met up last year in Reno, with both schools sporting identical 4-0 league records.

Each school has lived up to its preseason billing as a league title contender thus far, but outside of that, there is little basis to compare the two teams.

They only share two common opponents on the year, Fallon and Wooster, who they both beat soundly.

Manogue knocked off Carson, the other school in the mix for the league title, 14-11 three weeks ago and cruised in wins over Wooster, Fallon and South Tahoe.

Douglas is coming off a 39-7 win over Wooster and has beaten Fallon, Galena and Damonte Ranch in league play.

Manogue has a strictly balanced offense, passing (122 attempts) nearly as often as they run (176 carries). The team averages about 4.9 yards a carry while quarterback Zach McElroy has thrown for 890 yards on 65 completions with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Phillip Brahler leads the team with 64 carries for 309 yards yards while McElroy, Austin Petersen, Ricky McDonald and Jake Ramatici have each run for more than 100 yards on the year.

Blake Bishop (19 catches, 273 yards) is the team's leading receiver, but Matt Myers (15 catches, 257 yards), Matt Vial (13-156) and Petersen (9-106) play key roles in the passing game as well.

Zach Williams (62 completions, 595 yards, 5 TDs) has missed the last two weeks with an injury for Douglas, but senior Lucas Peterson has done well in his place, completing 26 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns.

It is unknown who will get the start Friday night.

Johnny Pollack has been Douglas' workhorse back, running for 817 yards on 131 carries (a 6.24-yard per carry average) and seven touchdowns.

The Tigers also got some depth back in the backfield last week as both Ryen Ake (31 carries, 267 yards) and Jordan Cruz (24 carries, 133 yardS) returned from injuries.

Douglas has mainly depended on a trio of receivers, Austin Neddenriep (20 catches, 252 yards), Danny King (18-181) and Nikolai Vasquez (18-181) but tight end Luis Pina-Duarte (9-135) has caught his fair share of passes on the year as well.

Manogue rolled to a 47-13 win over the Tigers last year in a game that the Miners piled up 470 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

The Tigers have won the other two matchups between the teams (30-14 in Minden in 2004 and 13-7 in Reno in 2007) since Manogue joined the 4A in 2004.

Joey Crandall can be reached at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.