Tigers opt for date with McQueen instead of bye

It's usually a good thing to get a bye week after a pair of dates against perennial powerhouses.

That's especially true when the following seven weeks contain important league matchups.

The Douglas football team, though, were more than happy to give up their lone bye week this season in favor of a matchup with defending state champion McQueen.

Douglas slid into the spot originally occupied by South Tahoe in Friday night's game at 7:30 p.m. at McQueen after the Vikings opted out of the game in late August.

"We wanted that game," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "You have to be careful what you wish for, but every year we want a tough preseason. We want to play the best teams we can possibly play.

"We got Las Vegas on our schedule and we were supposed to have a bye, but I think I'm cheating the seniors if I don't go out there and get them as many games as possible.

"We were trying to find a game for that week anyway and we got McQueen. It's a great challenge and we look forward to it."

It'll be the first trip to McQueen's John Robb Stadium for any of this year's Tiger seniors. The last time the two teams met up was in the 2006 playoffs when McQueen picked up a 21-12 win over the Tigers on a foggy night in Minden.

Earlier that same season, McQueen escaped with a 34-31 overtime win over the Tigers. That game was played at Manogue High School while artificial turf was being installed at Douglas High School.

"We always love to go out there and get a new challenge," Douglas senior running back Johnny Pollack said. "We're looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do."

Douglas is coming off a 20-6 win over Reno in Minden last week. The Tigers had little trouble moving the ball, piling up 376 yards of total offense, while the defense kept the Huskies out of the end zone and held the spread attack to just 187 total yards.

McQueen survived a scare at Carson, escaping with a 38-34 win. The Lancers needed a recovered onside kick and a five-yard touchdown run from Nick Shephard with 22 seconds left to clinch the win.

Pollack has run for a league-leading 157 yards and two touchdowns in two games this season, but Douglas has employed the use of several ball carriers to share the load. Ryen Ake has 14 carries for 93 yards, Jordan Cruz had 17 carries for 65 yards and junior quarterback Zack Williams has carried 11 times for 58 yards.

Williams has also completed 31 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns, which is tops among Sierra League quarterbacks. He has distributed the ball between six receivers so far this season with Danny King (9 catches, 76 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Austin Neddenriep (9 catches, 73 yards) leading the pack.

McQueen will counter with quarterback Joey Sorgani, who has thrown for 337 yards and two touchdowns in two games and running back Lucas Fejer, who has 26 carries for 254 yards and three touchdowns. Shephard has 20 carries for 81 yards and five catches for 79 yards.

Trent Virden is the team's leading receiver with six catches for 112 yards.

"We'll play hard and it'll be a battle," Rippee said. "We look forward to it. It should be a good game."

The Record-Courier will be posting updates throughout the game at www.recordcourier.com.