RENO - Coming in on the road against the hands down favorite to win the region, the Douglas football team was going to have to be on top of its game from the opening kick to stick around Friday night.
It didn't happen for the Tigers, as Douglas turned the ball over on each of its first three possessions. That left the Tigers staring at a 27-0 deficit just seven minutes into the game, having already given up more than 150 yards of total offense.
Reed didn't look back from there, pushing ahead to a 47-30 win as quarterback AJ Silva passed for 272 yards and three touchdowns.
"We got blitzed," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "They were well prepared and just played better than us. They outcoached us defensively, and that's on me.
"They're a good football team. We have a long way to go to play in that type of class. But hopefully we can regroup and come back and get this thing going right."
It marked the second-consecutive week the Tigers had given up a big run of 21 unanswered points in the first half. Pocatello (Idaho), their week 1 opponent, rang up three quick touchdowns in the second quarter last week, before the Tigers closed the gap in the second half.
On Friday against Reed, Douglas tacked on a pair of late touchdowns on the Raiders' second team, but Rippee said it could have been worse.
"We have to take a long, hard look at ourselves defensively," he said. "Give up 49 this week and they could have put up a lot more if they hadn't called the dogs off.
"The good thing was we got to play a lot of guys who haven't gotten a lot of time so far, and they did some good things toward the end."
And, after the early turnovers, the Tiger offense put together its second strong showing, outgaining the Raiders in total yardage (384-381) as junior quarterback Michael Nolting completed 22 of 37 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns.
"Offensively, we played hard," Rippee said. "We did some good things, but you can't play from 30 points down and expect it to happen.
"We have to establish the run better, but Michael did a good job and he's continuing to get better. We'll get there.
"It's still early in the year and we have a long way to go. We just have to get better. The kids didn't quit and they played hard. Reed is just a better team than us right now. That showed on the scoreboard tonight."
Douglas got 85 rushing yards from Conner Peterson on 26 carries while Nate VonAhsen had five catches for 78 yards and Dusty Fisher had three catches for 69 yards.
Reed marched down the field on its opening possession, going 80 yards on 11 plays before Silva scampered in on a keeper from nine yards out.
Douglas appeared ready to bounce right back, picking up 29 yards on its first two plays from scrimmage before a fumble gave the ball back to the Raiders at the Tiger 48.
Reed made quick work of its ensuing drive, capping a five-play series with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Silva to Devin Gray.
Three plays later, Reed's David Hibler picked off a Douglas pass at the Tiger 34 and returned it for the touchdown and the 21-0 lead.
Again, three plays after that, Douglas coughed up the ball at its own 24 and Reed's John Covello scored on a one-yard run four plays later.
From there, the route was on.
VonAhsen kicked a 29-yard field goal to cap a 17-play, 80-yard scoring drive for the Tigers, cutting the deficit to 27-3.
After trading punts over the next four series, Silva connected with Beau Tittensor on a two-yard pass to put Reed up 34-3.
Douglas answered six plays later on a 50-yard catch and run from Nolting to Fisher.
Reed punched in one final first-half score with 18 seconds left on a 19-yard pass play from Silva to Alex Young.
Douglas came out of the locker room firing as Nolting moved the Tigers 80 yards on 12 plays before hitting VonAhsen in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.
Douglas then forced a pair of punts on Reed's next two possessions, but the Raiders essentially staved off any hopes of a Tiger comeback when Covello scored from three yards out to put Reed up 47-16.
The Tigers got a 10-yard touchdown run from EJ Rose with 2:47 left in the game, cutting the score to 47-24. Things got interesting when Taylor Souza scooped up a Reed fumble and scampered two yards into the end zone to cut the score to 47-30.
Douglas then recovered the onside kick with 1:25 remaining but Reed's defense clamped down to record tackles for losses on Douglas' final three plays.
The Tigers open their home slate Friday against Manogue at 7 p.m.
