I guess it's a good thing that Nevada got off to such a quick start this season, because despite losing to Air Force and San Diego State in back-to-back weeks, the Wolf Pack should qualify for a bowl game.
The Wolf Pack is already bowl eligible at 6-3 with games against Fresno State, New Mexico and Boise State left on the schedule. I see the Fresno State game as a toss-up, the Pack will be favored on the road at New Mexico and be an underdog to Boise State.
The MWC has five bowl games - Maaco Bowl (Las Vegas), Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego), Armed Forces Bowl (Texas), Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu) and the New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque) - this season.
The bowl in Vegas is usually reserved for the MWC champ, and Nevada would have to run the table to accomplish that goal. It certainly would be good for that bowl to have Nevada there in terms of attendance.
Nevada has already been to New Mexico and Hawaii. San Diego would be a good destination, and it could open some more recruiting doors.
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I was sorry to see Carson's football season end prematurely earlier this week.
I know how hard coach Blair Roman and his staff works, but as Blair admitted after the game, the Senators just didn't make enough plays on either side of the ball to be successful this year.
Even if Carson had managed to squeak by Douglas, I'm not sure Carson would have been able to beat Reed on the road.
Carson loses some talented players through graduation, but both the freshman and JV teams posted winning records which means the future looks bright.
Joe Zinda and Levi Carter are two key losses on the offensive line, but Aaron Cowee and Andy Cooper both return. Fnding a center to replace Carter will be critical.
The Senators will need to find a new kicker, and I would think that job will come down to either Corey Reid, the JV kicker this year, or Stephan Sobkiewicz , who backed up Casey Wolfe this season.
The biggest skill position losses are Matt Nolan, Luke Maher and Andrew Gutierrez, who also started at defensive back.
Carson still has QB Garrett Schafer, Joey Thurman and Austin Shaffer, who started to play some offense at the end of the year.
Carter, Sage Smith, Logan Krupp and Jose Victor re the top defenders graduating.
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It was a tough week against the Tigers. The only varsity team to emerge with a win over Douglas was the boys soccer team. Football, girls soccer and volleyball were on the losing end in tough matches.
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Kudos to the Virginia City volleyball team and coach Dennis Young for wrapping up the Western Division regular-season championship after sweeping Pyramid Lake on Friday.
Virginia City, behind six kills and seven digs by Corinna Obermayr and five kills and eight digs by Jamie Poston, won the firt match 25-9 and 25-14.
In the second match, VC won 25-15 and 25-14. Keana Prahl had six digs and five kills while Nikki D'Agostino had seven kills and four dig.
VC plays Eureka Friday at 8 p.m. at Spring Creek.
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It's no secret that the bulk of the power in Division I football was in the High Desert league this year.
With that in mind, I believe that the High Desert wins three of the four playoff games this Friday.
The only game that I think the Sierra League will win will be the Galena-McQueen game.
I think tha Reed knocks off Douglas, 45-28; Spanish Springs over Manogue, 50-24; and Reno over Damonte Ranch, 20-17.
In the end, I see this coming down to Reed and Reno in the finals. Spanish Springs, if it can find a way to stop Reed's offense is an outside possibility.
Whoever wins the North gets the honor of hosting Bishop Gorman in the state semfinals. Ever herd of a double forfeit in a North regional championship game?
Like always, I see Gorman cruisingg to another state championship in football.
