Darrell Moody: CHS may host state soccer

It isn’t official, but it appears that Carson High may host the Division I state soccer tournament for boys and girls.

“I got a call last week asking us if we’re interested in hosting,” CHS Principal Ron Beck said Saturday afternoon. “We’re always interested in hosting big events (regionals and state). The problem is, if we host a second-round playoff football game, we wouldn’t be able to host Friday’s games (4 total). I was asked if our football team was on the road would we be interested in hosting, and I told them it would be tough, but we would.”

Beck said that Damonte Ranch was supposed to host, but that the Reno school is already hosting regional soccer and some regional football.

If Carson can’t host the opening day, Beck said CHS would for sure host the championship games. Douglas, should it accept, would be the host site on Friday for games at 9, 11, 1 and 3. Dayton will host the 1-A tournament, and Fernley will host the 3A event. Beck said that the NIAA wants to use turf fields for state because of the possibility of inclimate weather screwing up grass fields and making them unplayable.

This is how the state tournament should operate. The 2012 tourney in Henderson was an absolute joke. It was played in a community complex with about eight fields. Great for club or AYSO play, but not the way a high school tournament should be run. You had spectators essentially on the field, no scoreboard, no clock and no announcing. It was brutal. If Vegas can’t do it right, let the north host every year.

The games were played at the same times which also was a joke. Teams were there on Thursday, so you could have played games throughout the day. It’s a state tournament, if parents know their kids are playing they will be there. They could have used three fields and played at 2, 4 and 6 if you are worried about students not attending.

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What I’m seeing in the Sierra League is a lot of parity in football. Right now, Galena has to be considered the best team, which means based on four games, that Carson and Damonte will battle for the second and third playoff spots, while Douglas and Manogue will battle for the last playoff spot. Of course, nothing that has been played to this date matters in the big picture.

League play starts in two weeks when Carson hosts Damonte Ranch. That is the most important game on Carson’s schedule right now. The top two teams in each division get to host first-round games, and I know that Carson would like to be home for at least one round. In the High Desert, I don’t see anybody knocking Reed off its throne. I see Spanish Springs, Reno and McQueen also making the playoffs with Hug and North Valleys finishing out of the money. You have to feel sorry for the Panthers. They lost their starting QB to a separated shoulder early on, and the No. 2 guy went down in the second quarter against Carson.

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Carson High will not host its annual boys basketball tournament this year. Carlos Mendeguia said that he was having trouble filling up the field, and that two of the Washoe County schools opted to go to more high-profile tournaments. So, Carson will go to McKinleyville the first weekend in December for a tournament, and then play the following weekend at the Sparks Railroader event.

Hopefully the tournament will come back in 2014. I’d love to see Mendeguia and girls coach Nate Tolbert co-host a tournament with four girls teams and four boys teams all from the same school. I’d also like to see a tournament like that held right before Christmas instead of right after Thanksgiving when there is a chance you won’t even have your full team in uniform because of football playoffs.