Douglas High’s Austin Dekruyf (16) gets his hand in for a pass breakup against Hug last week. The Tigers’ defense has forced 26 turnovers in seven games.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
Douglas High football has had its way against the Class 5A Division III opponents this season.
With a 2-0 record in league play thus far, the Tigers have outscored their league opponents 105-21.
If you take out the first quarter against Galena, Douglas has dominated its opponents 105-7 over the last seven quarters.
Douglas will ready itself for another league game this Friday at North Valleys (1-5, 0-2), which is coming off of a 51-6 loss to Galena.
You won’t see much change for the Tigers. The Panthers should expect to see a heavy dose of the power run game and maybe even a few extra wrinkles as senior Owen Evans gets worked back into the mix on offense.
Senior tailback Connor Jackson has 1,193 yards so far this season, which is 752 more yards than second place in Class 5A Division III.
It is also the most rushing yards of any player in the state of Nevada so far this season.
Jackson rushed for five touchdowns in the Tigers’ 54-0 win over Hug on Friday. Jackson also had a defensive touchdown.
Fullback Andrew Strand sits just outside of the top 10 as well with 199 yards rushing.
Even with the run-first approach, Jackson Ovard is second in the league in passing yards with 702.
On defense, Cole Smalley is at the top of the list in tackles. His 76 tackles are two more than second place.
Kyle Koontz leads the league in sacks with 6.5 – nearly a sack per contest. Smalley is right behind him with five sacks of his own.
Turnover central
Douglas forced eight turnovers in the win against Hug last week. On the season, the Tigers have 17 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.
Aaron Tekansik, Connor Jackson and Zach Jackson all have three picks for the Tigers while Brenton Weston, Zach Westbrook and Aaron Moss all have a pair of INTs.
Eight Douglas players have a fumble recovery.
Coach Kyle Mays believes the school record for turnovers forced in a season is 33.
Mays directed some of that credit to his assistant coaches.
“Coach (Steven) Nelms was the one about a week or two into the season that said we needed to stay on top of (the turnovers),” said Mays. “Nelms and coach Morgan Ovard do a tremendous job with our (defensive backs).”
Austin Dekruyf is a corner who Mays thinks is starting to show an ability to play in college.
Dekruyf transitioned over to defensive back from linebacker midway through last season and rarely leaves the field.
“The skills that that kid has shown, he might have an opportunity to play at the next level. He has been that good for us,” said Mays. “Aaron Moss is another one that does a tremendous job at corner for us.”
Seniors Ryker Rivinius and Isiah Middaugh are two more depth pieces at corner that have shown the ability to make stops and force takeaways.
A look at the Panthers
North Valleys trotted out sophomore Mikole Almond (No. 15) against Galena last week and he was able to create some plays downfield with his arm.
It’ll be an area that Mays knows Douglas will have to pay attention to after the Grizzlies had some success through the air against the Tigers two weeks ago.
“They have some decent size defensive lineman, too,” said Mays.
North Valleys also has a senior tailback, who has racked up 300 yards on the ground with a trio of touchdowns thus far.
