Next Face Truckee and its 26-game winning streak
Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter
Despite having trailed by two scores on four different occasions, last Friday’s Northern 3A opener against Elko was there for the taking for the Fernley Vaqueros.
And then suddenly, it wasn’t.
Elko’s Coy Jones blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown with 7:32 left in the game, leading to a late-game surge that carried the Indians to a 61-34 win over the Vaqueros in the league opener for both teams.
The loss dropped the Vaqueros to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in league play, while Elko improved to 3-0 and 1-0.
The Vaqueros had an answer each time Elko went ahead by two scores, and despite being unable to stop Elko’s running game in the first half, trailed only by 40-34 after a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Bryce Stephens with 9.8 seconds left in the third quarter.
After stopping Elko’s next drive, the Vaqueros got the ball at their own 20-yard line with a chance to take the lead. But after a running play on third-and-5 lost three yards, the Vaqueros were forced to punt the ball back to the Indians, hoping for one more stop to give them another chance to take the lead.
Instead, Jones came in from the left side and blocked Joey Machado’s punt, then picked it up and ran it about 25 yards for a touchdown and a 46-34 lead.
“The most important play in football I believe is a punt,” Fernley coach Anfernee Sloan said. “I think that right there proves the point. You block a punt, that’s like taking a dagger to the heart. It’s a big one, especially with teenagers.”
Elko then cashed in two Fernley turnovers with two more touchdowns to account for the 61-30 final score.
“That blocked punt was a crucial moment in this game because I do think there was a lot of momentum on our side,” Sloan said. “I truly believe that if we would have punted that, I firmly believe that we were going to go and stop them and get another opportunity.”
Both offenses had their way most of the night, with neither team able to manage more than a couple of stops.
Elko scored touchdowns on their first three possessions of the game and five of their six drives overall in the first half. Most of that damage was done by the running of Jake Carsrud and Ethan Kraintz, who combined for 293 yards rushing and six touchdowns on 36 carries.
Time and again, Elko used an unbalanced formation with two blockers shifting sides just before the snap, giving the Indians more blockers than defenders on that side and creating gaping holes for Carsrud and Kraintz to run through.
“We recognized it in the first half and the kids just weren’t, they thought it was a motion so they weren’t adjusting to it and we were getting out-leveraged,” Sloan said.
While Elko was running wild with 303 total yards rushing on 38 carries, the Vaqueros were just as effective, piling up 304 yards rushing on 36 carries. Keeshawn Love led Fernley with 135 yards on 14 carries, but it was a balanced attack, with Stevens running seven times for 60 yards, Diego Mendez gaining 42 on five carries, Rilley McCullar running five times for 40 yards and Machado with 27 yards on five carries.
Stephens also completed 8-of-12 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
“The ability to move the football, that was awesome to see,” Sloan said.
But the difference in the game was special teams, and more specifically Jones, who, in addition to his blocked punt, also returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown after Fernley had cut the lead to 34-27 in the third quarter.
Because of the two special teams scores, Elko only had four possessions in the second half. The Indians didn’t score on their first two drives of the half, but converted two Fernley turnovers into touchdowns in the last four minutes of the game.
“I was very happy with the way the defense played the second half,” Sloan said. “They made the adjustments, they did what they had to do.”
Things don’t figured to get easier for the Vaqueros, who face the two-time defending state champions when Truckee visits Friday night. The Wolverines are 4-0 overall and 1-0 in league play and have won 26 consecutive games after beating Spring Creek 42-6 last Friday. They also own dominating wins over Damonte Ranch, Union Mine (Calif.) and St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma, Calif.
Sloan was a player on the 2012 Fernley team that ended a 41-game winning streak by Truckee, a win that at the time was as surprising to many people as this one would be.
“I told (the team) I’m going to get back on my horse, going to put my boots on and go back to work, because we got a great opportunity to go against a really high-profile football team,” Sloan said. “You gotta bring the energy, you gotta bring the mindset, because if not, those guys when they come here, that’s a different type of football program. There’s a reason why they have a (26-game) winning streak.”
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