By Robert Perea
It didn’t take Anfernee Sloan long to come up with the right word to describe the Fernley Vaqueros’ performance in their dominating 47-7 win over Bishop Union (Calif.) last Friday night.
“That was a very flawless football game for us, and that right there was executing to a T,” Sloan said. “It was all business.”
The Vaqueros scored touchdowns on seven of their nine possessions. On the other two, they let the clock expire to end the first half and took a knee to end the game. Five of those scores came in the first half, when the Vaqueros went to the locker room with a 34-0 lead.
“We’re in there at half time and we’re up by 34, but they’re like ‘Hey coach, we want 50,’” Sloan said. “And quite frankly, if we wanted to, we could have probably put 50 on there. But I respect coach (Arnie) Palu.”
Keeshawn Love ran the ball 19 times for 279 yards and two touchdowns, including an 85-yarder to punctuate the evening for the Vaqueros. Bryce Stephens ran for 70 yards and three scores, while Riley McCullar had 75 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
In all, the Vaqueros ran 43 times for 451 yards, while holding Bishop on 12 yards on 15 carries. Bishop quarterback Emory Dondero completed 11 of 19 passes for 131 yards, but was intercepted twice, both times by Brody Jones.
Bishop had beaten Fernley in four of the last five meetings, including 41-12 last year and reached the Division 5 Central Section semifinals.
“I bet you those guys still win nine football games this year,” Sloan said. “Like, that’s a good football team. Our guys just showed up and were physical, and they just did it.”
The Vaqueros opened the game with a 64-yard drive for their first touchdown, a six-yard run by McCullar. A four-yard touchdown by Stephens and a 27-yard run by McCullar had Fernley up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Stephens had an eight-yard score, and Love added a three-yard run in the second quarter for the 34-0 halftime lead.
It was 41-0 after a 38-yard touchdown run by Love before Bishop finally scored, on a two-yard run by Dondero on the last play of the third quarter.
But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Love broke free from the pile and left everyone behind on an 85-yard touchdown run.
The Vaqueros are 2-0 for the first time since 2019, and after losing their first game every year since, including and 0-2 start last year, Sloan said the difference this season is focus.
“It’s the mission, it’s the goal,” he said. “We have a goal right now to go and win State, and to be regional champions, and to dethrone the mighty teams that have been giving us some fits these last couple years.”
This week the Vaqueros open league play when they host Elko at 7 p.m. Friday night. Elko beat Douglas 21-0 last Friday in its opening game.
“We have to get back to work because we have a different beast coming in here,” Sloan said. “We’ve got to show up, do what we do and play our style of football. They can’t come in here and dictate what they want to do.”
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