What figured to be the biggest game of the season for the Fernley Vaqueros is turning out to be
exactly that.
Coming off their bye week, the Vaqueros will host Fallon Friday night with a chance to pull into
a tie for first place in the Northern 3A and their hopes of being the league’s No. 1 seed very
much alive.
The Vaqueros enter this week’s game with a 4-1 league record, 6-1 overall, tied for second place
with Elko. Fallon leads the league at 5-0.
The Vaqueros got a boost during their bye week with Truckee’s 20-14 win over Elko last Friday,
which put Fernley right back into the race for the No. 1 seed. Fernley would need to beat Fallon
and then win its last two games over Lowry and Dayton, and for Fallon to beat Elko next week.
A loss to Fallon this week means the Vaqueros would need to beat Lowry and Dayton to claim
the No. 3 seed, while other scenarios could land the Vaqueros in the No. 2 seed.
Either way, that Truckee win at Elko guaranteed that Fernley can earn a home playoff game if it
can beat Fallon.
“We definitely got what we wanted there,” Fernley coach Anfernee Sloan said. “Now we just
kind of got to go and take care of it on our part as far as beating Fallon.”
Sloan said the Vaqueros followed their normal routine during the bye week as if they were
preparing for a game.
“The kids understand that we're playing for something really big right now,” he said. " And these
guys are locked in, they're focused and they're ready to go play a good, competitive football
game against I think what is a really talented Churchill County football team.”
The Vaqueros had a bye before last year’s win over Fallon, and Sloan said they used that week as
a model for how to prepare for this week’s game.
“And I think right now we're doing everything the right way,” he said. “And again, I think the
rich history of that football game is going to show its true colors with a really explosive Fallon
team and a really explosive Fernley team.”
Fallon has been explosive both passing and running the ball. The Greenwave 278.8 yards passing
per game, at 19.2 yards per completion. They also run for 177.3 yards per game at 7.3 yards per
carry.
Quarterback Matt Bird has thrown 20 touchdown passes and only one interception. His leading
receiver, Calin Anderson, has 29 catches for 515 yards and nine touchdowns, while Wyatt Peek
has 25 catches for 590 yards and six touchdowns.
On the ground, leading rusher Carson Melendy has 511 yards on 47 carries with 10 touchdowns.
Fallon has outscored its opponents 317-13 this season, including 230-7 against its five league
foes.
Including their bye week, Fernley coaches have had three opportunities to watch Fallon in person
this season to help put a game plan together.
“Now that we're in this situation with them, like we kind of predicted that we'd be, it's allowed us
to coach at a much faster pace and it's allowed us to kind of prep some things as far as what it is
that we should do in order to be ready for them,” Sloan said.
Offensively, the Vaqueros have done most of their damage on the ground, rushing for 343.6
yards per game, and 9.3 yards per carry. Keeshawn Love has 1,313 yards on 128 carries and 10
touchdowns. Quarterback Bryce Stephens has 515 yards on 66 carries and 10 touchdowns, while
Riley McCullar has 412 yards on 30 carries with seven touchdowns.
Stephens has completed 22 of 35 pass attempts for 406 yards and six touchdowns, five of those
to McCullar, who has caught 13 passes for 288 yards.
Sloan said he believes the Vaqueros are just starting to hit their stride.
“You know, I think everything's moving well offensively, I think we're playing fast on defense,
and when you got those two things, it's a scary thing,” he said.
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