By Robert Perea
Four years ago, Keeshawn Love and Joey Machado began their careers as freshmen on the Fernley High School football team, just trying to prove they belonged on the field. They’re leaving the program as standard bearers, their names etched into both school and state records.
Love will leave Fernley as one of the most prolific running backs in state history, while Machado ranks among the state’s top tacklers.
“They’re definitely in elite company, that’s for sure,” Fernley coach Anfernee Sloan said. “There’s been a lot of good football players to come through this high school. There’s a lot of great football players that come through this entire state. I’m grateful that they were able to represent this high school the way they did.”
After running for 279 yards on 19 carries against Bishop (Calif.) in Fernley’s second game this season, Love asked one of his coaches how close he was to breaking the school record for career rushing yards. Unbeknownst to him, he had already done it last season.
Love broke the school record of 2,723 previously held by Jeremy Ottowa, who played from 1989-92 on another night that he put his name in the state record books. Love ran for 526 yards and seven touchdowns in a game at Lowry last season, both the second most in state history in any classification.
With 5,948 career rushing yards, Love finished second in career rushing yards in the 3A behind James Edwards of Spring Creek, who ran for 7,728 yards from 2003-05. It also ranks him third in state history in all 11-man classes behind 7,860 yards by D’Angelo Jones of Foothill (2003-06) and Edwards.
Love also set a school record with 51 touchdowns, which ties for fifth in state history in the 3A with Brian Adams of Moapa Valley (1998-00) and Myloe Lewis of Cheyenne (2011-12).
Love played on the varsity for all four years of high school but put up most of his stats in his last three years, playing as a backup to Marciano Montano as a freshman. Even then, Love said he knew he belonged.
“A lot of times people would say, ‘You’re really good for a freshman,’” Love said. “And that would kind of like anger me, like no, I’m just good. And that would just kind of give me a spark.”
Love took off as a sophomore. After running for just 177 yards as a freshman, he posted 1,395 as a sophomore, 1,992 as a junior and 2,384 as a senior.
Along the way, he became the player every opponent focused on stopping.
“I just knew I had to be on my best, my A game, to keep putting up the stats I was,” Love said. “I think I’m pretty proud of myself for achieving what I’ve achieved.”
Machado finished his career with 389 total tackles, breaking the 3A state record of 372 set by Wulfe Retzlaff of Truckee in 2014-16. That total also placed him third among all classes in the state behind Christian Thatcher of Arbor View (443 tackles from 2021-24) and Richie Garcia of Damonte Ranch (427 tackles from 2014-2017).
He also set a school record with 46 tackles for losses, a category that’s not included in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association record book.
Machado said he had no idea he was anywhere near breaking records until he heard it announced during a game against Sparks earlier this season that he had become the school’s all-time leading tackler.
“It was shocking. I had no clue,” Machado said. "Same with the state record. Me and Sloan were looking at it before and I kind of forgot about it, and then my dad text me that I broke the state record too.”
Machado started every game he played in his high school career but missed the last six games of his sophomore season with a broken collarbone. He played safety as a freshman, then was a middle linebacker his last three years.
It wasn’t until after he returned from that injury as a junior that Machado realized he was a good player.
“Because I was averaging like 18 tackles a game,” he said.
Sloan was in his first year as head coach when he made the decision to put Love and Machado on the varsity team.
“It’s crazy to think four years ago when I made that decision that they would turn out to be the football players they turned out to be,” Sloan said. “They’re there in the history books, the record books for a reason. I’m definitely going to miss coaching them, but I think they’ve matured into good young men that are going to make a big difference in this world.”
Comment
Comments