Douglas rolls against Carson

There have been some great feature backs to come through the Douglas Tiger football program in the last 15 years or so.

Rodney Williams, Larry Hadfield, Scott Ovard, Scott Darran, Ricardo Duarte, Kevin Lehr, Monte McCann, Evan Bill and Dusty Cooper all immediately come to mind.

But Spike Agosta and his band of hard-hitting offensive linemen outran them all Friday night.

Agosta tallied 238 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead Douglas to a 41-0 victory over arch-rival Carson at Keith Roman Field Thursday and unofficially broke the Douglas High all-time single-season rushing record.

Agosta's 238 yards put him at 1,634 for the season, exactly one yard ahead of Dusty Cooper, last year's starting tailback.

He received phenomenal blocking from Tyson Estes, Trevor Freitas, Datin Whatcott, Nate Newton, Ryan Guzman, Henry O'Hair, Bryan Brady, Kyle Luken, Brent Koontz and Keenan Copp all season long.

But the last person Agosta wanted to talk about after Thursday night's victory was himself.

"I've been playing with all of these guys since I was a Junior Pee Wee," Agosta said. "We were little Pop Warner guys together and we've truly grown up together. We know each other inside and out.

"I didn't expect to have a season like this. I don't think any of us did. It is so much more than any of us could have expected but it has been a fun year."

And that was as much as he'd say about the offense output in the dominating victory.

"The most important number on that scoreboard was that zero over there," Agosta said. "I could have cared less what the offense had. If they had that zero, it was huge."

Douglas was nearly flawless on the defensive side of the ball.

The defensive line of Mike Buffo, Estes, Tyree Holeridge, and Cory Fry was in the offensive backfield all night, putting tremendous pressure on Carson quarterback Kyle Bacon.

Bacon finished the night 19-of-31 for 126 yards, but was sacked three times and intercepted once by D.J. Brady.

Douglas held the Senators to just 92 yards rushing, with Bryan Maffei and Alex Martinez each gaining 33 yards.

Senior nose tackle Tyree Holeridge had his best game of the season, coming up with a sack and recovering a punt blocked by Tyson Estes in the end zone for a touchdown as time ran out in the first half. Estes had a sack as well and James Barnard came up with his fourth sack in two weeks.

It was the second shutout in three weeks for the Tigers and third time the defense held the opposing offense out of the end zone in five games.

"It was a great way to finish off the regular season," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "These seniors, they are tremendous leaders.

"I've been telling everybody all year long that we had a great group last year, but I knew we had a great group coming up this year. It was a combination of hard work, desire and committment. When you are able to do that, good things will happen here."

Keenan Copp got things started for the Tigers, breaking three tackles on a 47-yard touchdown run on Douglas' second drive of the game.

Quarterback Roman Davis scored on a four-yard run on the Tigers' next drive and Estes blocked a Matt Moore punt just before halftime as Holeridge fell on it to put Douglas up 21-0.

Carson recovered an onside kick to open the second half, but Koontz and Estes tackled Moore after a botched long snap for a 10-yard loss, setting up a five-yard Agosta score seven plays later.

Brady ended the Senators next drive with a leaping interception at the Douglas 11 yard line.

Agosta scored two plays later, following four tremendous blocks from Estes, O'Hair and receivers Brady and Tim Coleman and galloping untouched 88 yards around the right end for the touchdown.

Agosta wrapped things up with an eight-yard touchdown after O'Hair and Whatcott opened a hole up the middle for him.

The win wrapped up a 7-2 overall, 5-1 Sierra League season for the Tigers, good enough for second place in the Sierra League.

"I knew it all along," Rippee said. "No one quite believed that we could do this type of stuff, but I said I believed it and these guys believed it too.

"That was the most important part. I believe it every year, but they believed it and went out and acted on it and that is the most imporant thing."

Douglas hosts the High Desert League No. 3 seed next Friday at 7 p.m.

Rippee is now 93-92 in his 20-year career at Douglas. He is 55-41 in the last 10 years and 25-6 in the last three.

Correction: Carson defeated Douglas 21-12 in 1966. Information that appeared in Thursday's Nevada Appeal was incorrect.