R-C Sports Notebook: Successful first weekend

The Douglas volleyball and girls' soccer teams certainly made strong statements over the weekend at their respective season-opening tournaments.

The Tiger spikers claimed the title at the 40-team, 18th annual Las Vegas High School Invitational while the Lady Tiger soccer squad went 5-0 to win Galena's Howell Memorial Tournament.

Both teams were impressive both in the style of their wins and in who it was they beat. After advancing out of pool play, the volleyball team took down top seeds Bishop Gorman, Palo Verde, Skyline (Utah) and Carson. For the entire tournament, they only lost two games - one in their match win against Bountiful (Utah) and the other against Gorman.

The soccer team took down High Desert League powers McQueen and Manogue before defeating defending Sierra League champ South Tahoe in the championship.

Sure, it's still just the preseason, but both squads established themselves as regional favorites in the first weekend of competition.

A well-deserved nod goes to the Lady Tiger soccer team's defense, allowing just three goals in four games against some potent offensive teams after giving up three in the first half against Spanish Springs.

But the Douglas offense was nothing short of stellar throughout the tournament. Coach Lorraine Fitzhugh made a promise last week that we'd see a balanced offensive attack this season, and the Tigers backed that claim up over the weekend.

The Tigers scored 19 goals in five games, with eight different players getting on the board -- five of whom are underclassmen and two of whom are freshmen.

Nine different players had assists, with five of those being underclassmen and two of those being freshmen.

Not to belabor the point or anything, but keep in mind the games that were played this weekend were half and hour shorter than regular games. Remember, this is soccer where it's not uncommon to have two teams go an entire game without scoring a goal.

That kind of offensive output in such a format is certainly worth noting.

No one can accuse the Douglas High volleyball team of shying away from a good fight.

This year, Douglas filled up the first three weeks of its schedule with non-league matchups against the defending 4A (Reno), 3A (Truckee) and 2A (Whittell) regional champions.

And of course, the Lady Tigers opened the season last weekend with its annual trip to Las Vegas, where they see the top teams from the south.

That matches up with what second-year coach Suzi Townsell did last year, as she scheduled matches with defending 4A (Damonte Ranch), 3A (Yerington) and 2A (Whittell) state champs within the first month of the season. They went 3-0 during that stretch.

A repeat performance would make this situation a great trivia time question a couple years down the road.

In an effort to increase her team's aggressiveness, Fitzhugh has a scheduled portion of every practice where her players wrestle each other.

They line up and basically use whatever means necessary to move their opponent out of a set grid.

Fitzhugh said she employed the tactic last year and saw a marked improvement in her team's ability to match up with more physical teams.

Football:

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. McQueen. 2. Hug. 3. Reed 4. Spanish Springs. Sierra: 1. Douglas. 2. Manogue. 3. Carson 4. Galena

Regional Champion: Manogue.

Surprise team: Carson.

Volleyball:

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Reno. 2. McQueen. 3. Reed. 4. Spanish Springs. Sierra: 1. Douglas. 2. Manogue. 3. Carson. 4. Galena.

Regional Champion: Douglas.

Surprise team: Carson.

Boys' Soccer:

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. McQueen. 2. Reed. 3. Elko. 4. Reno. Sierra: 1. Carson. 2. South Tahoe. 3. Douglas. 4. Manogue.

Regional Champion: Carson.

Surprise team: Manogue.

Girls' Soccer:

Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Reed. 2. Reno. 3. Spanish Springs. 4. McQueen. Sierra: 1. Douglas. 2. Carson. 3. South Tahoe. 4. Galena.

Regional Champion: Douglas.

Surprise team: Douglas.

Since I already brought it up, when was the last time the Douglas volleyball team lost a regular season match to a defending regional champion?

- The girls' soccer team's four goals in the win over South Tahoe broke a 240-plus-minute scoreless streak against Vikings. It was also the first time Douglas had beaten their league rivals since Sept. 20, 2005 (a 1-0 win in Minden).

- Mike Rippee wasn't joking when he said the Tiger football team would throw a lot more this season. When told of Quarterback Tim Rudnick's 352-yard passing total, Rippee joked, "Well, we threw the ball 100 times." All joking aside, Douglas passed the ball 47 times, including a stretch of nine out of 10 non-punting plays to start the second half.

- It's not like those 373 total passing yards (James McLaughlin completed a 21-yard pass on a fake punt) came against a bunch of scrubs. The Las Vegas defensive backfield included three-star recruit Reggie Bullock, who is garnering attention from Alabama, Arizona State, Florida, Oklahoma, Rutgers and West Virginia; and Kevin Cormier (Florida, Michigan and Tennesse). When it all plays out, that may be the toughest pass defense Douglas sees all year. What does that tell you?

- While Douglas surprised quite a few by hanging with the Wildcats, Reno came up somewhat on the opposite end of the spectrum, losing to Palo Verde 56-0. This Friday's matchup between the Tigers and the Huskies will go a long way toward answering what it all means.

- Not to dwell on Rudnick too much, but Vegas' vaunted defensive line only came up with one sack Friday night. No disrespect to Douglas' offensive line, which did more than their fair share of shouldering that burden in pass blocking, but a good majority of that was due to Rudnick and his ability to read the rush. I counted no fewer than six times where Vegas had a sure sack and Rudnick eluded the rush. On about half of those, he completed a pass for a gain, one of which went for a 23-yard touchdown to Connor Dillon.

- Douglas ran a number of trick plays against Las Vegas in the game, including two fake punts and a nifty hook-and-lateral in the closing seconds.

- Rudnick's first touchdown pass of the year came 30 minutes into the game.

- Kameron VanWinkle made the most of his recent call-up from the JV squad, intercepting a pass in the second quarter.

- Manogue boys' soccer. The Miners rumbled through the Galena tournament over the weekend and lost a close match in the championship to Carson, whom Manogue had beaten earlier. All the talk leading into this year was about everyone else except for Manogue. They certainly staked a claim to some hype this weekend.

- Douglas passing game. I've probably already said too much, but Douglas' receivers did a fine job against the Wildcat defensive backs. Douglas was a couple of dropped balls here and there from posting even gaudier numbers. The only thing is now everyone in the North has, or will, see it. How they adjust will be the big question from here.

- Carson volleyball. The Senators were a bit of a surprise, taking runner-up honors at the Vegas Invitational. It looks to be a solid group and they certainly gave Douglas a run in the championship match.

- Douglas girls' soccer. Eight underclassmen? Who cares! The Tigers got off to their strongest start in quite a while.

- McQueen vs. Sprague. This would be the not so much. McQueen made one of Oregon's 5A football powers look nothing short of silly. McQueen is really the real deal. I don't think that can be said enough. Their biggest challenge will be not looking past anyone.

If I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional football honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:

1. Kyle Van Noy, McQueen; 2. Tim Rudnick, Douglas; 3. Anthony Stolo, McQueen; 4. Josh DuPree, Manogue; 5. Tyler York, McQueen (Sidenote: I'll put Vegas' Reggie Bullock in for state player of the year honors right now. He may be looking at All-American status at the next level. Just a solid, all-around prospect.)

"Quarterback Carson Palmer will skip Cincinnati's last preseason game, resting his broken nose ..." Associated Press.

The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competition, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the state/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.

Fall Sports

1. Amelia Ritger, tennis

2. Bethany Wurster, golf

3. Megan Mitchell, volleyball

4. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball

5. Tim Rudnick, football

6. Tia Lyons, soccer

7. Ally Freitas, soccer

8. Taylor Biaggi, cross country

9. Ross Gardner, soccer

10. Alex Laing, soccer

Ah, sports movies. We have no less than 15 in our personal collection. Something about the underdog team finding a way to overcome insurmountable odds to win the championship, get the girl and really show up the bad guys in the process. It seems the basic formula gets a little more stretched out each time a studio producer trots it out. Doesn't keep it from being entertaining anyway, even if for reasons not originally intended.

D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996)

I picked on D2 last week, but you can't mention that movie without following with this one.

After having just won the (non-existent) Junior Goodwill Games gold medal, the Ducks win scholarships to play hockey for the prestigious Eden Hall Academy prep school.

Somehow, despite having just won the world championship, they arrive as the junior varsity team. I want to know who made that coaching decision?

Greatest gaffe: Probably the decision to make the movie in the first place.

Reason to watch: The varsity squad, ironically, is played by the same actors who played the rival Hawks in the first Mighty Ducks movie.

Maybe you've seen it, but if you go to the sports page on our Web site, there is a link on the right-hand side of the page to the "Upickem Pro Football Challenge." (If you want a shortcut, go here: http://recordcourier.profootball.upickem.net

I'll be posting my picks here weekly and you are welcome to compete against me and other R-C readers. The top scorer locally every week will win a large pizza and a soda from Pizza Barn. You'll also have a shot at national prizes.

Here are my picks for opening week:

Giants over Redskins

Bengals over Ravens

Seahawks over Bills

Jets over Dolphins

Patriots over Chiefs

Lions over Falcons

Saints over Buccaneers

Titans over Jaguars

Steelers over Texans

Eagles over Rams

49ers over Cardinals

Chargers over Panthers

Browns over Cowboys

Colts over Bears

Packers over Vikings

Tiebreaker: Broncos 21, Raiders 14

Season survivor sure thing: Steelers.

Season record: 0-0. Record last week: 0-0. Season survivor: Still alive.

Not that long ago. In 2006, Douglas lost to Whittell in three seperate matches. Whittell had won the 2A state and regional championships the year prior.