R-C Sports Notebook: Battling the McQstique

Not to get all "Jimmy Carter" about this, but what we have here is a crisis of confidence.

It's been 22 years since a Douglas football team has beaten the McQueen Lancers.

It's been 22 years since the Tigers walked into the John Robb Stadium - a stadium , for whatever it's worth, that bears the name of a former Douglas head football coach - and walked out victorious.

Let's put it this way. This year's seniors, obviously, weren't even born yet. But the same can be said for the last FOUR senior classes to wear the orange and black.

Heck, the class of 1999, who celebrated their 10-year reunion this past summer, was just starting to figure out what football was the last time a Tiger team beat the Lancers.

For anyone who has grown up in Carson Valley watching Tiger football, the word McQueen has only meant defeat. It's all a football fan or player under the age of 29 or 28 has ever known.

But here's the thing -- It doesn't have to be that way.

There's a 12th man the size of a whole pack of elephants that walks right onto the field with the Lancers for every play.

It's that crazy little "McQ" decal - Three letters that carry six state championships and perhaps more daunting for the youth of Carson Valley, 17 consecutive wins against the Tigers.

As Douglas and McQueen were warming up for Friday night's game, you kind of just got the feeling that the Tigers were planning to take on every one of those state titles in one night. It also seemed the Lancers were perfectly willing to let them.

It seems those three little letters can pack quite a punch.

How else do you explain the two fumbles in the first four plays from scrimmage. The six first-half turnovers? It's completely uncharacteristic.

The last three times these two teams have met up, Douglas was the better team on the field. Each game was lost on simple and easily correctible (but often catastrophic) lapses, early or late, without which would have spelled sure victory for the Tigers.

But somewhere along the way, the Tigers got it in their heads that McQueen is supposed to win. After all, that's what has always happened before, right?

Of all the teams in the Northern 4A, McQueen is the only one Douglas hasn't beaten within the last two matchups. Since entering the new Millenium, only Reno (5-4), Reed (5-3) and McQueen (8-0) hold series advantages over the Tigers.

But there is hope. Douglas is a school, after all, that lost 26 football games (over the span of five painful seasons in the 20s and 30s) before recording its first win against anyone.

After moving to the large-school classification in the early 1979, Douglas endured eight losing seasons in its first decade at the next level. Seven of those included seasons of three wins or less - including four one-win seasons.

The Tigers have had to break through these mental barriers against each of the major dynasties to come along.

First it was trying to break through against Reno, a team that Douglas lost to ?? Times before finally breaking through. Now, the teams have split their last eight match-ups 50-50.

Right alongside was Carson High, a team that Douglas had managed only two wins against over the course of 20 meetings at one point in the rivalries' history.

After Douglas made the jump to the then-3A, Carson won the seven of the first nine meetings between the two teams. Before 2002, Douglas had only managed to win back-to-back meetings in the rivalry only three times. The Tigers have since won the last seven matchups.

Then there was Wooster, a team that Douglas only managed to beat once in the first 22 years of the rivalry.

In 2001, the Tigers upended the Colts 28-20 and have not lost in the series since.

It seems to be woven into Tiger tradition that once this football team can get past the past, they really rarely look back.

That's all that remains to be done against McQueen. At this point, it's just a matter of when.

The first quarter of the McQueen-Douglas game was one of the worst starts I have seen a Tiger football team get off to in quite some time. I say that only because Douglas followed it up with one of the very best second halves I've ever seen the team play - and that's from a program that prides itself on its second half play. If the game doesn't start the way it did, Douglas probably wins by 20 points.

I'm still trying to work out the basic kinks here, but a number of regular notebook elements have been moved to our "From the Bleachers" blog elsewhere on the Web site. You can get there by going to www.recordcourier.com/bleachers.

My schedule for the elements on the move:

Mondays: How the Top 10 fared

Tuesdays: Four Surprises and One Not-So-Much

Wednesdays: Sierra Nevada Sports Media Rankings + my ballot

Thursdays: My Player of the Year Ballot this week

Friday: Weekend picks

You'll probably note that I have dropped the "Ranking the Gamers" element from the rotation. It was a popular feature for a number of years, but more and more, recently, I really started to feel weird about pitting teammates and classmates performing to the best of their abilities against each other for sheer speculation and discussion. I'm cutting the feature, but I'll probably update the "Since I've been here" Gamers from time to time.

Keep an eye out for other items posted to the blog. The rest of the regular notebook will remain as is.

- Former McQueen coach Ken Dalton watched Friday's game just south of the McQueen bench. He shifted to the south end zone after Douglas took the lead on a Zack Williams keeper with two minutes left, but stuck around just long enough to see the Lancers' game-winning drive.

- Zack Williams' two one-yard touchdown plunges Friday night were the first two fourth-quarter scores for Douglas this season.

- Outside of the last-minute desparation drive from the Lancers, the Douglas defense actually had a very solid outing Friday night. They forced three fumbles and came up with two recoveries, had two interceptions and held McQueen to about 250 total yards before the final 80-yard drive. Douglas also held the Lancers without a single first down in the third quarter.

- One of my least favorite things is catching the same ESPN Radio program on the way back from Reno that I heard on the way up. So what if it takes me 15 minutes to realize it?

- Douglas boys' soccer forward/midfielder Edgar Arceo's four goals in the last week brought his career total to 43. The school record is 60, set by Mike Gransbery. The season record is 31, set by Jeremy Louthan in 1999.

Arceo also has three assists on the year, bringing his career total to 23. The Northern 4A and school record is 35, set by Eddie Vega.

- This is just one to keep an eye on. The girls' soccer 4A state record for shutouts in a season is 13, held by Douglas' own Ashley Sulprizio (1999). Tiger sophomore Brianna Randall has posted five shutouts in eight games so far this season.

- One other record within the realm of possibility this year: The girls' soccer state and school record for goals in a season is 26 (Morgan LeFever, 2006). Alex Laing has eight in eight games so far.

What was the score the last time Douglas beat McQueen?

- Most NFL coaches carry complex laminated cards with their team's plays printed on them. Mike Singletary carries a stopwatch.

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Visit recordcourier.profootball.upickem.net to sign up and make your picks.

Here's mine for week two:

Falcons over Panthers

Vikings over Lions

Packers over Bengals

Jaguars over Cardinals

Chiefs over Raiders

Patriots over Jets

Eagles over Saints

Titans over Texans

Redskins over Rams

Bills over Bucs

49ers over Seahawks

Steelers over Bears

Broncos over Browns

Ravens over Chargers

Colts ove Dolphins

Tiebreaker: Giants 28, Cowboys 21

Regular Season Survivor: Redskins

Last week: 14-2. Season: 14-2. Season Survivor: Still alive.

Celebrating Edd Roush, the only player ever ejected from a Major League Baseball game for sleeping in the outfield.

- The Associated Press is reporting that the Atlanta Dream WNBA squad will not be allowed to play its playoff games at its home Phillips Arena venue because a series of "Sesame Street Live" shows had already been booked there.

It's just good to know I'm not the only one who's entire day can get jumbled around by Bert and Ernie.

29-22. Douglas won at John Robb Stadium in the season-opener for both teams. Robb, incidentally, coached Douglas High for two seasons between 1939 and 1940. Not sure what his eventual tie-in with McQueen was, seeing as how the school opened in 1982 (Maybe it's named after a son of the same name, or someone completely unrelated? Any help, anyone?)