The Miners captured their first victory of the season on September 11th at Reno High School. They started down 10-0 before storming back in a close 31-23 victory over the Huskies. Helping with this, the Miners had 215 rushing yards from four different runners. This included sophomore Joc Bailey, who rushed for 78 yards on 12 carries with 2 touchdowns. This brought high hopes heading into their bye week as the Miners prepare for McQueen for their Homecoming game.
As this game was played on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, veterans were commemorated at halftime, and the field was repainted in stars and stripes’ themes. But along with this, it was the first game that Reno played with a giant jumbotron.
Reno came into the game at 2-1 and the Miners 0-4. But that didn’t turn away head coach Ernie Howren who seemed to have gave his running game a primary role as, in total, the Miners ran the ball 31 of the 40 plays on offense. But it wasn’t all offense as, even though the Miners allowed 23 points, the defense forced two turnovers. The first came as senior defensive end Gabe Meyers jumped up and intercepted a pass, leading to a Joc Bailey score. Later, Zeke Peterson, a junior defensive end, caused a fumble which was recovered by senior linebacker Evan Escovedo.
After the scoreboard hit triple zeros, senior student Luke Flagtvedt yelled, “We’re 1-4!”. Though he said this with sarcasm, the Miners seemed to have turned this win into the mindset of 1-0. All momentum, no regret. Going to practice and talking to some of the players have shown the spirits the Miners have are allowing for higher goals to be seen. Coach Burgarello adding that he wants to “get a state title”.
The Miners now are eyeing league play starting this Friday and a possible run in the 5A North as this has swung their season in the right direction. The Lancers come in at 3-2, coming off a shutout loss to Destiny Christian Academy from Sacramento 27-0. Nothing matters as all that counts now is how you perform in the North. The Miners hope to swing their season around and maybe even get back to the mountain top to strike pure gold.
