Behind The Bench
Ep: 150 – One fifty and how standings could shake out from here
Carter Eckl and Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. are joined once again by Duke Ritenhouse to discuss the latest week of football action in the Class 5A North. After that, a run through of area league standings and a sound bite from a record-setting performance. Thanks for listening.
- Broadcast on:
- 09 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Bench with Carter Ecklevis, episode 150. I am your host, Carter E joined as always by our producer, Jeff Mulvahill, Jr. of Insta Image.com. And of course, joined again by co-host Duke Rittenhouse of our news editor of Nevada News Group. Duke, we'll just go ahead and give you the co-host title. We're gonna talk about 150 and all the times you've been on the podcast here at some point, but we'll just go ahead and officially unofficially slap the co-host label here on episode 150. - Yeah, I don't know if you saw me lean back a little bit. I was like, that's a promotion. I mean, this is great. The day is off to a really good start here. Does that come with anything? - Yeah, in title, yes. I don't know if you can expect any monetarity increases, but we can at least give you the title. There was a small part of me that honestly was gonna try to put you on the spot and see just how many episodes you think you've been on to this point. I did not actually go back and look that up though. I have a rough guess of where I think it is, but I did actually did not go back and tally that one up. - I could do a rough guess too. - I do remember, I think it was episode 80 something at our former place and I forget what was the reason I was on was it that Galena had played or something like that, so the whole first 70, 80, I wasn't on at all, so it can't be that many, but I think we could all take a reasonable guess. I don't know, and I've hosted five. - At least five, I was just gonna say. I don't know, have I been on 22, 24? - I was gonna say that 25 to 30 would have been, would have been my ballpark, but again, I did not actually go back and tally all those up, so forgive me for a little bit of a tease there. 150 episodes, I guess we could talk about this at the end or at the beginning, I didn't really plan on doing a whole lot, but just kinda wild, we got a little something in the Nevada appeal and in the recur this week as well, kind of commemorating the milestone, if you will, but I just wanna say to everybody, thanks for listening. If you've made it this far, we appreciate it. We'd like to think we're one of the only people doing this, so for those of you who are tuned in week after week, we greatly appreciate you. But I'll leave it at that, no need to go down that rabbit hole a whole lot here just yet. Got plenty to talk about today with, between football, obviously most sports are on a buy this week, so not a lot as far as game action goes, there's still some, but for a majority of teams in the area, you're looking, you know, between the end of last week and next week, you're looking at about 10 days off, roughly in that side of things, but we got some football to talk about, got a record-breaking achievement and boys soccer we are gonna bring up, got some final results from regional golf that took place at Redhawk at the end of last week and then some, a couple other things before we get out of here. But I think we have to start with Carson football against Galina, we had kind of teased that one quite a bit given that, you know, there were really only two games left in league play and both Carson and Galina went into that game unbeaten in league play, both you could see the route to a five and a league season, whoever won. And in this case, Galina came out with that win by a final of a 35 to 12. You know, it was kind of once again, you know, I hate to say similar to what we saw against Douglas, but I feel a little podcast curse on that one where we talk about how great a game might be and then it ends up just not quite living up to the expectations necessarily. But, you know, Duke, I'm curious from what you saw, you've watched a lot of Galina this year. Did it look like the Grizzly team that you've kind of come to know over the first seven eight games of the season? - I don't really think so. You know, as I was getting ready for our show here today, it hit me that this game to me didn't have a theme. And, you know, maybe it's, you know, because we're riders and we need to put out newspapers and all that, it's helpful if there's a theme. And that could be, you know, a player does a really, has a really great game, or it could be, boy, that defense really stepped up. But I'm like, I'm gonna be honest with you, this is an odd game. I think it really was. I think Galina, you know, had a decent start. And then, you know, Carson cuts it to 15 to 12 if I believe. And that's anyone's game at that point, is they're coming off a blocked punt for that goes all the way back. And, you know, the Galina sideline, shoulders a little bit slumped and all that. But then you look, I'm going through my notes here. Every Carson possession after that was a punt. - Yeah. - And so, you know, Galina does play good defense. Maybe that's the theme, is once again, their defense stepped up and kind of saved him because, no, I thought the Grizzlies were frankly a bit sloppy, they dropped some passes. I think they had some other mistakes. But the defense saved them. I'm not saying, you know what's weird, I'm not saying it was a bad game. I actually thought it was an entertaining game. But as I'm looking around for the key player or the theme again, I'm not finding it. It just, you know, eventually the game ended. And, you know, with Galina scoring late with the backup quarterback, it's very deceiving. I mean, that, yeah. You know, if that passes six inches to the left, it's incomplete. And they don't score. And what would that be, would have been 28? Or no, it would have been, whatever. - 29, so, yeah. - And, you know, I, so that's a little bit deceiving too. So, you know, I'm having a hard time kind of wrapping my head around it. In my opinion, the break, the Washoe County break, which is kind of forcing all these buys that you talked about comes at a good time for them. Because I thought, you know, for a team that's leading the division, I thought this is a bit sloppy. You know, I think as far as theme and key players, I think if you stop that game around the six-minute mark in the third quarter, your key player is J.T. Heaton for Carson High. I mean, he's pretty much continually led the Senators in tackles throughout the season. Game by game, he had 13 tackles tackle and a half for loss. And he was the one who got in the backfield and blocked that punt. That Darren Rice scooped up and returned for a touchdown to make it 15-12. And, you know, at that point, we hadn't really seen Carson's offense kind of click, but that was kind of the most, those confidence shifters you see in high school sports where things can change really fast. And I'll give credit to the Grizzlies 'cause they did not let that really rattle them. And, you know, we've seen that happen plenty this year. Carson did have a couple of decent drives in the first half. They were able to get them some points, but, you know, another game for the Senators without an offensive touchdown, which makes things tough and puts your defense in a tough spot with, you know, just a lot of time on the field trying to slow down a multifaceted Galena offense that is, you know, based a little around some trickeration with the RPOs and just keeping guys honest and sound. And when you get tired, that's harder to do. But just, I've been really impressed with JT Heaton's play on the defensive end. Like I said, it seems to be in double-digit tackles. Game in and game out. Darren Ray, along with that block punt return for a touchdown, had two sacks as well for the Senators. So the Senator defense, I think, again, deceiving when you see 35 points, but I genuinely thought the Carson defense played really well. And then, you know, on the special team side of things, very rarely do you see a high school kicker come out and hit a 55-yard field goal in the fashion that Drake Hardcast did kind of snuck that one through, maybe had another yard or two to give there if you were really looking at it. But, you know, 15 to 12 all of a sudden, you're looking at what could be an entirely new ballgame. And Galena didn't let that rattle them and turned right back around and ended up scoring what 20 unanswered points after that in order to finish it off, 35-12. - I just had a thought to you. The kicking game just reminded me of something. And this could be one man's opinion. But, you know, I saw it and I made a note of it and I thought it was really interesting. But first of all, as a sidebar, yes, Carson's kicking game year in and year out is fantastic. And it's a aspect that a lot of high school teams don't have or they cringe when they send the kicking because they're just not good at it. And, you know, we get teams every year in Northern Nevada who go for it on fourth down because they'd rather maybe get that first down and as opposed to having some poor kid, you know, kick the ball 20 yards to the right. That's my sidebar. Do you know, actually, if I had to pick a key moment in this game and this could be just me, but I don't know if you remember and it was, I believe, 15 to 12 still. But, and Galena's been MZ, 17, the big kicker, tight end was briefly hurt and it was fourth down. And Galena quarterback Carson Tremode runs out on the field, grabs it as the best pun of the game. Huge pun went way down to about the 10. And oddly enough, Galena was so fired up by that. I don't know if it was, you know, hey, good job, Colson, or if it was, we've got out of this jam or whatever. But to me, if you look from that point forward, the positives are almost always Galena. And so it's weird, you know, the backup punter with a big moment. And like I said, maybe it's just me, but, you know, as I watch a football game, sometimes goofy stuff like that will jump out at me and I'll circle it, you know, and maybe come back to it and all that. So I'm glad I got a chance to mention that because, you know, when you get two 5A level teams together and there's talented athletes out there, you mentioned Handy, you know, he's the type of player who can block a punt, huge moment. And then a guy like Colson Tremode is the guy who says, oh, no big deal, let me just kick this thing 60 yards. It makes for fun viewing. - I definitely had not considered, or hadn't even noticed really that Galena had gone to a different punter there out of necessity. And, you know, again, to credit Galena's defense, I have not seen many teams over the years hold Carson to 85 rushing yards. That is, the Senator's offense is predicated around running the ball. They have several different talented running backs. They can give the rock to, so to hold, hold the Senators to 85 rushing yards is a big thing there. And obviously, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago and in last week as well, Galena now 3-0 with Hug and Wooster left on the schedule, definitely in the driver's seat to get the promotion in class 5A Division 3. You know, not necessarily that straightforward yet in class 5A Division 2. I think we're still looking to see some things shake out there. But in that league, Douglas took down McQueen 49-21 this past Friday. And here's another thing I've talked about in the past and continuing to just be impressed with his Douglas's offense just seems to have really found a different level from the beginning of the season. It's easy to sit there after a game or two and be like, well, teams are figuring it out. And I get it's cliched and maybe an overused narrative from the coaching side of things. But really, truly, it seems that the Tiger offense has continued to take steps week after week and just be really smart with the ball. In total, the Tigers ran for 288 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. And then through the air had 188 yards and three scores against the Lancers. So all in all, just, you know, a big win for the Tigers went up 14-0, then that game was tied 14-14 at half. And then Douglas just kind of ran away with it in the second half. Zach Jackson ends up with 181 yards rushing on his own, on 21 carries. Ryan Slagel and Jackson McKinney also with rushing touchdowns for the Tigers. And then of course, Britain Weston, four catches 65 yards and two touchdowns, I feel like. You can't check a box score and not see his name in the end zone at least once. Nathan Preu also had a two-yard receiving touchdown as well. Like I said, Jackson over at 188 passing yards, 12 of 18. I think his season completion percentage is again, sitting right around 70% and three touchdowns through the air. And then a no-run defense led the team in tackles. So another impressive win for the Tigers who, you know, comparing teams is not necessarily my favorite thing to do. But as far as last year's team to this year's team, I would probably bet on the idea that this year's team might be just a little, I don't know if impressive is the right word 'cause I think last year's team surprised more people. But nobody was, I don't think people were expecting doubles to be six and two at this point in the season. - Yeah, I think I'd agree. And I think the weird thing about last year, it was new to all of us. They had split the five A into the two divisions and we were all getting used to it because the season started and we were like, well, you know, it's this five game league season, you know, what do we know about these teams? And I think it all got magnified. Well, I think it'd be a good game. I remember I was tweeting over the weekend similar. It's dangerous to compare teams, but I was tweeting that I thought this year's Wolfpack team would beat last year's Wolfpack team. And I'm more confident about that than I am about the Douglas thing. 'Cause I think they're a little bit different teams. One thing I like about this year's team is you mentioned, you know, their thorough and complete on offense, they can also get the quick strike. I've seen it with my own eyes. You've seen it. I've seen, I have seen more first play touchdowns this year than I ever remember. And I mean, from different teams, I've seen it from, I've seen it from Douglas for sure. In fact, I think I've seen it. Oh, I did see it twice because at North valleys, they scored on the first play of each half. I'm just like, this is crazy. And then I've seen it from Galena. I don't think I've seen it from Carson, but I've also maybe thinking of some other teams too, but just these quick strikes anyway, back to Douglas, they are definitely capable. And I mean, like the one they had at Reno was an off tackle play, but the perfect blocking scheme and Jackson was gone, baby. I mean, just he was out there. So I think when you have that dangerous element too, that adds something. You know, getting back to what you were saying, boy, I think that'd be a good game. I mean, 2024 Douglas, I don't know. Has a slight edge maybe. But it would be like 17 to 14, right? Maybe, you know, you could take your pick of who's in the backfield, whether it's Connor Jackson or Zach Jackson. And the players who are having to play not only both ways, but both years. I mean, now we're getting crazy, right? I mean, now it's science fiction, but maybe that's part of the danger of trying to compare these teams. But, and I'll throw it back to you, Carter, with this thought. I think Douglas, I'll give him credit for another thing. I think they're the most interesting team in Division II, 'cause I think some people sold him short. Yeah. And said, you got promoted, you're gonna go 0 and 5, just like the English soccer teams that get promoted and get pounded, right? You're gonna go back down, baby. And those people were wrong. And I think because also they're the southern most team, geographically, you know, there's the Reno schools. And then there's Spanish Springs, way the heck up there. And Douglas is, you know, to a lot of Reno people, Douglas is, you know, the moon. Right. So, in some ways, I don't think they get the publicity and that sort of thing. So, I think they're the most interesting team, 'cause look at 'em, look at 'em now. I mean, two in one, they have two opportunities coming up that can, that could define, I mean, nothing's over. Really? Right? Although, let's face it, but no, it looks really good. But Douglas has two really good opportunities coming up, six and two overall. And I mean, like I said, I think they're very interesting and part of that is that they can score from anywhere. And a little bit of breaking news as we tape here at 9.57 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Very rarely do we get high school sports news here this early in the morning. Can we make the sound? Do we have a buzzer for this? Jeff had something, in post production, Jeff had something. (laughing) Oh, that's awesome. (laughing) He's gonna love that this is how it introduces him. But Douglas football head coach Kyle Mayes is being announced as this week's Las Vegas Raiders Tom Flores, Coach of the Week. It will be on Raiders Nation radio this afternoon is from what I am just got texting. (cheering) You know, in honor of episode 150, we're just breaking out all the sounders. I didn't even realize we had that stuff. We've been holding back. (laughing) So congratulations to Douglas head coach Kyle Mayes. I know he'll deflect and say it's all on the players. And as we kind of just spent the last five, seven minutes talking about, I genuinely do and just continue to be impressed with this Tiger football team week after week. So a big congratulations to head coach Kyle Mayes and to the Douglas football team for I think just continuing to impress people clearly around the state and not just here in Northern Nevada. And Carter, you know things are going our way when we're talking about Douglas football as you get breaking news on Douglas football. - Right. - I mean, does that line up or what? - That was pretty nice timing there. All right, moving on from football. We think we lead every podcast with football. So we'll move on to the soccer ranks where Carson Heis, Jaden Gomez scored five times in an eight zero win over Douglas this past Saturday. It ties him for the 12th most goals in a single game. Ever in in IAA history, at least according to the record book, nine had been done twice by the same player in 2019 in the same season, two. And then eight, eight, seven and six had been a couple of times five, five had probably the most, I mean, I guess it makes sense as far as, you know, it only gets harder to score more goals. But still, nonetheless, Carson Heis, Jaden Gomez, a senior will be officially in into the in IAA record books whenever those are updated. So congratulations to him. That was a big moment. We actually have a quote from him on the achievement. So here is Carson Heis, Jaden Gomez. - All right, Jaden, five goals for you today. You know, what'd you feel like was working for you? - I said it, go for myself saying I was going to score a hatchet one day for since Pegga took over. I hit it right here against Douglas rivalry game. - Yeah, how did it feel to do that? It's like you said, as a senior in your final game here at Carson I. - Oh, I felt great with the fans. I feel great. I saw the record books. I'm being the record book and that pushed me to score that fin goal. - The senators right now are sitting in third in the five A Sierra league with a three, two and two record according to the in IAA website. Should be in kind of an interesting finish there. Curious to see how things shake out. Carson finishes the year with the rest of the regular season games on the road. Jeff, you know, I'm curious from what you've seen from the center team. You know, obviously it looks like based off who's kind of in the bottom of this league that Carson's going to be in the playoffs if everything shakes out the way things are going right now. But I'm curious what you've seen and what they may need to do in your eyes to maybe make a deep run in the postseason. - I don't know, we've talked about this with other sports. It's developing through the season and being, for lack of a better word, hot during when you hit that playoff time. It's a little unfortunate that they've got so many road games to end the season, but that's just the way the draw goes some years. I think they're sitting well placed, obviously getting into, you would prefer not to be one of the lower seeds, but you've got to get in. The other side is tough, so playing that crossover one or two, that's a hard charge. But this year we've seen, I think hug is number one on the other side right now, which is different than the last two years where Sparks was number one. So you really, the perennial favorites are always North Valley's, Hug, Sparks, Carson in some order, and it varies depending on who and when you had all of your either healthy or eligible or whatever the problems have been. So I think they're sitting well, but they got to play. I mean, you have, you got no choice at this point. It's not do or die for the rest of the season, the regular season, but single elimination and soccer. Yeah, that's where things are gonna get tough and that's probably a good segue to jump over to the girls side of things where Carson is also sitting is that four seed in the class four A, Sierra Lee. So right now they are looking that they will be in line to play the one seed from the high desert, which could be McQueen or Spanish Springs, but another potential tough postseason route for a Senator team. And obviously we're still a little bit away from that, but you know, from that Carson girls side of things, sitting at two, six in one in league play, is there anything you're kind of looking to see them focus on in the final bit of the season in order to make that playoff push? 'Cause I know their goal was to make the playoffs and year after year, they look like they're in position to do that, but that gets what we'll take to potentially upset somebody early on. They should make the playoffs got one game against Douglas coming up that will, that game kind of, right, right. And it's a home game, it's senior night, blah, blah, blah. So they're not gonna, they're not gonna give that one up. I'll just make that claim right now, but they're harder to beat than the record would appear. They just played Damani, who's in first place on the Sierra side to a 1-0 game. And they're hard to play against and getting more difficult to play against. So some of these scores have looked a little off-sided, but in reality, they're getting tougher and tougher to play. So yeah, they'll be on the road. But, and the McQueen game's interesting because we were talking about this yesterday. They have a field advantage 'cause their field is so short. It's wide, but it's short. And they've kind of figured out how to play on that and the other teams are like we need 10, 15, 20 more yard, depending on where you're at. So it'll be interesting to see if the weather gods don't keep shining on us like it's been. I mean, 80 somewhat degrees this week is ridiculous, but if the weather switches and those kinds of things, it could be a factor, but I think they'll do. I think they're gonna give them a shot no matter what. - Yeah, so according to Max Props, they still have four games left and they only Douglas by four points. So by no means a certainty, but like Jeff alluded to that game against the Tigers early next week will be, looks like Tuesday of next week, 6.45 PM this following Tuesday, game will be at Carson will be a big one as far as playoff implications go. - Yeah, for sure. - All right, moving over to regional girls golf where Douglas will head back to the state tournament for the fourth year in a row seniors, Gianna Zinke and Madison Frisbee once again leading the Tigers to another state tournament appearance. Gianna Zinke who was third last year at the regional tournament took second this season and then Madison Frisbee who was sixth last year took fifth. As a team, I think they were second by, you know, almost a hundred strokes behind Bishop Minogue and that Bishop Minogue girls team is pretty dominant as far as regional girls golf goes. But the Tigers will get to finish their season with a state tournament at Genoa Lakes. So the seniors will get to go out play in their home course and where they've won a state title before as well as sophomores, you know. I'm not sure that goal as a team is necessarily on the horizon, but as far as individuals, I know they are both aiming for some big time results there and seeing if they can potentially cap their senior seasons with a little more hardware. Over in the volleyball side of things, standings have gotten pretty interesting as Bishop Minogue and Reno are both 11 and two so far in league play and then we have a three-way tie for third between Carson Galena and Spanish Springs. Jeff and I have seen Carson and Spanish Springs go five. I know Carson and Galena have gone five. And then McQueen sitting right there at six to seven. So the five a North in volleyball is pretty topsy turvy right now and obviously Bishop Minogue and Reno have both already lost a couple of times in league play. So, you know, no guarantees there, though they still seem to be kind of the top dog. I think volleyball could have some pretty interesting finishes down the stretch here in the fall season. Douglas is in seventh at four and eight and then Reed and Damani Ranch are two in one and or excuse me, two in 11 and one in 11 as well. Otherwise, I think as far as sports results go just one other to note. And that is that Douglas girls cross country was actually able to beat Carson as a team at Reed this past week and Douglas had 62 points. Carson had 75. I'm not sure the last time that the Senator girls team hasn't been the top team as far as when they compete against Northern Nevada schools. You know, I know with scoring, it kind of depends on who's at these events, but still nonetheless impressive to see that Tiger girls cross country team come up and take the, I believe they were second overall in that meet at Reed, but still something that they can maybe potentially build on going into regionals. You know, anything else you guys want to touch on before? We get out of here on this historic episode of 150, which, you know, again, we had breaking news. So I don't know if it can get much more historic than that. - It's a milestone episode, literal breaking news, sound effects, right? Some good, some good football recaps of other stuff. I mean, it's the whole thing. I'll say real quick, you know, I've been around a long time and I've worked in different states and done some different things, but there's without breaking our arms, padding on the back and all that, just it is pretty unique that this hit 150 because over the years, and not even just the newspaper business, but every business, how many good ideas just don't have the staying power? Someone comes up with a good idea and it lasts for six weeks and then reality hits and people move on to other things. But, you know, 150 episodes for what's technically a one man sports department, 'cause I'm not full time sports. Jeff isn't full time sports, it's just one man. 150 including 93 in a row. - Yeah, something. - Weekly podcast that touches mostly on high school sports. I really doubt anyone else is doing this. You know, I haven't surveyed the rest of the country. I mean, maybe there's a one man shop in, you know, South Dakota somewhere and they're doing the exact same thing. I don't personally know, but I kind of doubt it because the difference to me is, you know, when you guys hit, when you guys hit episode 10, you kept going, you know, there's probably weeks you didn't wanna do it, right? - There's been a few. - And then you hit episode 25 and you keep going, you know, and it's, there's also, as we've talked about on this show, there's good, there's schedule wise, there's weeks that are better than other weeks, where you maybe need to come up with some new content, there's also the summer, where we know for a fact, you know, it helps to have something like Olympics or something like that, but we know for a fact that you're, you're struggling a little bit more for content and all that. So, you know, congratulations to you guys, 150, right? I'm just, well, I've been promoted, I'm co-host now. But, but I'm just, you know, I come in and talk about football, that's basically my thing, but really the staying power of covering these local kids for 150, you know, seriously, I mean, you guys should, Jeff, do you have a round of applause? All right, okay, I'm done. Well, again, I, as you'll see in Wednesday's paper, I do owe Jeff a big thank you, because without his equipment and his dedication to the editing side of things and the production side of things and making sure we sound good, this podcast wouldn't have gotten off the ground at all. So, a big thank you to Jeff for doing that. And thank you guys for listening again. I'm sure I've got crutch words that I use every single episode that people are probably tired of hearing. I think I say interesting too much, but I appreciate everybody who's tuned in week after week. And, you know, I'm a citizen in the column that's coming out of Wednesday. I just, it's tough to measure things by metrics, and I don't like using those as kind of the end all, I'll be all, but, you know, we're over 14,000 listens as far as I can tell through 150 episodes. And I think that's pretty impressive. And, you know, I'm sure people want to hear more from local athletes on here. Again, I'm always trying to make that a goal as well, whether that be interviews or just getting, you know, audio samples that we're able to use for even moments at a time up. On these episodes weekly, I think is just a huge benefit. And some of our most listened to episodes are the ones where we've had high school kids and high school coaches on them. I think the coolest part about this platform has been giving people another way to hear about the new coaches in the community. And, you know, I think newspapers are a great tool and being able to read about what coaches expect is awesome, but to actually hear them say it and hear the tone they use is big and important as well. And so I thank every coach that's had a chance to come on with this podcast. We've had a couple on multiple times. So just a big shout out there. And hopefully we will just kind of keep rolling from here. But unless anybody else has anything else, that's going to do it for episode 150, a big thank you again to everybody for listening. And we will catch you guys next week. Take it easy. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (air whooshing)