Behind The Bench
Ep: 151 – A first look at the fall postseason
Carter Eckl and Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. take the first in-depth look at the 2024 fall postseason for prep sports. The episode starts with a look at football and every team's final two regular season games. After that, the duo run through the postseason outlook for boys soccer, girls soccer and volleyball while touching regional tournaments that are already underway.
- Broadcast on:
- 15 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(upbeat music) Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Bench with Carter Echo. This is episode 151. I'm your host, Carter E. Joint. As always, by my producer, Jeff Mulvahill Jr. We are here taping on a Monday after noon talking a little bit about everything going on in the Northern Nevada prep sports scene. Of course, we're coming off essentially a bi-week for pretty much everybody. I know there were a couple of local matches, but with the Washoe County fall break, Carson and Douglas are kind of just along for the ride there. So I know, for instance, Douglas Volleyball had a game Monday against Fallon, which they won. And then Carson Girl Soccer got in some action this past Saturday. But otherwise, for the most part, not a whole lot going on in the 5A ranks, 4A 5A ranks around Northern Nevada, as far as prep sports scene goes. But that changes this week. And of course, we are closing in on the regional post-season as well. So we'll have a pretty in-depth look at the standings here for you today as we figure out who's kind of lining up where and who needs some big wins down the stretch. And some potentially big seating implications that could be at play here this week. And next week, of course, we're gonna start with football, where Carson High School football will travel to North valleys this week. Carson's sitting at two in one in league play after losing to Galena two weeks ago. North valleys one and two in league play there. These two teams met twice last year. Carson took the regular season matchup and then North valleys one in the post-season. So two teams that are very familiar with each other. You know, I think everybody around here is pretty familiar with each other at this point of things. But still two teams that know their style of football pretty well and if we know anything about North valleys and from what we saw Douglas play against them, the Panthers love to throw the football. They are gonna sling it. That shouldn't come as any surprise. They are gonna test the Senators secondary quite a bit. So we'll be real curious to see how that goes. I think it's gonna be a fascinating matchup. This game is at North valleys too. So no in-person coverage for me at least on Twitter with Douglas being at home against Reed. Another fascinating matchup. We'll get to that in just a second. But again, the Panthers team that loves to throw the football and you know, we'll see. It could be if North valleys finds a way to win this game, the seating in the 5A div three is gonna get a little interesting. Especially with Carson finishing the season at home against Damani Ranch. The Mustangs are two and one in league play as well. So right now they are tied for the two seed. With Carson as we've talked about before, Galena looks like they have pretty much a stretch run here to finish 5-0 in league play and get the promotion up to 5A division two for next year. We'll see who comes down on the other side. The 5A division two is a little, little tougher to figure out at the moment. That one's not playing out so easily. Douglas still has a shot at the one seed if they are able to win out against Reed and Minogue, which is gonna be no easy feat by any stretch of the imagination. Reed and Spanish Springs and Douglas are all two and one right now. Reed, Minogue's three now. Sitting at the bottom are McQueen and Reno. Right now it looks like one of those two teams will be getting the drop down to 5A division three next season, but we'll see. I mean, they're still room for things to get a little weird. I've already had somebody ask me about the tie breakers. I gotta be honest, not sure they're worth trying to figure out. We'll just slit the NIAA, figure those out. I've tried before, I've been wrong before. They are wildly confusing. They're loosening on the NIAA websites if you wanna-- They're there, yeah. You can try to figure them out yourself to sleep. Yep, you can try to figure them out yourself. I just, they get the tie breakers figured out so quick. I'll give the NIAA credit for this. They get them figured out so quickly at the end of the regular season that it doesn't really benefit me to try and guess, especially since I know I've messed them up before in the past and I don't want to relay incorrect information. So definitely something to keep an eye on and we will keep you updated as things progress, but I don't think there's any reason to do too many hypotheticals with several games left to play. Like I said, Douglas will take on Reed at home. That should be a good game as well. The Raiders have been quite good on the offensive side of the ball and just don't turn it over. They have thrown for 15 touchdown passes this year. They have zero interceptions. And as far as their stats go on max, perhaps they've only fumbled twice. So the Raiders in seven games have turned the ball over two times, which has been a big thing for Douglas's defense. They have been good at forcing turnovers this year. So we'll see kind of which one gives there. And can the Tigers defense slow down this Raider offense that's averaging essentially 40 points a game? I believe it works out exactly that. They've got 280 points scored in seven games this season. So works out pretty nicely and math-wise to just about 40 points a game. The Douglas offense has proven that they can absolutely can do that that as the season has gone on, they've gotten more and more things figured out on the offensive side of the ball and continue to show their ability to move the rock effectively. But yeah, again, I think that Douglas defense against Reed's offense is really the matchup. I'm looking to watch between Bajouet quarterback who's thrown for over 1,000 yards. Like I said, 14 touchdowns, no picks. And then they got Bronwyn Rios at running back who has 942 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns of his own. So that's gonna be a doozy of a game this Friday. And based off an email I just got, it sounds like Douglas might be having a little bit of a reunion for their 1974 football state championship team this weekend as well. So this Friday, excuse me. So could see more from that in next week's record career. I know we're gonna have stuff from the Carson High School Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday. They inducted 10 members into that class. So be sure to check that out in Saturdays, Nevada Appeal will not be in this Wednesdays. Nevada Appeal will be in Saturdays, Nevada Appeal. There, forgive me, I'm bouncing a little bit. But football wise, I think we've covered it for right now. There's some really interesting matchups to see. And we will have all that updated Friday night, of course, you can find those online at www.navadapiel.com/news/sports. Same thing goes for the record-career.com/news/sports. Jeff, while Carson High Basketball Hall of Fame's going on, the Carson Girls Soccer Team was taking on Reno at home, they bested the Huskies to zero behind goals from Alondra Carrillo and Grace Turner. What did you see from them that allowed them to get that two zero one? - I feel very good about episode 150 because I said they're difficult to play and they came through on the weekend and pushed through for a win. The same thing, they just keep at it. Defensively, they're hard to get through. Short of somebody making an individual player doing something, they're tough. So that's, I think, now kind of allowed the offense, a little bit of opportunity to get some more chances. So they put two away on Saturday. So a good win for them going into Carson Douglas, which is Wednesday, or sorry, Tuesday tomorrow. So that matchup is usually a little closer, but Douglas is struggling this year, so. And it's senior night, so who knows what will happen tomorrow night? Carson right now on the girls side looks pretty locked into that number four seed in the Sierra League. Douglas at the moment is seven points behind Carson, so they will not be making the regional playoffs. If it started today, obviously, they still have a chance if they can win some games to finish off the season. Reno, who the Senators just beat, is currently the four seed in the high desert side of things. Again, if the season into today, Carson, as the four seed in Sierra would take on McQueen, the one seed out of the high desert, McQueen just beat Spanish Springs to increase their lead in the high desert side of things. So it seems more than likely, like the odds would definitely be pretty heavily slanted towards Carson and McQueen Girl Soccer meeting up in that first round of the regional postseason, which will be a tough test for the Senators who I know have played McQueen already this season. Jeff, I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit. Do you remember that game? It was at McQueen, and I guess if we're looking too far ahead, which we definitely are, what do you think would be kind of the secret to success for the Senators if they run into the Lancers in the playoffs? - I saw about three quarters of the game, and a couple of things really stood out. McQueen's field is wide but short, very short. - That's right, we talked about this last week too. - Yeah, and they know how to play that field and the way that they stick together as a unit. I'm curious if that's still kind of their MO and how they're playing. I would guess they're gonna, it, the standings kind of were a little shocking to me because I didn't realize how, I mean, Galena is eight-no, eight-o-and-one or something. - Eight-o-and-two? - Yeah, so no losses yet. So the other side is, Carson just beat Reno, those kinds of things. So it's really kind of the Sierra League seems to be a little bit stronger. But when you get into these one-off games, we're still a couple of weeks out. - Yeah. - And we've had this really warm weather and I'm anticipating that to change. - Yeah. - Change fairly quickly. - Yeah. - And the wind at McQueen, it's something to behold and the grass is thick. So there's definitely some advantages that McQueen having played on that field and they understand kind of the wind and how hard you can't kick the ball in there. It's just gonna blow it. I've been up there a couple of years ago, they had the regional championship. I'd heard about the wind before and I'd been up there for football and baseball and it was windy but me and alive with that championship game, the wind just was relentless. So I'm a little concerned about the weather turning. It's been so nice. Almost too hot for some of it but now we're seeing a cooling trend coming in if it just turns cold and stays cold. That might benefit be another home field advantage but that's why you finish first, you get to play at home. - Yeah, Carson's got three games left on the girls side. Like I said, they lead Douglas by seven points, three points for a win. So a win Tuesday for the Senators would clinch that fourth spot. They are also 10 points behind Damani Ranch for that third seed with three games left, even if they went three and oh and they also play Galena and Minogue who are the top two teams in the Sierra. Even if Carson did win both those games, they can't catch Damani Ranch. So we'll see what happens Tuesday. You never know but it seems all about a certainty that Carson will lock up that four seed at some point here. This week a win over Douglas would also eliminate the Tigers as well. So that is that on the girls soccer side of things on the boys soccer side of things. It's kind of similar except for the fact that the high desert seems to be the teams with that are a little stronger. - And completely different names. - Right, right. - Completely. - Right, this is also 5A. The girls soccer is 4A just to clarify there. Carson boys are currently the four seed but they are only one point back at Damani Ranch and two points back of Galena. So that will be interesting to finish off here. Excuse me, Carson will play at Damani Ranch on Wednesday. So that could be a big game as far as who gets that seed there, especially with the four seed in the Sierra more than likely lining up against Hug in the opening round who also doesn't have a loss yet in league play. I would think that Galena Damani Carson, three of them are really trying to avoid that four seed and running into Hug in the opening round. I think pretty much every coach would say that's a pretty safe assumption there. They're gonna go at Damani Ranch, at Wooster and at Bishop Minogue to finish things out. Wooster leads the Sierra League and then of course Bishop Minogue is sitting there. Behind Carson with only one leg win and one draw with just four points there. So it seems again, more than likely that Carson will be a playoff team. It's just kind of where they fall in that seating and who they open up against right now. The other side of the high desert like we said is it's Hug at the top, Reed is three points behind them and Sparks is three points behind Reed. So seems more than likely that Hug will lock up that one seed but the Sierra still has some things to be figured out in their seating side of things. Of course, Wooster Carson playing at the end of this week would more than likely win for Wooster would pretty much solidify the one seed for the Colts there. Anything in particular you think that the boys team can do to maybe shift some of these seatings. I don't know if you recall their first matchup against Damani Ranch off at the top of your head. That was a one zero loss at home. So the Mustangs won that game but I'm curious second time around this game being Wednesday at Damani Ranch what you think the Senators might need to do. - They went to that kind of strange period at home. They lost two, one to zero. - Three, well three out of four. - Yeah and it was, they played well but they couldn't get one in and kind of a flue goal and they go away with a loss. So I think the biggest thing it's tough to be on the road the rest of the season. I mean they are not at home unless they win out and can take the second seed, right? - Yeah. - 'Cause the first two have a or the top two in each side. - Which is possible. - It is possible, a tougher road. - Yeah. - So and I haven't, the Douglas game you saw I was, we were on the road. So I wasn't able to see that game and when you beat somebody eight to zero that's, you know, are you really seeing what they have or where they've progressed to so far in the season. So I'm anxious to see what the Damani score is. That field is different than ours. It's still turf but it's quick. It's so, I would guess that that would give them a bit. I mean 'cause to me they play pretty quick. So who knows? School going on, the semester or the quarter is ending at school and it's just, everybody's in the same thing and I don't know what this break, this last week was hard. So I keep looking at the calendar feeling like I'm supposed to be somewhere. - Yeah. - Nope. - There's nothing the whole week until we get to Saturday's game. I'm like, this is nuts and I know we had it last year but this seems like the great, the great divide of the fall season. So I hope, I hope everybody is fit and practiced up well but on the other side, did they take the week off? Did they not practice? That seems crazy, I mean mid season. - Yeah, honestly more late season than mid season given that they only have three games left in the regular season. Schedule like you said, yeah playing three games on the road with likely a fourth playoff game on the road unless they can get some good results. Yeah, that's a tough way to finish off the season but for that Carson Boyes soccer team, they've proven to be plenty pesky when they need to. They've got a tie against Wooster who's ahead of him. They've got a tie against Galena who's currently ahead of him. They did lose one zero to Galena kind of in that stretch where they lost a few games in a row, one zero but you know, yeah, I'm just very curious to see how they look in these final three games 'cause I think it could be a number, it could go a number in different ways. - Yeah, yeah. I do have one thing for them in our game. I think we'll buy a fat head and put it on the fence before the game. - Yeah, worry about the refs for that one. - Yeah, hopefully they'll get chased off the field this time. That was embarrassing to watch. All right, moving on to volleyball, nobody needs my opinions on soccer. I think I've heard enough of those recently. So moving on to volleyball again, just a real jumbled league standings and I think I hesitate to say I gave the wrong information because the standings on the Unidable A website have changed. So I'm almost positive. I either said on the podcast or wrote in the paper that Carson volleyball was seven and five, which they were on the standings. They were tied with Spanish Springs and seven and five. Well, I've checked today and they are now six and six. So right now, Carson sits all alone in the five seat, in the five A North in girls volleyball. Spanish Springs at seven and five is the four seat, eight and four Galena is the three seed and then you've got Reno and Bishop and Nogue, both at 11 and two up at one. Below Carson, like I said, the senators are six and six. McQueen at six and seven for that six seed and then Douglas is four and eight. Reed and Demani Ranch are essentially eliminated at this point. They are only taking six to regionals in volleyball. Carson has four games left on their schedule. And they play Reed and Galena at home this week, which are big matchups as far as potentially jumping into better seating situations, excuse me. And again, with the one and two seats getting buys, three and four would open at home in the first round. I think that would be crucial for them. Of course, we saw Carson and Spanish Springs in Carson go five sets. I know that Carson match up against Galena, which was a makeup schedule, went five sets. They will get Galena again, like I said, on a Thursday at home. I am very curious to watch how volleyball finishes out because at the beginning of the year, we saw Manog and Reno both lose in league and everybody around the league was like, well, hold on a second. Maybe, maybe the top's not quite as, you know, and not a tier ahead of everybody else. Well, they still might be, but, you know, Carson has played well against both Manog and Reno. They've gone five sets against Manog. They lost three to one against Reno already, but Carson's got another matchup against Manog next week. And then, of course, they finish out the season with Douglas. Douglas, of course, still has a chance to make some noise here as well and jump in and spoil somebody's post-season matchup. They will go at Galena Tuesday and then against Spanish Springs at home and then they finish with Damani Ranch and Carson. I don't know. I genuinely have sat here for the last 45 minutes trying to figure out how I think volleyball could go. I think this week will do a lot to determining where those seedings match up. And I think if we're gonna really put, if there's one matchup, I think I'm most curious to see this week of all the sports outside of the football games. I think that Carson Galena volleyball game on Thursday is going to be huge. Right now, like I said, Galena has a two-game lead on Carson, but if you cut that to one with two games to go, it's more than likely anything can happen. And if, let's see, we sit here and we look at Galena's schedule to figure things out. And this is why I don't know 'cause you've still got a team in between them. So it's kind of impossible to say, but Galena goes Douglas Carson Reed and Damani Ranch. So they get four of the bottom five teams in the league at the moment. So Galena very well could be looking at that schedule and going, we're gonna win out. And so I'm fascinated to see what that Carson Galena volleyball match up on Thursday will look like. We'll be there. We will be there. We will be there. Otherwise, that's gonna do it for this week. Of course, we have state golf today and tomorrow at Genoa Lakes, where the Douglas Girls golf team has qualified. There are a couple of seniors that lead the way. It will be their final high school golf match of their careers. And of course, they get to do it on their home course, which is pretty cool. I know they both have some big goals for themselves individually. We'll see how they do team wise. Bishop Minogue as a team just seems to be a little too far ahead of the rest of the field to try to track down. But that's why they play, right? Over two days, anything can happen. And we will have, of course, plenty of updates and a full story Tuesday once that concludes on the record career website. Otherwise, I think that's gonna do it for episode 151 of Behind the Bench. Thank you guys for listening and we will catch you guys next week. Take it easy. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]