Photo courtesy of Ron Harpin/www.rahphotosnv.com
Bryce James (2) made his first varsity career start at quarterback for Douglas against Reno.
TIGERS SHAKE THINGS UP FOR HUG
by Joey Crandall
The Douglas football team isn't afraid to shake things up in light of back-to-back lackluster performances on offense.
Douglas has been outscored 72-7 over the past two games. In an effort to break that stagnation up, the Tiger coaching staff has been installing changes to system this week.
The Tigers host Hug High School at 7 p.m. Friday night.
“There are things we are going to do differently on offense this week to address some of the mental errors we've been seeing,” Douglas coach Ernie Monfiletto said. “Those kids have been on the field a lot. We have six players making significant contributions on both sides of the ball. They're doing the best they can, but we need to do some things as a staff to help them stay focused and build some confidence.
“We had pretty physical practives on Monday and Tuesday, just to get back down
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to fundamentals and address some issues we felt as a staff that were lacking. The kids responded it well to it. Then on Wednesday we spent a lot of time making sure we had the mental part of the game down. We're excited about the opportunity to get after Hug this week.”
The biggest change came last week heading into the Reno game as junior Bryce James took over as starting quarterback while senior Nick Abreu shifted over to a super utility role, playing running back, defensive back and on special teams.
“Nick is the ultimate teammate,” Monfiletto said. “He wants to help the team. He embraced the opportunity to help in any way he can. That's a tough thing. Quarterback is a position that gets a lot of attention, and every kid grows up wanting to be a quarterback. He gave that up to help us on defense and help us running the football.”
The impact was immediate. Abreu made a touchdown-saving tackle on the opening kick return against Reno, and recovered a fumble in the end zone on the next play from scrimmage. He finished the game with a team-leading nine tackles.
For his part, James completed 11 passes to five different receivers for 96 yards in his first extended action as a varsity quarterback. He also rushed for 24 yards on nine carries.
“He did a good job,” Monfiletto said. “He showed some growth out there. There's a lot to build on.”
Douglas will have to deal with an upstart Hug squad that is 3-0 to open the year under the direction of former University of Nevada standout and McQueen assistant coach Carl LaGrone Jr. The Hawks were winless last season and a combined 2-37 over the past four seasons.
“They're doing a great job,” Monfiletto said. “They are running the ball really well. We need to spend some time corralling their quarterback. They are a tough team.”
Hug has completed just a handful of passes this year and attempted just a handful more. Tre Williams has 33 carries for 200 yards, Roosevelt Calhoun (5-10, 220 pounds) has 15 carries for 159 yards and Ja'lawnie Thomas has 12 carries for 64 yards.
The come to Minden with the second-ranked offense in the region, averaging 370 yards per game, and the top-ranked defense (136.5 yards per game allowed).
Another bright spot for Douglas against Reno last week was sophomore Taran Grove, who had a hand in three sacks.
“That's a kid that will start seeing significant time on both sides of the ball,” Monfiletto said. “The goal is just to get better every week and see where we stand when league starts.”
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Friday night, when we made errors, they were really glaring.”
This week, Monfiletto said Reno will bring a big and physical team in looking to spread the Tiger defense out.
“They are very multidimensional and run a lot of different looks out there at you,” he said. “You look down on the field with them and it looks more like a chessboard, just people all over the place. They are trying to get you out of position and we're going to try to keep things simple and eliminate the mistakes.”
Douglas was right in it with North Valleys, trailing 14-0 and driving inside the Panther 5-yard line. A costly fumble, though, turned into a 14-point swing after North Valleys drove back down for a score and the 21-0 lead.
“That was nothing less than lack of focus on our part,” Monfiletto said. “It's defeating and emotionally draining to get that close and then have it turn back on us for a score. Those are the types of things we are looking to fix this week.
“We feel like we are right in it and are just looking to get better Friday night.”
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