History repeated itself when the Pershing County High School football team hosted the Silver Stage Nighthawks on Thursday night at Joe Yanni Field. The Mustangs steamrollered their visitors with a final score of 56-0.
Fresh from a 41-0 win against White Pine, Pershing County dunked the boys from Silver Springs in a league match-up.
Dave McLean coaches the team.
“It was one of those games like the week before,” he said. “We were up 36-0 after the first quarter. After that, a lot of our kids played and we did our best to manage the score so it wouldn’t get too out of hand.”
Junior quarterback and safety Derek Sandusky agreed.
“We played well on both sides of the ball from the start of the game until the end,” he said. “It was a good game for us because we got more game reps in for our offense and defense.”
Along the way, the Mustangs put on a good show. Joaquin Wanner eluded five would-be tacklers for a twenty-four-yard rushing touchdown. Lineman Jorge Rosas kicked the two-point conversion.
“We moved Jorge to quarterback for the play,” said McLean.
Scott Plimpton intercepted a screen pass from Silver Stage. The PCHS senior rushed the ball to the sidelines and outran the Nighthawks all the way to the end zone.
Erick Franco kicked two field goals — one from 42 yards and another from 41 yards out.
Samuel Bokori got his first two carries of the season and ran for 23 yards.
“Sam just gets better and better as the season progresses,” said the coach.
Martin Cholico ran six yards for a touchdown.
“Every once in a while Martin gets a chance to run the ball and does a great job for us,” said McLean. “He’s become a very good athlete.”
On Friday, Pershing County challenges the Battle Mountain Longhorns (5-1) in a Northern 2A contest. The JV comes off their bye week to kick off at 4:30 p.m. The varsity follows at 7 p.m.
Both varsity teams arrive on the field undefeated in league play. The Longhorns are fresh off a 42-2 win against Yerington. The winner of the contest will likely take the No. 1 seed into the state championships that start in November. The No. 1 seed gets to host two state tournament games.
“Battle Mountain is a good team,” said Sandusky. “But if we follow our game plan we’ll come out with the win. It will be fun.”
