It was a chilly Thursday night in Lovelock as the Pershing County Mustangs hosted Coral Academy for the last game of the regular season.
The Mustangs blanked Coral with a final score of 48-0.
“We got off to a slow start offensively but the defense was able to preserve the shutout,” said coach Mike Brooks. “The defense played more confidently than their last few games, which is what we were hoping for. We had some people playing new spots so we were interested to see how they’d respond.”
Pershing County sophomore quarterback Travis Donaldson rushed the first touchdown of the night.
Next, Noel Zaldivar scored a touchdown reception to end the first quarter at 14-0, with the Coral Academy Falcons trailing.
The half ended at 36-0 with touchdowns from Izayuh McGlothin, Donaldson and Luis Sanchez.
The home crowd went wild as Sanchez scored a defensive touchdown right at the buzzer. Later, people reported they heard the shouts for miles.
“Defensive touchdowns are always exciting and this was a 90-yard return so it built the excitement. The Coral Academy offense was threatening to close our end zone but Luis made the interception and picked up some key blocks along the way to score,” Brooks said.
Junior wide receiver Aaron Kienbaum rushed to the end zone in the third quarter.
Sophomore running back Denzel Zaldivar scored the final touchdown of the night, a fourth quarter rush.
It was the first varsity game for four players the coach moved up from JV - Efrain Aceves, Brian Flores, Taylor Montes and Wyatt Hughes.
Seven more will graduate from JV to varsity for the playoffs — Jake Henderson, Landon Smith, Landon Fitzpatrick, Josiah Hunt, Ayden Montes, Tyler Miller and Trenton Rhodes.
With the win, Pershing County stands at 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the Northern 2A.
Their only league loss was to Yerington 41-24 at home last month.
Pershing County begins the playoffs ranked second in the Northern 2A with Yerington (6-0) at the top.
Battle Mountain (4-2) is third with losses to Yerington and Pershing.
On Friday, Pershing County hosts Battle Mountain in the first round of the playoffs. The game starts at 6 p.m. The Mustangs beat the Longhorns 39-22 on Oct. 20.
