The Battle Mountain High School wrestling team was on the road again as it competed in the 23-team Lovelock Invitational last Saturday. Teams representing all classifications from 4A thru 2A were in the gym battling to be crowned champion. After the final whistle had sounded, the Longhorns found themselves in second place. “We wrestled well today,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “I thought our younger kids really made a step up towards the next level. Our older kids are wrestling solid. We still have a lot to work on, but we are headed in the right direction.” The Longhorns pushed four wrestlers into the championship finals where Jose Guizar recorded a win by fall over his opponent from Reed High School to win the gold medal.
The Battle Mountain High School junior varsity boys basketball team picked up four wins on its home court last weekend at the Longhorn Invitational. Battle Mountain beat Eureka 32-22 on Friday, as Terrance Fetterly paced the Longhorns with 16 points. Marcos Jimenez netted nine points and Evan Gonzalez had six.
After being named a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree last month, Nevada senior linebacker Lucas Weber has been selected to the 2019 Academic All-America Division I Football First Team. Weber is Nevada’s first Academic All-America selection since Brooks Klein of the Wolf Pack baseball team earned a second team selection in 2013. He is the Pack’s first first team honoree since Andrew Hickey of the rifle team in 2009. Weber is the fifth Nevada football student-athlete to earn the distinction, and first since Erick Streelman in 2002.
Romeo Doubs, Gabriel Sewell and Daniel Brown took home the top honors as Golden Helmet Award winners as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl-bound Nevada football team handed out its postseason awards at a banquet on Sunday at the Eldorado Resort Casino. The Golden Helmet Award represents the Wolf Pack’s Most Valuable Player. Doubs, a play-making sophomore wide receiver, won the Golden Helmet on offense after catching 44 balls for 649 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games this season.
Three Winnemucca girls took part in the 2019 Nevada State Swimming Championship in Henderson on Nov. 8-11. The Winnemucca team merged with a larger team in Reno to provide more support to the community a little over a year ago. The squad that went to Henderson included Claudia van der Veen, Paris Collins and Colette van der Veen.
The Nevada football team today accepted an invitation from the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and will take on Ohio in the Jan. 3 game on at Albertson’s Stadium in Boise, Idaho. This is Nevada’s second-straight bowl berth and the Wolf Pack is currently on a two-game winning streak in bowl games. Nevada toppled Arkansas State 16-13 in overtime last year at the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, and the Pack beat Colorado State 28-23 in the first Arizona Bowl in 2015. “We are excited for this great opportunity to play in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl," said Nevada's third-year head coach Jay Norvell. "Ohio had a great season and is a really good football team. We are looking forward to the challenge of playing them. I'm thrilled for our seniors to have a chance to play in one more game in their careers."
The Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team started a new era under first-year coach Toby Melver with two wins at the Serpent Classic last weekend in Hawthorne. The Longhorns opened the tournament with a 50-46 loss to Spring Mountain on Thursday. Battle Mountain led 17-12 at halftime, only to see Spring Mountain rally for 38 points in the second half. DJ Martinez paced the Longhorns with 19 points and three rebounds, while sophomore Jay Narramore netted nine points. Freshmen Austin Behrman added six points and six rebounds and Junior Vasquez and Kobe Lake each had four points. “We came out real strong against a good opponent,” said Melver. “Their size and outside shooting wore us down as the game went on and we couldn't hold on in the end.”
The Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team started its season on a high note, with four wins in five games at the Serpent Classic this past weekend in Hawthorne. The girls had a very good weekend,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “We lost a lot of scoring and leadership from last years’ team. Our young girls stepped up and played well in all five games.”
As December begins, so does the season for the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team. Using the early season to get as much mat time as possible, the team split up and headed out in opposite directions. Coach Torrey Vezina took a young crew to the annual Hug Invitational in Reno. The tournament saw 12 teams in action and the Longhorns entered a group of four into the event and that group made the other teams sit up and take notice. Senior Tyler Rochester was wrestling in the heavyweight division and captured his first tournament championship with a dominating performance. Freshman Julio Torres finished in second place in his first wrestling tournament ever. Asher Bundrock and Scott Wall claimed some big wins but came up just short of placing.
The Battle Mountain High School boys JV basketball team split its first four games of the year at the Mustang Invitational in Lovelock. Battle Mountain opened the tournament on Friday afternoon with a 51-29 loss to Fernley. Marcos Jiminez and Terrance Fetterly each had six points for the Longhorns. Battle Mountain took on another 3A school in Dayton later in the day and was defeated by the Dust Devils. Evan Gonzalez and Fetterly paced the Longhorns with eight points apiece, DJ Wahl added five.
Mackay Stadium looked and felt like the set of a cheap horror movie on Saturday. Dark gray, depressing skies overhead. Bone-chilling, damp cold blanketing the festivities. A half-empty stadium desperately in search of some hint of life. The Nevada Wolf Pack football team decked out in all-black uniforms, as if it was headed to a funeral. There was clearly a dreary black and white Night of the Living Dead feel to what took place at the Mackay Mausoleum last weekend. And in the end, surprise surprise, all of the zombies circled the farmhouse and predictably started eating and clawing at their victims. The Wolf Pack’s stunning 33-30 loss to the UNLV Rebels on Saturday afternoon was the equivalent of a football funeral. Turns out the Pack was dressed perfectly in its gloom and doom somber attire. All that was missing in the end was a hearse to drive the lifeless cannon away to its final resting spot.
The Miami Marlins will join Major League Baseball’s trend toward artificial turf by installing the surface at Marlins Park for 2020, and they’ll move in the fences for the second time in four years. CEO Derek Jeter said an artificial surface solves the challenge the Marlins have had growing grass in the retractable-roof stadium since it opened in 2012. They’ll install the same turf used by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. Five of the 30 teams in the majors now will have artificial turf. Arizona added it this year, joining Toronto and Tampa Bay. Texas’ new ballpark opens in 2020.
Jazz Johnson scored 20 points, making four 3-pointers, and Nevada demolished Santa Clara's five-game win streak 98-67 Wednesday night.
Six Nevada football players have earned Mountain West honors for the 2019 season, including defensive end Dom Peterson who was named first-team All-Mountain West. Freshman kicker Brandon Talton earned second-team honors, while senior defensive back Daniel Brown, sophomore wide receiver and punt returner Romeo Doubs, senior linebacker Gabriel Sewell and sophomore running back Toa Taua earned All-MW Honorable Mention accolades. Peterson was named first-team All-MW for the first time in his career after proving to be the Wolf Pack’s most dominant defensive lineman this season. The sophomore ranked second in the conference and led Nevada with 13.5 tackles for loss, 13 of them being solo. Peterson also ranks second in the MW with eight sacks, averaging .73 per game which is good for 28th in the nation.
John McKissick, whose 621 victories at South Carolina’s Summerville High made him the nation’s winningest football coach at any level, has died at age 93.