The Damonte Ranch Mustangs could not have asked for a better start to the game Friday night, hosting the Reno Huskies. They took the opening kick and moved downfield in an impressive manner, ending the drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Anderson to Cade Rodahoffer, 7-0 Mustangs. Damonte forced the Huskies to punt and had put together another impressive drive which ended with the Huskies intercepting an Anderson pass at the one-yard line. The Huskies flipped the field with a run up the middle, Maurice Coleman prevented a 99-yard touchdown run by not giving up on the play, bringing down Rocco Granieri after he had crossed midfield. Granieri would later punch it in from three yards out, making the score 7-7. Coleman had a great half with two interceptions, the second one turning into a three-yard touchdown run by Cooper Anderson, making the score 14-7 at the half.
The second half would see the Huskies score twice, a touchdown by Niko Amari and one by Brett McVeigh. The Mustangs would score twice as well, both touchdowns by Drew Vargas, coming off passes by Cooper Anderson. There was intrigue at the end of the game, Damonte missed their final point after try making the score 27-21, the Huskies had the ball with a chance to tie it up, and take the lead with a point after try, however, the Mustangs defense stopped the Huskies, securing the first round 5A North playoff victory.
Junior quarterback Cooper Anderson had a great night, going 17-32, 255 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Anderson found five different targets with Drew Vargas leading the way with five receptions for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Hayden Karam had four receptions for 44 yards, Cade Rodahaffer had four receptions, and Jett Norman had three. As a team, the Mustangs rushed for 170 yards, led by junior Cameron Rodriguez’ 70 yards, senior Mason Reasoner added 53 yards, and Anderson tacked on 22 yards.
On the defensive side, Michael Venezia led the team with 13 tackles, five of which were solo efforts and 8 assisted. Conner Kimmel had two tackles for a loss, as did Braelen Toles. The Mustangs pulled in three interceptions; Maurice Coleman had two and Jett Norman had one. Caleb Wood forced a fumble to go with four tackles.
UP NEXT
Bishop Manogue hosting Damonte Ranch
Friday, November 5th
6:30 PM kickoff
The Miners will host one half of the 5A semi-finals this Friday night at 6:30 PM (transportation issues within the WCSD have moved this game back to 6:30 PM). Don’t forget to get your tickets in advance, Online.
These teams played two weeks ago at Bishop Manogue, with the Miners run game leading them to a 32-14 victory. The Miners enter the game with a 7-2 record, 4-1 at home, 3-1 away, 7-1 in league with the one loss to the Northern 5A top seed McQueen Lancers. The Miners have scored 252 points this season while allowing 160. Damonte enters the game with a 6-4 record, 5-2 in league (losses to Reed and Manogue), 4-0 at home, 2-4 away, and have scored 261 points this season while surrendering 233. An interesting trend to follow will be to see if season scoring averages hold true.
First Quarter – BM averages 9.8 points, DR 5.4
Second Quarter – BM averages 9.7 points, DR 15.8
When the two teams recently met, Damonte led 14-13 after one half
Third Quarter – BM averages 4.5 points, Damonte 3.8
Fourth Quarter – BM averages 7.8 points, Damonte 3.3
When the two teams met in October, Bishop Manogue scored 19 second half points while shutting Damonte out. One of the storylines for this game will be to see how the Mustangs do in the second half.
Here is a fun fact, if Damonte and Reed both win, Reed is at McQueen, by virtue of being the higher seed, Damonte would host the 5A Northern Championship game on Friday night, November 12th, 6:30 pm. The Lancers hosted the Raiders on October 8th, winning 13-9. Reed led 9-7 at the half but were shut out by the Lancers in the second half.
BY THE NUMBERS
139 – tackles by Damonte’s Michael Venezia, good for first in the state
8 – Logan Howren, the Bishop Manogue quarterback, is 8th in the state in passing with 1508 yards with 16 touchdowns and 4 interceptions
1 – Ashton Hayes leads the state in rushing with 1390 yards, 154 yards per game, and 21 touchdowns
9 – Mason Reasoner is the 9th leading rusher in the state with 907 yards and 7 touchdowns
36 – receptions for Drew Vargas this season with seven touchdowns, good for 16th in the state
9 – Braelen Toles is 9th in the state with eight sacks
ABOUT YOUR AUTHOR
Lynn Ault covers Damonte Ranch athletics for Battle Born Preps. His wife is the head of the math department for Damonte Ranch and both his kids graduated from the Ranch as well. You can also find him at Hope Community, a non-denominational church located in south Reno, where he is the youth pastor.