THIS WEEK’S DAMONTE RANCH OPPONENT
This week the Damonte Ranch Mustangs return home after a quick trip to Lodi, and their opponent this week is the Faith Lutheran Crusaders. Faith Lutheran is a 5A school from Las Vegas with a middle and high school enrollment of 2033 students which works out to 290 students per grade which should put the high school enrollment around 1161 students. Their school colors are maroon and yellow gold, they are a 5A school, but before moving to the 5A they won a 3A state football title in 2013, defeating Churchill County 17-0.
The two teams first-ever meeting was last season in Las Vegas, a 33-7 Crusaders victory. This season the Crusaders are 2-0. Their opening night victory came at the expense of the Reed Raiders, 37-13. Reed held a 13-9 halftime advantage before the Crusaders went on a 28-0 run in the second half. Their second game was with Legacy, a 25-8 affair the Crusaders controlled from start to finish. The Crusaders’ run game is powered by a sophomore, Cale Breslan, who is averaging 134.5 yards per game with two touchdowns. Their quarterback is a senior, Jackson Williams, averaging 192 yards passing per game with four touchdowns and two interceptions. The Damonte secondary will be challenged to cover Williams top four wideouts, each averaging 35 or more receiving yards per game:
• Nehemiah Brooks, senior, 35 yards per game, two receptions
• Griffin Carty, junior, 42 yards per game, three receptions
• Mason Aday, junior, 43 yards per game, six receptions
• Peyton Steigerwald, senior, 56 yards per game, seven receptions
So, the Crusaders offer a balanced offensive attack with Breslan, Walter, and the four receivers combining to average 176 yards per game. On defense the Crusaders are giving up just 10 points a game.
DRFP NEWS
The Mustangs get senior linebacker Michael Venezia back this week, he was forced to sit out the Lodi game after being excused from the opening night Escalon game. Joe Brown, senior running back, kicker, and linebacker, should be back Friday night as well. Also looking to return to action will be Jett Norman, senior wideout and defensive back. Still unavailable for the Mustangs: Drew Vargas, senior wideout/defensive back; Nate Meredith, senior linebacker; and Kobe Craig, sophomore running back/defensive back. A number of other Mustangs are playing through injuries like DJ Gonzalez Brown and Jackson Papke. Next week is homecoming and spirit week, the Mustangs will be hosting the Reed Raiders.
DRFP THIS WEEK
Freshman, no freshman game this week
Junior Varsity, Thursday, 5:45 PM, at Carson
Varsity, Friday, 7:00 PM, hosting Faith Lutheran
About Your Author: Lynn Ault handles announcing duties for a number of Damonte Ranch sports and activities. His wife is a teacher at Damonte and the head of the math department. Both of their kids graduated from Damonte. When not cheering on the Mustangs, Lynn is the youth pastor for a non-denominational south Reno church, Hope Community.
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