VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. >> The Upper Lake Cougars couldn’t keep up with the bigger and more physical Virginia City Muckers in the season opener for both of these eight-man varsity football teams on Saturday at Virginia City.
Virginia City opens the 2018 campaign as the No. 3-ranked eight-man team in the state of the Nevada after posting back-to-back 10-1 records in 2016 and 2017.
“A lot of good size but not a lot of numbers,” Upper Lake coach Vince Moran said of the Muckers, who threw only two passes the entire game, one of which was intercepted by the Cougars’ Armando Santos.
Virginia City’s lack of passing certainly didn’t hurt the Muckers’ run-heavy offense, which rolled over the Upper Lake defense for 472 yards and all seven of its touchdowns.
“We didn’t stop them, not once until the end of the game,” Moran said of Virginia City’s running attack.
After graduating most of its size, Upper Lake began the game with three underclassmen starting up front against Virginia City, including a freshman and a sophomore.
“We’re just really young,” Moran said.
Upper Lake also was understrength for its opener. Two-way starter Hank Nevarez missed the game to attend a relative’s funeral, Junior Fernandez couldn’t suit up because he doesn’t have the mandatory 10 practices, and Chris Fecht, who did play, was less than 100 percent because of an injury. The Cougars also were without senior lineman Ryan Grivette.
Those three absences and Fecht’s status didn’t change outcome of Saturday’s game, according to Moran, but they did make it harder for the Cougars to execute on offense, defense and special teams.
“We could have used those guys,” he said of the three missing players.
Upper Lake trailed 36-0 at halftime but finally reached the scoreboard on a 26-yard pass from quarterback Ray Moran to wide receiver Russell Gordon Jr. in the third quarter.
“Ray had to scramble a lot,” he said of the Cougars’ senior signal caller.
Moran managed to complete six of 12 his passes for 76 yards. He also was the Cougars’ leading rusher with 51 yards on five carries. Gordon, his favorite target, caught three passes for 56 yards.
“Russell played a good game,” Moran said of the sophomore. “He’s put in a lot of work in the offseason and he always stays after practice to catch passes.”
Moran said several of the Cougars’ younger players, including freshmen Cody Banks and Bradley Sneathen, showed some positive flashes during a game filled with mistakes, most of them committed by the young Cougars.
“A lot of our freshmen looked really good. As one of our players told me, we’re just green, really green,” Moran said.
Upper Lake was scheduled to host Potter Valley on Friday but the Bearcats have folded their program because they don’t have enough players. Instead, the Cougars hit the road Friday night for a non-league game against South Fork, a team they’ll face later this season in a North Central League III contest. South Fork had an open date on its schedule, making the meeting possible.
