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Friday night lights: Truckee set to face Lowry

George Skaff (37) helps bring down a Lowry player last season.
Courtesy of Hans Baumann / Abdiver Photography

Friday night lights comes to Truckee this evening as the Wolverines play host to undefeated Lowry in the team’s annual night game.

Temporary lighting at Surprise Stadium has been provided by CORE Construction and Sunstate Equipment for tonight’s matchup between the Wolverines and Buckaroos.

Truckee is coming off a 35-21 loss to Churchill County last week, which was marred by a missed call from the officiating crew just before halftime.



Holding a 14-13 lead, the Wolverines defense forced a Greenwave fumble, however the referee who initially made the call later overturned it after a conference with the other officials. Fallon went on to score to take a 21-14 lead into halftime.

“The guy’s right there. You can see on the film his beanbag is down, and then he reverses his call,” said Head Coach Josh Ivens.



Ivens said the team sent the film to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s head of officiating, who admitted a mistake had been made.

“I feel like there’s gotta be more accountability from some of these more older refs that have been involved for a long time, and it seems like Truckee’s been on the other side of the calls a lot and when it happens I have to protect my players,” said Ivens.

“It’s unfair to my guys. We work hard. Our guys work just as hard as the top teams in this league and it’s up to the officials to make sure things are fair and it wasn’t fair. There was a lot of missed calls in that game, probably on both sides, and I understand that, but a turnover like that, it’s a pivotal thing in a game.”

Football officials in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association are reviewed and evaluated continually, according to Assistant Director Donnie Nelson, while the Northern Nevada Football Officials Association has it’s own internal mechanisms in regard to evaluating officials.

The Wolverines will now turn their attention to Lowry. The Buckaroos are coming off a 34-28 win at home against Fernley last week and are 3-0 in the Northern League. Offensively, the team relies heavily on junior running back Anthony Peterson, who has averaged 204 yards per game against league foes. Peterson has also averaged more than 26 carries per game against league opponents this season.

“We’ve got to slow (Peterson) down,” said Ivens. “If we don’t somewhat slow that kid down, we’re not going to stop them. He’s their guy.”

Lowry doesn’t throw the ball a lot, but senior quarterback Chance Huitt has proven to be dangerous with his arm and legs.

“Their quarterback is a pretty good athlete,” said Ivens. “He’s got some ability to change direction and he creates time for himself to throw. So, their QB is pretty good, they’ve got some tall receivers, and they always have pretty good size up front … there’s a reason they are 4-0. They are playing pretty good football.”

“Their defense is their strong point,” he added. “The combo of that power run game and that defense is making them hard to beat.”

The Wolverines and Buckaroos are set to battle it out tonight at 7 p.m. under the lights at Surprise Stadium.

“This year CORE Construction stepped in. They’re the ones working on the school. They wanted to be part of it, and we’re super thankful for them to take part this year and make this happen,” said Ivens.

“We’re hoping some day we don’t have to bring lights in. Saturday’s bring a little bit of Truckee tradition, but we also want to be part of Friday night lights like the rest of the nation.”


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