The Truckee football team picked up its first win of the season, dominating Churchill County on Friday night through four quarters of play to take a 21-6 victory.

The Wolverines rode a strong defensive effort to pick up the road win, keeping the Greenwave off the board until 1:18 left in the game.

“The defense put us in position to win the game,” said Truckee Head Coach Josh Ivens. “Getting stops, especially early, was the difference.”

Junior free safety Reed Loper set the tone early on for Truckee, intercepting a pass on third and long. After another Truckee defensive stop, senior running back Jason Roth capped off a drive late in the first quarter by plunging into the end zone. Senior kicker Jairo Zarate knocked in the extra point to give Truckee a 7-0 lead.

The Wolverines extended their lead just before halftime when senior tight end Tyler Lamperti hauled in a pass from over the middle for a touchdown from junior quarterback Julian Hall. Zarate’s extra point gave Truckee a 14-0 lead going into halftime.

“It was just magical,” said Lamperti on the touchdown grab. “Friday night lights, senior year, a touchdown, nothing better.”

After forcing a punt on Fallon’s first drive of the second half, the Wolverines took the ball 80 yards downfield for another touchdown, scoring on an option from senior quarterback Tavin Hamilton to senior running back Max Carter. The two had worked on the play before the game, said Carter, and had struggled with the toss, resulting in a fumble during pregame warm-ups.

“I wasn’t feeling too confident but we stick to our stuff, ran it here in the game, and it was a good result on that,” said Carter.

The extra point by Zarate gave the Wolverines a 21-0 edge.

Fallon would find its first points of the evening with little time remaining in the game, scoring on a short touchdown run by junior Evermar Garcia with 1:18 left. The Greenwave would go for the two-point conversion, but were stopped by the Wolverines, leaving the score at 21-6 as the Truckee offense burned the remainder of the clock by taking knees.

“This is huge. All of the hard work we’ve been putting in, all of the adversity we’ve been facing, it’s been all leading up to this moment,” said Carter. “Tonight is much bigger than just a win. Tonight is when we solidified being brothers. We’re going to carry this into the rest of the season.”

For many on the Truckee team, the victory over Fallon holds special significance due to the Greenwave topping the Wolverines in the 2018 state championship game.

“It’s a huge win,” said Lamperti. “In 2018, my brother, they lost to them in the championship, so it’s huge.”

For Coach Ivens, the win represents a step forward for the program, which has suffered losses in its first two games while making due with indoor practices and a canceled game due to smoke from the region’s wildfires.

“We’ve struggled a little bit,” said Ivens. “We worked hard over the summer, and then we go down to Sutter when we’re practicing in a gym and we struggled down there. This is a huge win for us to get momentum just because of where we’re at as a team. We’re still trying to find ourselves.”

Ivens added that the team is still several weeks away from seeing the return of senior quarterback Jackson Kahl, who suffered a high ankle sprain against Sutter in the opener. In his place, Hall has stepped in behind center, and showed composure all night against the Greenwave, finding Truckee receivers on a number of key third-down conversions.

“He’s come a long way,” said Ivens. “I’m super proud of the way he played tonight.”

Truckee (1-2) will have a short turnaround between games and will next travel to face Spring Creek (2-0) on Thursday.

“This team, we’re still trying to learn how to practice at a high level and I think this game is going to give us momentum to do that,” added Ivens on the win. “I’m proud of these guys, the way they played tonight. We haven’t seen what this team is capable of until tonight.”