North Tahoe’s football team made the trip across Nevada to West Wendover last weekend and picked up a crucial victory to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive.

The Lakers dropped a season high in points on the Wolverines, taking a 56-28 win to improve move into third place in the Class 2A Northern League standings.

Senior quarterback Thomas Mercogliano threw for 225 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Mercogliano also ran for a team-high 166 yards and a touchdown and returned a kick 79 yards for another score.

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The Lakers four-year starting quarterback’s performance pushed him over 5,000 passing yards in his career at North Tahoe.

After falling behind 28-14 going into the halftime, the Lakers defense went on to outscore West Wendover 42-0 during the final 24 minutes of play.

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Senior Tony Frankenberg ran in a touchdown and junior Maximilian Kelly scored a rushing touchdown and caught another. Junior Cooper Kohnen continued his stellar season with his third multiple touchdown game of the year. Kohnen’s two touchdown receptions against West Wendover give him eight on the season.

Seniors Phillip Lopez and Raul Estrada led the Lakers defense with a combined 22 tackles. Junior Guthrie Goss picked up two sacks. Lopez, Kelly, and Felix Gramanz all finished with a sack.

Senior Dalton Lamberth and sophomore Patrick Gulini intercepted passes and Kohnen recovered a fumble.

North Tahoe (4-4, 4-3 Northern League) is on a bye this week. The Lakers will close out the regular season at home on Oct. 27 against Pershing County (6-1, 6-0 Northern League). The Mustangs face Battle Mountain (7-1, 6-0 Northern League) this week in a battle for first place.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com.