Wolverines roll over Bishop-Manogue 16-8
Touchdowns from Josh Wilson and David DeCoite saved the Wolverines from the Bishop-Manogue Miners Saturday in Reno as Truckee earned a 16-8 victory in its first game of the season.
With both teams scoreless in the first quarter, Truckee broke it open with a safety in the second, when Brandon Anderson took down Miner quarterback Dustin Garcia in the end zone.
Injured, Garcia left the game after the play, not to return again.
On the next Truckee series, running back Jeff Andrs gained 29 yards for a first down.
Several plays later, Truckee’s Wilson ran a yard for the first Wolverine TD. Mark Thiel successfully kicked the extra point, giving Truckee a 9-0 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, DeCoite widened the gap with a four-yard touchdown run.
A fourth-quarter Miner drive resulting in a touchdown and two-point conversion was not enough to hold off the Wolverines, who went on to even the Manogue record to 1-1.
“It’s always nice to get that first game under your belt,” said Truckee head coach Bob Shaffer. “But in blocking and tackling, our offensive linemen didn’t grade out real high. Defensively, we missed a lot of tackles.”
Rushing
In the rushing column, Andrs had seven carries for 43 yards, Wilson had 15 carries for 65 yards, Casey Nelson had seven carries for 20 yards, quarterback Chris Gerdin had four carries for 31 yards and DeCoite had three carries for 19 yards.
Receiving
In receiving, Nelson had a single catch for three yards, Geoff Hovorka had one catch for nine yards, Thiel had two catches for 31 yards, Josh Anagnos had one reception for three yards and Wilson had two catches for 26 yards.
DeCoite led the Wolverines with three receptions for 65 yards.
Passing
In passing, Gerdin completed 10 of 17 for 137 yards and threw two interceptions. Since preseason scrimmages, Gerdin has needed roughly a quarter’s worth of play to settle in, having appeared shaky in the first minutes of play, leading to missed passes.
Shaffer said this is something Gerdin needs to work out on his own.
“He’s gonna have to deal with that,” Shaffer said. “We’ve tried to tell him what we think he needs to do in pregame. He needs to take a deep breath and go about directing the offense. We think he’ll be OK.”
Another contributing factor may have been first-game jitters. While Manogue had already played the previous week, this was Truckee’s first outing.
Manogue, a non-league opponent, rushed 39 times for 40 yards. Its quarterbacks were five for 17 for a total of 74 yards and threw one interception. Andrs made that grab for Truckee.
Shaffer said he was impressed with several facets of the Miners’ game.
“Their team speed and strength was impressive. I wasn’t surprised; I knew they’d worked really hard in the off-season.”
Despite the win, Shaffer was not ecstatic about the Wolverines’ performance.
“We’ll be working on blocking and tackling this week,” he said.
Shaffer said backs and receivers are still in the developing stages, but watching game film will help determine who plays where.
“They did OK,” Shaffer allowed. “They caught more passes and had more yards than the first game last year.”
He added receivers need to do a better job of reading coverage routes, a skill which can only come with more practice and game film analysis.
On the positive side…
Some positives Shaffer noticed included offensive line protection which gave Gerdin enough time to throw.
“He wasn’t running for his life out there.”
In preparation for Saturday’s home opener against non-league Las Plumas, the team traveled to see them in action last week.
“They hit hard,” Shaffer said. “But they’re beatable.”
He said Truckee would need to play harder than it did against Manogue to avoid its first home loss since 1994 against 4A Reno High.
Division play begins for Truckee on Oct. 3, when the Wolverines take on Spring Creek at Surprise Stadium.
The match is also the homecoming game.
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