Fewer than a dozen plays were the difference between "defeated" and "dominated" for the Douglas High School football team in its 24-14 victory at Galena last Friday night.
Galena running backs Damian Rivadeneyra and Luke Penrose combined for 228 yards on 40 carries, with more than half of those yards coming on six rushes.
A long kickoff return and a long run from scrimmage led to Galena's first touchdown. A successful fake punt was the key play in the Grizzlies' second scoring drive.
Tonight, Douglas will play host to the McQueen Lancers, a team that has the potential to turn even minor miscues into points. Douglas will be looking for its first win over McQueen since 1987 in a game is scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m. at Keith Roman Field.
"We will have to get better against the run," said Douglas coach Mike Rippee, whose team is now 2-1. "We're going to see a team (McQueen) that has one of the best backs (Chris Carr) in the league.
"We had times (against Galena) when we were real, real tough. And we had times when we broke down."
Douglas fans may well remember Carr from last year when the Lancers beat the Tigers, 51-0, in the first round of the playoffs in Reno. Carr broke free on a 67-yard touchdown run on the Lancers' first play from scrimmage and McQueen went on to win the Northern 4A title and advance to the state championship game.
Carr did the same thing last Friday in his team's 55-0 rout of the Reno Huskies. He scored six touchdowns in the first half as the Lancers built a 48-0 lead through two quarters.
The opponents keep changing for the Tigers, but the goals remain the same.
"We can't put the ball on the ground," Rippee said. "We have to get the tough yards in third- and fourth-down situations and we can't give up the big play if we want to be successful (against McQueen)."