A rowdy crowd Friday night at Douglas High School couldn't help the Douglas Tigers from the onslaught of the state champion runner-up McQueen Lancers as the Lancers defeated the Tigers 56-0.
"This was one of the best football teams I've ever seen," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "Not 56-0 good, but a pretty good team."
Behind the dynamic running of backs Eddie Cortez, Mike Marner and Chris Warner, the Lancers jumped out to an early lead, as Cortez took the ball deep into Tiger territory on a 45-yard run, followed by Marner punching in the game's first touchdown less than three minutes into the game.
Riding that momentum, the Lancers punished the Tiger defense, adding two more touchdowns in the first quarter. McQueen Quarterback Zack Borba showed off his skills, taunting the Tigers with both his arm and his legs, running for a 47-yard touchdown and hitting tight end Mohu Otuafi with a 39-yard bomb to make it 21-0.
The second quarter saw more of the same, as the Lancers dominated all sides of the ball, stuffing many of the Tigers' attempts to move the ball and adding four more touchdowns before halftime.
"It was a great team effort," McQueen Coach Ken Dalton said. "I thought everyone shared in the win."
Though the Tigers suffered through most of the game against the northern Nevada powerhouse Lancers, there were some bright spots in the game for the Tigers.
Among these were the play of 5-foot-6-inch, 160 pound running back Evan Bill and defensive back Andy McIntosh. McIntosh shined on defense with a number of tackles and Bill, despite being pummeled by the Lancer defense, ran the Tigers' first return opportunity back 51-yards.
But this would be as close to the end zone that the Tigers would come.
Taking a 49-0 lead into halftime, the Lancers never looked back, with the bench adding another touchdown to seal the game at 56-0.
"Yeah, it was a drubbing," Douglas Coach Mike Rippee said. "But the kids didn't quit, they just got beat. They played hard and with a lot of character."
McQueen, the state-runner up to Las Vegas High last season has reached the state title game eight times since 1990.
"We played well on all sides of the ball," Dalton said. "Our strength definitely comes from our senior leadership."
McQueen has 36 seniors and 61 players on its current roster.
Douglas heads to Spanish Springs next Friday to take on the newly annointed Spanish Springs Cougars.
"I believe we have enough character to rebound," Rippee said. "We're going to bounce back."