The Yerington High football team clinched a spot in the Northern 2A playoffs with a 33-12 win at Silver Stage on Saturday.
Yerington improved to 5-3 and 4-2 in the Northern 2A and will play at Rite of Passage at 1 p.m. Friday in a game for third place in the Northern 2A.
The Lions weren't able to pull away until the fourth quarter against Silver Stage. "It was a much better game than that," said Yerington coach Cody Neville about the final score.
Yerington jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Silver Stage came back to cut the lead to 14-12 at halftime. The turning point came in the third quarter when Jeremy Means made a spectacular catch when he took the ball away from the defender on a pass from Matt Richardson. That set up a score and Yerington scored twice in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Richardson and Means also combined on a touchdown pass and Richardson scored on a touchdown run as well. In addition, Scott Veil scored on a touchdown run.
Yerington played without one of its top offensive threats, Ricky Menesini, who was out with a quad pull. Neville said he's unsure if Menesini will play against ROP, but wants to make sure he's ready for the playoffs.
The Lions will play either at Battle Mountain or Lovelock in the playoffs, two teams they took down to the wire before losing.