Dayton High football coach Rob Turner doesn't sugarcoat it.
Turner, Dayton's second-year coach, would like nothing more than to pull off an upset against the Truckee Wolverines tonight (7 p.m.) in Dayton.
Truckee, 1-0, enters the game with a 37-game winning streak after dispatching of Lowry last week, 27-7. Dayton is 1-0 after a 22-0 win at Spring Creek.
"Absolutely (Truckee) is the biggest game of the year," said Turner, whose Dust Devils host Truckee tonight at 7 in a big Division 1A matchup. "Every year we feel like we have a good chance to beat them. Last year we shot ourselves in the foot.
"Bob (Shaffer) is a good coach and they have a great system. They start their kids early running the Truckee High offense. They have run it quite a while before they get to Truckee High. I'd love it if it happened here. One team does run our offense (at the youth level)."
Two names to watch for Truckee are running back Graham Christian, who is coming off a 118-yard effort against Lowry. Quarterback Eric Holmer rushed 13 times for 88 yards last week.
Truckee is a team capable of scoring 50 points a game without batting an eyelash, thanks in part to its flawless offensive execution.
Dayton's defense was stellar last week, as the Dust Devils' experiment with a three-man front is paying off.
Turner's solution to the Wolverines' offense? Keep them off the field. That's easier said than done, and Turner knows it will take the Dust Devils' best effort of the season to accomplish that.
Dayton did chalk up 315 rushing yards in last week's 22-0 win over Spring Creek, but that's not the same as playing Truckee. Jesse May ran for 128 yards last week, while Skyler Berntson added 88 and Austin Fletcher 77.
"We're going to grind it out and keep their defense on the field," Turner said. "We had five possessions against Spring Creek and we scored three times. We want to keep their offense off the field and control everything."
GOLF
Carson girls take 4th
RENO - Carson High's girls golf team finished fourth at Wednesday's Sierra League Invitational at Rosewood Lakes.
Manogue won the tourney with a 373, two shots better than Douglas. Galena was third at 388 followed by Carson at 420 and Wooster at 422.
Sarah Evans shot an 89, but no other Carson golfer broke 100. The other Carson scorers were Erica Gallegos 106, Megan Goodale 112 and Callen Aten 113.
SOCCER
Dayton wins thriller
DAYTON - P.J. Vasquez scored on a penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the game to lift Dayton to a 2-1 win over Yerington.
Danny Alfaro and Martin Rubio played well defensively along with Sergio Talavera. Goalie Edgar Diaz finished with 15 saves.
Jaime Avila gave Dayton an early 1-0 lead in approximately the 13th minute on a breakaway.
Yerington answered the penalty kick with a well-executed direct kick splitting the wall with seven minutes left in the game, and almost tied on a corner kick at the last second.
CROSS COUNTRY
Drozdoff, Greene shine for CHS
RENO - The Carson boys finished fourth and the girls fifth at Thursday's first Sierra League Invitational at Galena Creek Park.
Galena won the boys race with 17 followed by Damonte Ranch with 55, Douglas with 75 and Carson with 100. Galena won the girls race with 33 points followed by Damonte with 63, Douglas with 72, Manogue with 92 and Carson with 106
The top individual performance was turned in by Alex Drozdoff, who covered the 2.9-mile course in 20:10. Athena Favero was 20th in 22:54 and Shelby Brown was 24th in 23:10. Allison Green was 29th and Samantha Phelps 36th. Cindy Juchtzer, running on a sore leg, was 40th.
Nick Greene finished ninth in 17:50.55 to lead the boys, while Anthony Cacioppo was 13th in 17:56.40. Tylar Chester was 26th in 18:56.68 followed by Daniel Jauregui, Porforio Jauregui and Chris Merriner, who finished 34th through 36th, respectively.
"We have a lot of young runners," coach Pete Sinnott said. "Alex ran well and so did Nick and Tony."
VOLLEYBALL
Douglas loses in 4
Despite 10 kills by Jenna Broussard, Reed knocked off Douglas 2511, 24-26, 25-23 and 25-22.
Douglas dropped to 4-6 overall and 0-2 in Division I play.
Hailee Porras had nine digs while Ariah Barth had six kills and 12 digs. Shelby Van Winkle had 23 assists, six kills and four digs.
TENNIS
Carson girls win
Carson High evened its record at 2-2 with a 14-4 win over a Hug squad which had just two players.
The majority of Carson wins were by forfeit. Coach Diane Baker Roberts used reserves for the matches that were contested.
The Senators host Douglas on Tuesday.