Fallon running back Trent Tarner busts through the Fernley line in last week's first-round playoff game. Fallon hosts Moaa Valley on Saturday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex, and the winner of that game advances to state.
Not since the 1989 season has the Greenwave football team generated this much excitement in Churchill County.
Fallon’s final appearance in a Northern AAA playoff game came in 1989 when the Wave played Wooster and lost 22-0 to the Colts, which eventually won the state title. Before that, Fallon had an 8-1 record in 1988 and advanced to the zone playoffs in the Northern AA, only to lose to Manogue in a heart-breaking game.
Football fever, though, has been sweeping the high school halls this season, and very few students are absent. Now the real test faces Fallon when it hosts Moapa Valley for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday. The winner advances to the state championship on Nov. 16.
“It’s everywhere,” said student council adviser Terri Pearson when discussion the excitement permeating the school. “We’re all excited for all their hard work.”
Pearson said the students will have a pep assembly today to show the team their support. The season’s success, she added, has been a pat on the back for the team, the student body and the community.
Cheryl Venturacci is co-adviser to the Pep Club.
“I haven’t seen spirit like this since Fallon realigned to the new league,” she said. “It’s very exciting, and the students are pumped up.”
Senior Samantha Price remembers the excitement during her freshman year when Fallon won four state titles in the spring.
“It’s been phenomenal for every game,” she said. “You can tell where the student section is. Students are standing and cheering and yelling from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, and it never stops.”
Pedro Rubio, a junior who has attended every home game, said he never expected the team to advance this far.
”It’s really cool, and everyone is excited for the last home game,” he said. “Everyone will be excited and pumped up.”