Carson quarterback Joe Nelson tosses a pass at practice last season.
When the Carson Senators report for practice on Saturday, they know they will have a target on their collective backs.
Carson went undefeated in the Sierra League season en route to a 9-3 overall record. Carson was stopped by Reed 28-25 in the regional championship game.
After spring ball and summer camp at Whittell, CHS coach Blair Roman believes his team is ready to defend its title, and make no mistake about it, the Senators are an overwhelming favorite to repeat as league champs.
“The kids worked hard this summer,” Roman said recently. “Coming into August the kids were in good shape, so hopefully we’ll be ready to go in three weeks. We have a lot of work to do in three weeks.”
It will be strictly conditioning until Aug. 13 when the teams are allowed to be fully padded for workouts. Teams will have about 10 days of padded practice before preseason openers.
There’s good and bad about this year’s opener.
Carson opted to schedule the Reed Raiders instead of trying to bring in a team from California or going on the road. Originally, the Reed game was a Carson home game on Aug. 28, but Carson agreed to move the game to University of Nevada’s Mackay Stadium on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. The game will be part of a doubleheader. Lassen and Galena will play at 4 p.m.
Roman has played some tough openers in recent years. He isn’t afraid to test his team early on, and this is going to be a truly tough test because the Raiders have a plethora of players back from last year just as Carson does.
“It helps to play a quality opponent in the first game,” Roman said. “Dating back to Del Campo (a win), Highland (a loss) and last year we went to the Honor Bowl (Clayton Valley Charter, a loss). There are no illusions. We know (after that game) where our strengths and weaknesses are. We know what we’ll need to work on.”
The Senators have suffered some injuries since the season ended. Sheldon Miller, who’s expected to start on the defensive line, had off-season arthroscopic knee surgery in June. Logan Menzel, a two-way lineman, and Eddie Duarte, a starter on the offensive line and place-kicker, had minor injuries.
“Sheldon seems to be healing up rapidly,” Roman said.”He was out all summer. Logan and Eddie had some minor injuries. It would have been nice to have them in camp.”
Roman was pleased with what he saw in the brief time at Whittell. The Senators knocked heads with rival Douglas for a couple of days.
“Joe (Nelson, quarterback) looked fabulous this summer,” Roman said. “He really performed well. It’s been exciting to see him develop. Connor Pradere tore it up. He will be a guy that teams have to pay attention to.”
A couple of newcomers, sophomore Abel Carter and junior Greg Wallace, also caught Roman’s eye.
“Abel was really impressive,” Roman said. “He’ll be on varsity for sure. He’ll be at safety and play some A back. He won’t be starting on offense, but I’m sure he’ll contribute on that side of the ball. Greg was impressive running the ball and catching the ball. he’ll be playing where Colby (Brown) played last year.”
One area of the offense where Roman has no worries is at running back. He probably has six or seven guys who are capable of making valuable contributions.
“We definitely have a lot of depth at running back,” he said.
“It’s an awful nice thing to see.”
Bryceton Schilling, an offensive lineman, also drew praise from Roman. He’s currently working at a tackle slot.