When you’re 8 years old, it’s difficult to look at the big picture.
You’re focused on the present, worrying about what you’ll be getting for your birthday and trying to make new friends at school. You don’t focus on what you hope to accomplish in high school.
But for this year’s senior class on the Greenwave football team, the goal of winning a state championship was realized before they entered middle school. They wanted to win in the Sierra Youth Football League program and they didn’t disappoint.
After James Richardson and Steve Moon’s group came up short in the first year in the bandits division, Fallon never lost in the playoffs. The Greenwave dominated teams from across the region, including feeder programs for the big high schools in the Reno area. Fallon benefited from good coaching at the SYFL level, as well as receiving help from the high school staff when Fallon wanted to mirror the high school scheme. The Greenwave ran the pistol on offense, making the transition into high school easier for the players.
What makes this group so unique, though, is their success and trust with one another.
“We trust each other, which we are able to focus on our assignment,” senior receiver Aaron Bitter said. “We loved winning together.”
Six-straight SYFL championships. Two California championships. Seventeen players from those teams are part of a 25-man senior class that will be playing their final game for the Greenwave when Fallon takes on Moapa Valley today for the Division I-A state championship.
“That’s huge,” Hill said of this group staying together. “Obviously, winning is not the only thing. You want to teach fundaments. They came in and expect to win.”
You can’t teach winning but you can help. You can give these players the tools to help them succeed but ultimately, it’s up to them if they want to make a difference and a name for themselves.
“It definitely helps that they know how to win and the success of those kids has definitely helped when you get to high school,” Hill said. “A lot of it is mental and believing that you can.”
These seniors knew it long before they should have. They knew the talent was there and their last year in high school could be historical.
“That’s been our goal since Day 1 – the state championship,” senior quarterback Connor Richardson said. “We knew we had ability to do it. We just needed to stay together and get through it. It’s our senior year. We’re not holding anything back right now. We need we could do something special with all the talent we had. That’s what we’re trying to do now. Our one goal has always been that state championship.”
And Richardson and his senior classmates were right as Fallon is one win away from winning the school’s first state football title since 1978 and first fall sports title since 2001 when the volleyball team captured the crown.
“They were real successful during their freshman year. I knew how solid of a group they were,” Hill recalled.
The Greenwave will get another crack at winning a state title for the first time since the 1970s after coming up short two years ago. But with experience on Fallon’s side this time around, the senior class can add another championship to its already impressive collection of football memorabilia.
Thomas Ranson can be contacted at lvnsports@yahoo.com.