If you’re a Carson High sports fan, this past week was a tough one.
The final four Carson High (fall) teams saw their seasons come to a disappointing end, signifying the start of the winter sports season next weekend with basketball tryouts on Saturday.
Carson volleyball and football teams were ousted in the first round, and the Carson girls soccer and Carson boys soccer were eliminated in the semifinals and finals, respectively. The soccer teams suffered through 1-0 losses to McQueen and Galena, respectively.
The boys soccer team, the defending state champion, was seeking its second straight trip to state.
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And while we’re on the subject of soccer, I’d love to see northern Nevada eliminate tie games during the regular season and go directly to a shootout.
I’ve never been a big fan of ties, and it was agonizing to see Carson dominate two overtimes against McQueen only to lose on penalty kicks. Truth be told, the Senators looked nervous and looked like they had never taken a penalty kick before. We’re only talking about 10 extra minutes at the end of a regular-season contest.
You can’t simulate PKs in practice, and by adapting this rule in the regular season, the kids would have experience under fire. Also, it might force teams into playing more aggresively instead of settling for a tie and a point during the regular season.
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Chatted with former Carson High wrestling coach and assistant football coach Paul Carter recently.
Carter has one more semester to finish on his two-year stint at Dordt College where he’s serving as a grad assistant on the football team. Carter said his school currently has a 4-5 record.
Carter said he will be doing some serious job hunting during the spring semester in an effort to earn a full-time coaching job at the college level.
I didn’t ask if he was coming back, but he would be a welcome addition to to Blair Roman’s staff, especially if Shane Quilling opts to step away from being the linebackers coach.
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Kudos to Carson High’s volleyball team for its performance this season. The Senators, despite their early exit from the playoffs, finished 21-11 under coach Robert Maw.
The good news is setter Natalie Anderson, libero Abby Pradere, middles Ku’lei Haupu, Dajarrah Navarro and Shea DeJoseph, right side Stefanie Schmidt and defensive specialists Abbey Paulson and Natalia Smith all return. That’s a decent nucleus to build on, but the Senators need to develop an outside hitter.
Unfortunately, Maw has nobody to replace the dynamic Jaycie Roberts, a four-time all-league performer.
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Apparently the rumors flying around Damonte quarterback Cade McNamara are just that, rumors. Cade’s dad, Mark, a former baseball coach at Galena, e-mailed me earlier this week to say he has no intentions of moving to San Diego.
Good news for the Mustangs and bad news for the rest of the northern Nevada teams. McNamara said his son was getting some early interest from Pac-12 teams.