Douglas High's Brenton Weston (13) celebrates alongside teammates Michael Sinclair (11) and Camden Dufloth (61) after Weston's game-winning 31-yard field goal gave the Tigers a 16-13 win over Fernley as time expired.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
With a slight breeze blowing into his face, Douglas senior Brenton Weston lined up and drained a 31-yard field goal as time expired.
However, mid-kick whistles blew as Fernley called timeout in an attempt to ice Weston, forcing the Tigers to trot the field goal team back onto the turf.
So, Weston took his three steps back and two steps to the left and booted the game-winning field goal through the uprights again, solidifying a 16-13 win for Douglas over Fernley in the regular season opener.
The senior anticipated his opponent’s move.
“I was locked in. … In practice we were practicing with white noise in the background, screaming, yelling,” said Weston, “so I was locked in.”
The jubilee on the Tiger sideline was a swing from the previous minutes of the fourth quarter in which Fernley had scored 13 unanswered points to tie the game.
FINAL | Douglas 16, Fernley 13
Tigers march 66 yards in 1:59 and walk it off with a 31-yard field goal courtesy of Brenton Weston.
Wild fourth quarter here in Fernley tonight. Tigers start the year 1-0. pic.twitter.com/TxcjJWBTns
THE LAST GASP
Douglas led 13-0 with 9:15 to play in regulation, taking a two-score lead after Zach Jackson scampered into the end zone on an two-yard touchdown run.
The Tiger defense had pitched a shutout through the first three quarters, standing strong on three missed field goal attempts from the Vaqueros.
Fernley’s penultimate drive of Friday’s contest could have stalled out a few times, but the Tigers gave ground on a pair personal foul penalties.
On the 12th play of the drive, Fernley’s Keeshawn Love punched in an eight-yard touchdown run to bring the Vaqueros within a score, 13-7, with 4:51 to play.
Fernley didn’t bother trying to stop the Tiger offense, taking their chances with a successful onside.
With a short field, the Vaqueros chewed up roughly three minutes of clock before finding pay dirt on a seven-yard quarterback scramble.
Fernley had a chance to take the lead on the ensuing extra point, but missed it wide, leaving the contest knotted at 13-13.
That gave the Tiger offense a little less than two minutes to get points on the board and avoid overtime.
After a first down run from Zach Jackson, Jackson Ovard completed a 17-yard pass to Nathan Priou giving the Tigers the ball right around midfield with 1:04 remaining.
Ovard’s next completion was his biggest of the contest, scrambling from the pocket toward the Tiger sideline before releasing the ball and taking a shot from a Vaquero defender.
Sophomore Lukas Neely snagged Ovard’s pass and turned up field for a couple extra yards to get the Tigers down to the Fernley 27.
A penalty on the Douglas sidelined moved the rock back five yards, but it didn’t slow the Tigers from handing the ball off on three consecutive plays, winding the clock down to 3.7 seconds to send out the field goal team.
That allowed Weston to send the visiting sideline home happy.
“It kind of sealed the game for us there,” said Mays of the Ovard-to-Neely completion. “For Jack(son) to make that play, and that’s what we expect out of him, he took a real big hit on the sideline and then the sophomore, Neely, of all people came up with it.”
Despite the Fernley timeout to ice the first Tiger field goal attempt, the execution leading up to the kick was solid through both tries.
Ovard was on the hold for the Tigers while Caden Martin put together back-to-back snaps right to the hands of Douglas’ quarterback.
“Shout out to Caden Martin, our long snapper there. He came in and delivered two perfect strikes there and got the win,” added Mays.
FINAL TAKEAWAYS
It was a bounce back second half for Douglas after both teams went into the locker room tied at 0-0.
Douglas opened the second half and drove 80 yards on eight plays, putting up the first points of the evening on a five-yard touchdown run from senior captain Evan Youmans.
“I was impressed by their tenacity,” Mays said of Fernley. “To get the ‘W’ on the road against a good team like this feels pretty good, especially with some of those growing pains we took tonight.”
Weston, also a captain, said postgame that there wasn’t any concern at the half despite no points being on the board.
“We went into the gym, talked it out, locked in. We wrote up everything we were supposed to do and we succeeded,” Weston said.
UP NEXT: Douglas (1-0) will be back on the road again next week, traveling out to Elko (0-0) for a rematch from last fall.
(Douglas High junior Zach Jackson, 22, stiff arms a Fernley defender Friday night during the Tigers' 16-13 win. Jackson had a rushing touchdown for Douglas in the victory. / Ron Harpin)
AREA SCORES
McQueen 46, Hug 0
Simi Valley 33, Spanish Springs 13
Bishop Manogue 48, Damonte Ranch 14
Reed 38, Fallon 7
Pershing County 49, Wooster 7
Galena 42, Spring Creek 7
North Valleys 43, Sparks 0
Canyon Springs at Carson, Saturday 1 p.m.