Football playoffs: Fallon hosts Elko in 3A semifinals

Fallon gets its chance at avenging last year’s playoff loss when it welcomes Elko Friday night.

After falling to Elko on a last-second field goal in last year’s league semifinal, the Greenwave will take on the Indians with a trip to the state semifinal on the line.

Fallon, which along with Spring Creek, created chaos in the Northern 3A last month when it upset Elko to vault to second place, earned a first-round bye. Elko ended Lowry’s season, 37-21, last week in the quarterfinal. In the other quarterfinal, Spring Creek defeated Fernley, 35-26, for the second time this season after it stunned the Vaqueros on the same night as Fallon’s upset over Elko.

Fallon kicks off against Elko on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. The game will be broadcast by Greenwave Hall of Famers Larry Barker (play-by-play) and Randy Beeghly (color) on 99.1 KKTU FM and on www.network1sports.com/station/kktu.

No. 1 Truckee hosts Spring Creek on Saturday with the winners from this weekend advancing to face the South’s top-two teams in the state semifinals. The state championship is Nov. 26 at Allegiant Stadium.

Fallon is riding its longest winning streak of the season after being shut out by Truckee, 42-0, and stopped in Fernley, 31-21, last month. The Greenwave rebounded with a 21-14 win at Spring Creek before taking down Elko, 28-7, on Senior Night and running past Lowry, 42-6, to clinch the No. 2 seed.

Since starting Calvin Connors’ first season against a pair of 5A schools, Fallon’s found its groove on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback junior Matthew Bird eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in the air as he has completed 55 percent of his passes for 1,065 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s getting it done on the ground, too, rushing for 552 yards on 87 carries and four touchdowns.

Backup quarterback Colin Shishido has stepped in with 71 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Carrying the team on the ground has been two-time wrestling state champ Carson Melendy, a junior who leads the team with 1,011 yards rushing (7.5 carry average) and 12 touchdowns. Complementing Melendy has been sophomore Rylan Clark, who has 157 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

In Fallon’s win over Elko last month, the turning point came on an 80-yard run on fourth down.

After Bird’s sneak on third down was stopped, Fallon went for it on fourth-and-2 on their own 15 yard line. Melendy ran outside of the line, sprinting down the field before being tripped up in front of the end zone. Melendy then punched it in for the score to give Fallon a two-touchdown lead and shift the momentum.

The Greenwave added another touchdown on the next series to seal the win when Bird found junior tight end Barry Mitchel running toward the corner of the end zone on a play-action pass for the fourth score of the game.

During the season, Bird’s favorite targets in the air have been junior Wyatt Peek and sophomore Calin Anderson, who combined are just shy of 1,000 receiving yards. Each have four touchdowns and Peek leads with 449 yards while Anderson has 433. Mitchell has two scores on the year.

Defensively, Melendy leads the team with 52 tackles while senior Trevor Hyde has 45 followed by senior Manny Karaway has 39. Senior Chad Agaman, sophomore Caleb Edgmon and Hyde each have six tackles for loss. Hyde also leads the team in sacks with six and Edgmon has five.

In the air, sophomore Maxton Richardson, who’s back from injuring his collarbone in the first game of the season, leads the team in interceptions with two while six players each have one. Edgmon leads the team in fumbles caused with three while sophomore Avery Dealoia, Karaway and Melendy each have two. Junior Joseph Romero, Peek, Shishido, Mitchell and Melendy have each recovered a fumble.