Fallon stuns Elko, jumps to No. 2 in football playoff race

On a night that flipped the Northern 3A football league upside down, the Greenwave stunned Elko on Senior Night, vaulting to second place with one game left in the regular season.

After a scoreless first quarter, Fallon scored twice before halftime before cementing the 28-7 win late in the fourth quarter Friday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex.

Along with Spring Creek’s surprising 34-13 win over Fernley, which scored 79 points against Lowry the week before, Fallon (4-2) now sits in second behind Truckee (6-0). Fallon travels to Lowry (2-4) on Friday for head coach Calvin Connor’s first trip back to Winnemucca after he starred for the Buckaroos.

“Ever since the second half against Fernley, we’ve been a different team,” Connors said of the Greenwave, who outscored Fernley in the second half of a 31-21 loss before winning two in a row. “You have to have confidence and find that confidence. I'm just a proud coach.”

The turning point in Friday’s win over Elko came on a gutsy call in the fourth quarter.

After a quarterback sneak on third down was stopped 2 yards shy of the first-down marker, Connors called a timeout and told his team to focus on the outside. Facing a fourth-and-2 on their own 15-yard line, Carson Melendy ran outside of the line, sprinting down the field for 80 yards before being tripped up in front of the end zone.

“They were heavy inside so we decided to go outside on them. We had the numbers,” Connors said. “Carson followed his blockers and the scheme was done correctly. That was momentum for us to go for it on our own 15 and gamble and get a big chunk of yards.”

After two touchdown runs were called back due to penalties, Melendy was successful the third time to give Fallon a 21-7 lead with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left in the game. The junior back finished with 221 yards on 31 carries and three touchdowns.

The Greenwave added another touchdown on the next series, eliminating any chances of Elko coming back like it did in last year’s playoffs when the Indians ended Fallon’s season on a last-second field goal in the state-advancing game. Matthew Bird, who also ran for 72 yards on nine carries, found Barry Mitchell running toward the corner of the end zone on a play-action pass for the fourth score of the game.

Bird finished with 150 passing yards on 6-of-8 completions. Wyatt Peek hauled in one reception for 60 yards and Calin Anderson had four catches for 55 yards.

Fallon turns its attention to Lowry, which lost a shootout to Fernley two weeks ago before beating South Tahoe by 23 on the road last week. The Buckaroos clinched the No. 6 seed.

For Connors, though, the trip to the Winnemucca will be his first since taking over the football job after moving to Fallon. He played football for the Humboldt County school before competing in college and returning home briefly to coach basketball three years ago.

“I’m just excited to go play against coaches who truly inspired me to be a coach,” Connors said. “It’s definitely a full circle. It’s going to be great. That senior class now for Lowry was my last group I coached there for basketball. Those kids were freshmen on my JV team. It’ll be nice to see them and close my chapter in Lowry.

“It’s going to be a nostalgic night but when you put away all the noise and outside distractions, it’s still a must-win game. It’s not about me. It’s about the kids. I’m thrilled for kids to have an opportunity to control their own density and put themselves in a position to win and do some damage in the playoffs.”