NevadaPrep

Lund running back John Lacovara scores the first touchdown of the game against Spring Mountain. He would leave the game due to injury before the end of the first quarter. Spring Mountain won in triple overtime 62-56.

Eight-man football is often overlooked, especially with football powerhouses in Elko, Las Vegas and Reno. The 1A athletes, however, can still put on a show. Lund and Spring Mountain combined for 324 yards, 8 touchdowns and 44 points…in the first quarter.

Lund, taking to the field with only 11 players, opened it’s season against Spring Mountain with a triple-overtime game filled with tough defense, surprising offense and a touch of late-game controversy. Spring Mountain prevailed 62-56 in the more than three hour game.

Spring Mountain’s opening drive ended when Lund senior Josh Niman blocked his first of three punts on the night. Lund’s ensuing drive resulted in the first points of the game on an eight yard run by senior quarterback/running back John Lacovara. Lacovara would account for three more touchdowns and six tackles before leaving the game with a knee injury on an unsuccessful PAT. Up to that point he accounted for all of Lund’s offensive yards. His return status is undetermined.

With their team leader and offensive power out of the game, it looked as if the Mustangs might have a tough time keeping up with the Eagles’ speed. Lund’s first two snaps with a new quarterback resulted in -12 yards. Just as Spring Mountain was feeling the moment shift their way after a 55 yard touchdown run by Delquan Danford, Garrett Joyner threw his first career touchdown pass, a 31 yard catch and scamper, to Colton Kreici. This put the Mustangs up 38-24 going in to the half.

Either the fast pace of the first half caught up with both teams, or the coaches half time speeches sunk in quickly, as both teams came out playing tough defense. The Eagles quarterback, who was stellar in the first quarter, completing 5 passes for 127 yards and 1 touchdown, couldn’t find his mark in the third quarter. With good defensive pressure, he completed more passes to Lund’s Kreici than his own receivers, going 2/5 for 7 yards and 3 interceptions. Lund’s offense didn’t fair much better as they could only muster 36 yards of offensive against some hard hitting defense. The third quarter ended with no points for either team.

The fourth quarter finally saw Spring Mountain clicking on both sides of the ball. Following a fumble by the Mustangs, Spring Mountain scored on a strong four yard run. Lund’s next drive took several minutes off of the clock, but ended when Eagles’ defender Niko Stewart stepped in front of a pass and returned it 35 yards to paydirt. The conversion was good and brought the Eagles to within 8 at 44-36. With fatigue setting in on the 10 players left for Lund, Spring Mountain scored again with 6:32 left in the quarter and converted their PAT to tie things at 44.

The teams then went back and forth until Lund put together a late drive and attempted to kick a 35 yard field goal with 5 seconds left. It was blocked and the game went into overtime. Following some confusion as to the proper procedure for overtime, the Eagles took the field on offense and scored in two plays. Lund answered in the same fashion. Spring Mountain again scored in two plays during the second overtime. Lund took possession and scored on their first play. The third overtime again saw Spring Mountain score first and then tighten up their defense to stymie Lund’s rushing attack. Final score 62-56.

Following the game, Spring Mountain’s Coach Masden said that was one hard fought game. Down by 16, he said, “I just told them to get back to basic football. We don’t need heroes to make every play. Play together and we’re still in this.”

His words rang true as the Eagles fought hard to get back in to the game by playing team ball. Coach Masden is in his first year as head coach with the Eagles and says he has a great group of players to work with. “These kids come from some pretty tough situations and for them to come in here and believe that they can work as one has been a great success. We have an opportunity to use sports to turn their lives around and we’re doing everything we can for them. It was great to play this game and play against a classy team like Lund. They are doing some good things here too.”

After the loss, Lund was still not down and definitely not out. “We’re a small squad,” Coach Bryan said, “but they have big hearts. We work on switching guys (positions) around on offense and defense, so having Colton and Garrett step up is great. If we had two to four more guys, I believe we would have won this game.”

Lund (0-1) will play Sandy Valley (0-1) at 6pm Saturday, while Spring Mountain (1-0) has a bye.

Game notes: Lund Senior Colton Kreici ended the game with four interceptions tying him for the state record with four other players and his 76 yard kickoff return for a TD is 25th all time. He also contributed 17 tackles (9 solo) … the teams combined for 675 yards of offense and 18 touchdowns … the first quarter lasted almost one hour…Spring Mtn’s Colin Martinez had 8 catches 181 yds 2 tds, Delquan Danford had 13 carries for 102 2 tds.