The 4A level is back in the Northern Nevada football scene and the first league game for Carson in the newly tailored league is Thursday night.
The Senators will hit the road to take on the Panthers, opening a period away from Carson High.
The next time Senator football fans will get to see the royal blue and white at home will be in late October.
“We’re excited to be in league play,” said Carson hed coach Steven Nelms. “We got through Reed and Spanish Springs relatively injury free.”
RECORDS: Carson (1-3); North Valleys (0-5)
LAST WEEK: Carson startled Reed before falling, 38-3. North Valleys was on a bye week
SERIES: Carson leads the series, 12-4 (dating to 2004). The Senators have won 11 of the last 12 meetings, with the one exception coming in the 2023 postseason.
AT STAKE: Nelms wants the Senators to have a new energy in October and what better way to open a new month than with a 1-0 record in league play?
CARSON ON OFFENSE: On offense, it won’t be much of a surprise to hear that Carson plans on pushing its ground game first and foremost.
“I think there is some stuff we haven’t shown that we will break out in the next couple of weeks,” said Nelms. “We will see what defenses show us.”
Ethan Linehan was another bright spot for Carson last week at tight end.
NORTH VALLEYS ON OFFENSE: With league games carrying extra weight, Nelms and the Senators are expecting some new wrinkles from North Valleys. While the Panthers are going to be prioritizing their attack through the air, they could throw some different looks at Carson on both offense and defense.
“I’m sure they’re going to try and throw,” said Nelms. “When you get your first game in league, you don’t really know if teams have shown you everything they have. They have a good staff that’s been there a few years.”
FINAL NOTE: A 38-3 loss to Reed last week looks tough on the scoreboard, but the Senator coaching staff was impressed with the effort from their team.
Matthew Manley’s play at safety drew a lot of praise from his head coach.
“He seemed to be involved in every single tackle. He was all over the field,” said Nelms. “Our goal for the kids is we want to play a very physical football game … and I thought the kids did that in the first half.”
With all but one non-league game out of the way (Carson and Douglas will meet on Oct. 10), we will see what kind of new looks the Senators might flash in games that determine league finishes.