Hornets take the field after 23-month layoff

The Beatty High School Hornets played their first football game in nearly two years on Friday, Sept. 24.

The last tackle football game played by BHS took place on Nov. 1, 2019, which was a 48-0 defeat at the hands of the Pahranagat Valley Panthers. This was just four months before the whole world would be rocked by the coronavirus pandemic. While some high schools played in the fall of 2020, most schools and leagues around the country moved the fall season to the spring of 2021.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, the pandemic did more than just move their season back six months. The pandemic caused BHS to completely cancel their 2020 tackle football season. They did play in the spring, however, instead of the season being tackle football, they were playing flag football.

“We all wanted to try to get back to normalcy as soon as possible,” Rusty Anderson, Beatty High School head football coach, said. “That just didn’t help.”

Beatty was given the go-ahead to start playing tackle football this fall season. After not having a 2020 season, there were a lot of new faces for the team, since the previous players had graduated. Anderson mentioned that this year was similar to starting a whole new football program from scratch.

“Yes,” Anderson said. “Pretty much. I have two players from previous seasons. I have some players that did flag football last year, but not tackle football. It’s a completely different animal.”

He does have some seniors that are playing for him, but they haven’t played on the team in previous years and will only get to experience one season for the Hornets. On top of facing the challenge of having all new players, this is Anderson’s first season as head coach of the Hornets. Before this year, he spent his time as assistant coach under Leo Verzilli.

Even with nearly two years off from tackle football, the Hornets picked up a huge win to start their season. Beatty hosted the Beaver Dam Diamondbacks, who traveled from Littlefield, Arizona. The football team had great support as there was a good turnout from the crowd. This was just the start that the program needed for this year to get back on track after not playing for so long.

Beatty’s next football game is this Friday, Oct. 1, when they host the Tonopah Muckers. This matchup will be the first league game for both schools. Tonopah is entering the game with a 3-2 record and is coming off a crushing defeat at the hands of the Eureka Vandals, 68-28.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Contact Sports Editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com