The first week of the prep football season was considered a success. But eight games were canceled by causes related to the COVID pandemic, player eligibility and wildfires.
Sports
Jason Voss won the The Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno Race for the second year in a row in the 1400 Division. This year Voss battled a rain-soaked course and huge ruts all the way to the finish line. His time was 8:29:28.337. Dale Dondel also in the 1400 Division, took second. Dondel’s time was 8:44:09.222.
The first official Trojans cross country practice was over the weekend on Saturday. Trojans Coach Matt Kolozieczyk hopes to continue building a quality team for both girls and boys. The team lost 13 seniors last year, seven girls and six boys.
Last Friday the Mountain Ridge Little League team from Las Vegas made history in San Bernardino, Calif. by beating a team from Northern California 11-2. The Mountain Ridge team will be the first team from Nevada ever to make it to the Little League World Series, which is held annually in Williamsport, Pa.
The Kung Fu sisters, Ekaterina and Natasha Venola, scored big at the seventh annual International Chinese Martial Arts Championships at the Tuscany Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Aug. 1.
It can happen at any race track at any given time. “You can’t control the emotions of a driver in a race car,” Pahrump Valley Speedway owner Chad Broadhead told the PVT.
Special Olympics is looking for a few good volunteers who care to work with special needs children. Jim Soltz, the area director, said they are looking for coaches of all ages from teens on up. “No one really gets turned down here. We will put everyone to work,” Soltz said.
The General Tire Vegas to Reno race is the longest off-road race in the United States at 535 miles. This year there will be 299 vehicles entered, 40 Trick Trucks, 34-1500 class (dune buggies), 41 UTV’s, and 27 Ironmen (riders riding solo).
Just before July 4, the monsoon season started in Beatty and unfortunately destroyed the efforts of the Nye County School District to make good on a promise to fix the Beatty High School football field. The rain washed away the seed. This meant that the field would not be ready for the upcoming football season.
The Division I-A continues to grow in the south. Currently the division has 16 teams in it and the Northern region has nine teams. The Southern region just added three more teams, Del Sol, Spring Valley and Sierra Vista. This has some of the schools in the Northern I-A a little uneasy.
For those clamoring for some football action, the long drought is over. Football is back. The NFL preseason started last week and high school football in the valley is gearing up to start with the first game scheduled against Bonanza on Aug. 29 at home at 7 p.m.
Bowling News: Mike Hildebrand bowled a perfect game, 300 on Aug 4, at the Nugget Bowling Center.
The “GREAT Games” were held in Pahrump at J.G. Johnson Elementary School last week. Each year for the last 17 years GREAT Games has entertained the youth of the valley. During the summer months two Nye County deputies go out and take their anti-gang message on the road. During the games hundreds of kids play, have fun and learn alternative ways to gangs, drugs and violence.
Pahrump has some serious horseshoe players in the valley. Players play at Petrack Park. The park has six pits that actually have some shade on them, which makes it the only pit in the state with shade. The Pahrump horseshoe players are growing in numbers and just had a National tourney at the park on July 12.
With a significant portion of the Trojans offense gone, the Trojans are expecting the defense to step up this season. Sydney Sladek was the lead scorer last season with 75 goals and that amounted to 53 percent of the offense. The next best scorer the Trojans had was Paige Chafee, who is a junior and had 12 goals. She is returning. The Trojans hope to replace the talent lost with new talent coming in, but until that new talent has a chance to adjust to new teammates, the veterans on defense will be the glue that holds the team together.