FIELDER’S CHOICES: Pahranagat won’t break 100, but should score enough to win 1A title
After three months of going to practices, trying to get inside information from players, coaches and cheerleaders, and making whatever sense I can of it, we’ve finally arrived at championship week.
The small schools will have championship day at Arbor View on Saturday with the 1A game at noon and the 2A and 3A games to follow.
Because it’s championship week and I’m already failing most of my classes anyway, I’ll have a separate prediction on all three of those games, plus a combined 4A prediction column this week. Four times the Fielder ... it’s like, well, hmm, I’m not really sure what to compare it to. So we’ll just call it a Thanksgiving present from me to you.
It’s the state championship game, so let’s go with a full scouting report on Tonopah vs. Pahranagat Valley.
Average points per game: 54.5.
Average points allowed: 26.1.
How they got here: Finished second in Southern League, defeated Round Mountain at home (45-28), defeated Carlin at Carlin (71-30).
Strengths: Quarterback Scott Thibodeaux is one of Class 1A’s most potent offensive weapons. Thibodeaux has run for 28 touchdowns and thrown for 10 more. The Muckers throw just often enough to keep defenses honest.
Tonopah had its best effort of the season last week, routing Carlin — a team to which it lost in Week 1 — 71-30 and racking up 650 total yards.
Oh, and two other things ... experience (Tonopah is the defending state champion) and a really cool nickname.
Weaknesses: Not many, but if Thibodeaux has an off day, the offense has trouble making up for it. Tonopah had five turnovers when it faced the Panthers in late October.
Keys to victory: As good as Thibodeaux can be, the Muckers are better off not getting into a shootout with a team that is coming off setting a national record for points in a game. Not to mention, Pahranagat’s defense has been fantastic (except against Coleville, but seriously, who stops Coleville?)
Getting Denver Otteson and Mike Dolfin more involved running the ball (each had just three carries in the first meeting) should help.
The less predictable the Muckers can be, the better off they’ll be.
It goes without saying (but I’ll still say it), turnovers will kill Tonopah.
Average points per game: A slightly skewed 63.8.
Average points allowed: A very skewed 18.1. (74 points allowed will taint an average).
How they got here: Finished first in Southern League, defeated Indian Springs at home (56-18), defeated Coleville at home (128-74).
Strengths: Just a stab here, but any team that scores 128 points in a game probably has at least an OK offense.
Quarterback Taylor Poulsen has had a hand in 48 touchdowns on 245 offensive plays, and he might not even be Pahranagat’s most dangerous player. That title could belong to Brady Whipple, who has rushed for 883 yards, has 896 receiving yards and has scored 32 touchdowns. Whipple’s 222 points are more than Pahranagat has allowed all year.
Pahranagat has four players with at least 10 touchdowns and can score from anywhere on the field, on offense or defense and returning kicks.
Defense is where the Panthers hang their hat, though. Before allowing 74 in a Madden game last week, Pahranagat had surrendered just 125 points in 10 games. Care to guess who the tackle leaders are? Yep, Poulsen and Whipple. This just in, they can play.
Weaknesses: You try to find one. I don’t know. They’re averaging only one win a week?
Keys to victory: Forget last week’s game as quickly as possible. It was fun while it lasted, but Tonopah can do something Coleville can’t — play defense.
Bottling up Thibodeaux, if they can do it, would almost guarantee the Panthers a win. But that’s much, much easier typed than done.
Pahranagat is used to playing with the lead. An early score or two will build confidence on one side and put more pressure on Tonopah.
The past three state championships have been taken home by one of these two teams, so this will make it four straight. And of the three games at Arbor View on Saturday, this should be the best.
Pahranagat Valley has allowed more than 22 points only twice all year (74 on the pinball machine last week and 33 to Tonopah in October) and hasn’t scored fewer than 42 in any game this year. The Panthers are working on a streak of seven straight 50-point efforts.
I just can’t see Tonopah making enough stops to hold Pahranagat to a respectable number.
Whipple scores four touchdowns. Poulsen bumps his total to at least 50, and even though Thibodeaux finds the end zone four times ... Pahranagat Valley, 52-36.
