Spring Mountain back in state semifinals, set to face undefeated Virginia City

Spring Mountain football coach Aaron Masden wasn’t sure what kind of team he had when the Golden Eagles opened training camp in August.

He knows now.

Another state tournament team.

Spring Mountain is back in the Class 1A state tournament yet again after finishing as the state runner-up in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Golden Eagles (7-2) are set to play Virginia City (10-0) in the Class 1A state semifinals at noon on Friday and are looking to cap a journey more than three months in the making. Masden said he feels like this year’s version of Spring Mountain is not necessarily the most talented, but the most complete team he’s ever had.

“The last six years now, we’ve had some good overall success into pushing this program into being competitive in our division and in the state,” he said. “In previous years, we’ve always felt like there was something missing. Something on the line, a receiver, a good cover guy or whatever. For this season … we don’t feel like we have many holes, many weaknesses. We feel really strong and confident about the players we have and their abilities.”

Of course, Masden and his staff had to spend a considerable amount of time learning about his players and those aforementioned abilities.

Most of Spring Mountain’s players have no experience playing organized football and many started the season without the understanding of basic fundamentals and football concepts.

The Golden Eagles brought back just one returning player, and the coaching staff opened training camp with a series of basic and competitive drills to learn about the makeup of each player.

“We always start from square one,” Masden said. “Build the foundation from the bedrock up … As we kind of go along, we kind of see what we have. We know typically we’re always going to have some speed. Size is nice but sometimes in the past size hasn’t always been a good thing for us. We just try and instill a fighting personality in everything that we do.”

After a couple weeks, players were assigned positions and began learning the team’s offensive and defensive schemes.

It’s a lot to cram into a short period, but the Golden Eagles posted a 7-2 record, all while building the chemistry deemed necessary to compete at the highest level.

Masden said his team started to bond during its regular-season loss to Pahranagat Valley on Sept. 23.

“The first few games were kind of rough,” he said. “The things that we preach that they can control are their attitude and their effort.”

The players continued that bond last week, when Masden and the coaching staff took them to a UNLV football practice. Rebels coach Tony Sanchez met with the Golden Eagles afterward and gave them some words of wisdom as the prepare for the state tournament.

“He told them a lot of the same kinds of things that we talked about with them this season,” Masden said. “That was another turning point … I think the (players) trust in themselves and they trust in us as coaches. We’re not going to lead them down the wrong path … It’s all for the same mission and the same goal.”