Reed Raiders Season Preview
Updated: Aug. 11, 2024
By: J. Ray Dockter
It’s officially game week as our first football of the season kicks off with multiple games this coming Friday. Football in the Silver State is back, and I couldn’t be more excited. Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be previewing many teams from our local area as well as a few other surprises, before getting into football season full swing on Aug. 16th when the first games kickoff. Today’s team: Reed.
Reed Raiders
Head Coach: Garrett Hughes, fifth season at Reed (22-15 overall, 13-8 league in four seasons at Reed)
2023 Season Record: 8-4 overall, 3-2 league
Overview:
For the second consecutive year the Raiders season was ended by their crosstown rivals in the second round of the playoffs. The Raiders, winners of seven regional championships in the last fifteen seasons, have not played for a Regional Title since 2017 when they defeated Reno.
A year after winning five league games the Raiders “backslid” a little last season only winning three games. They defeated the 5A-II State Runner-Up Faith Lutheran Crusaders by 14 points early in the season and were able to host a home playoff game against Damonte Ranch, which they won 48-6 before falling the following week 21-3 against the Spanish Springs Cougars.
Coach Hughes spent this past offseason preaching “focus, we must do the little things right, [we] must have accountability and be aware that everything we do matters.” He was quick to point out that “last year we played ourselves of some games, and we allowed bad teams to keep it close.” The Raiders finished 8-4 but they still needed more discipline, Coach Hughes said his squad “must play together, do your job, don’t ride the emotional wave and stay locked in mentally.” He pointed to a few games where his squad “started off bad and they just went with it, unfortunately.” He acknowledged “it is not acceptable for us to pick and choose when we want to do our jobs and that’s why we focused on discipline and focus on the offseason.”
The Raiders will continue to use their ‘Spread’ offense this season as they welcome back seven starters on that side of the ball but will be faced with replacing Lineman of the Year Emmanuel Akutey and fellow All League honoree Dun Dun Bloomfield. Coach Hughes said, “he’s excited to open up the offense more this season as the Raiders welcome back their starting QB, who can spread it out more and keep people accountable in the running game.” Hughes doubled down stating “the last two years we’ve been too dependent on the running game, we need to find more of a balance to keep teams honest.”
Defensively Coach Hughes squad will return six starters from last season. Once again though, they’ll be tasked with replacing a three-year starter and All League honoree from last season in MLB Cooper Park (who is playing at Butte CC now). The defense will be a 4-2-5 base with a “Mix of different coverages, we won’t blitz a ton, we want to keep everything in front of us, pursue to the ball and play ‘solid, sound’ football in the process.”
Coach Hughes message to his team this season is “we have enough talent to play with good teams and beat them, but we can’t have any self-inflicted wounds.” He pointed to his team’s victory against Faith Lutheran as proof of that and doubled down stating “We’ll go as far as our discipline will take us, [we must] execute our assignments, stay consistent, do what we know is right, focus on us, deal with adversity when it comes, and control us… if we do those things, we can play with anyone on our schedule.”
Players to watch:
OL/DL Mataio Aiono, Senior: Aiono was an All-League nominee last season and recently committed to play football at the University of Nevada next season. Hughes said “He had a great offseason and summer – he was and is physically dominant. He has great foot speed, plays with violent heavy hands, has a great motor and high football IQ.” Checking in at 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds Aiono looks to impose his will on whoever is in front of him on every play.
QB Nishaan Bajwa, Senior: Thrown into the mix last year when Dakota Dunlap went down in the preseason Bajwa did not disappoint. Hughes had high praise for his signal caller “[He] did a good job last year, [we] expect him to control the offense this season.” He gained experience last season and now Hughes said “he worked his tail off getting bigger, faster and stronger. He’s playing at a faster pace this year with his reads, his progression, he has been impressive – mentally and with his quick release. He’s processing faster, which will make us better in the long run.”
TE Mitchell Bertolino, Senior: Bertolino started at tight end for the Raiders towards the end of last season, and for good reason. He is 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, Hughes described him as “a big strong kid, that is physical in the run game as a blocker, and someone that we’ll move around this season because of his good receiving ability.” Based off my conversation with Hughes I’d say watch out for him in the passing game this season.
RB/LB Bronwyn Rios, Junior: Back for his third season starting on varsity, the 5-foot-9, 195-pound MJD (as I like to call him) will be looking to win the rushing crown this season after racking up 1,527 yards and 17 TDs over the last two seasons. He is deceptively quick and versatile catching the ball out of the backfield as well. Hughes was quick to point out “Bron is learning the game better year over year, he was overly reliant on his physical gifts his freshman year, and he broke out last season.” Hughes also stated, “He is very strong for his age, he gets it and now he will be even more difficult to defend.”
Athlete Shay Rivero, Junior: Described as “[a] Swiss-army knife” by Coach Hughes. Rivero will be expected to play multiple positions this season for the Raiders. Last season Rivero was expected to split carries with Rios at RB but that didn’t end up happening so Coach Hughes and his staff have had Rivero working in a number of different positions on offense so that they can get him and Rios on the field at the same time and get the ball in his hands. As Hughes put it “[He’s] dynamic, capable of making a lot of big plays, he is a threat to score in multiple ways.”
Season Schedule:
Aug. 16 at Churchill County (Fallon, Nev.)
Aug. 23 vs. Del Oro (Loomis, Calif.)
Aug. 30 vs. Twelve Bridges (Lincoln, Calif.)
Sep. 6 at Hug
Sep. 13 at Damonte Ranch
Sep. 20 at McQueen
Sep. 27 vs. Reno
Oct. 4 vs. Bishop Manogue
Oct. 18 at Douglas
Oct. 25 at Spanish Springs
J. Ray Dockter has been covering high school sports since 2022. If you have a story worth telling, let him know via Twitter @J_RayDoc.
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