Nevada Appeal: Senators kick off 2025 season

Senators kick off 2025 season

Carson High School football is anxiously awaiting its 2025 season opener this Friday night against Spring Creek on the Senators’ home turf. It’ll be a special game for first-year head coach Steven Nelms as his first-ever game as head coach will come against his high school head coach.

“It’s an opportunity for me as a head coach to coach against him, as well. We’ve played them the past two years down in Douglas, so it’s exciting,” Nelms said of playing his former head coach on Episode 193 of the Behind the Bench podcast.

We know the Senators are going to try and run the ball, as has been the program’s identity for the last decade-plus, but with a quarterback battle still in full swing you can anticipate Carson attempting to find some answers through the air.

RECORDS: Carson (0-0); Spring Creek (0-0)

LAST WEEK: Carson scrimmaged against Galena and Pershing County at home. Nelms was impressed with the overall level of the team. “We left injury-free, which is really nice. … I thought the attitude was good. I thought the effort was exceptional,” said Nelms. “We were fairly crisp on both sides of the ball, so it was good.”

SERIES: Carson leads series, 1-0 (since 2004). The Senators beat the Spartans, 34-15, last August.

AT STAKE: First and foremost, a season-opening win. Plus, a potential win for first-year coach Steven Nelms in his opener.

CARSON ON OFFENSE: The Senators are still trying to figure out a few positions on offense, including quarterback. Carson will have to get past Spring Creek’s modified version of a 3-3 stack. Nelms does not think the Senators’ offensive game plan will be much of a secret so he’s anticipating Spring Creek packing the box to try and stop the run. “It’s not a new test for them, it’s just a new team,” said Nelms. “I expect the box to be fairly crowded and (bringing) some pressure.”

SPRING CREEK ON OFFENSE: Spring Creek will be a similar team to what the Senators saw last year, using its run game first and foremost. Nelms says he expects to see varying run looks between power run, counter, and under center from an unbalanced look. “It’s kind of a mixture of our offense, just run in a different manner. It’s a good test for our defense to see how physical we can be at setting the tone at the line of scrimmage,” said Nelms.

FINAL WORD: The first game of the regular season always presents chances for growing pains, but last week’s scrimmage left the Senator coaching staff feeling good about the early-season potential. Friday has the chance to be another step in the right direction for Carson High football.