Two weeks are down in Nevada’s high school football season and local coaches are starting to get a better feel for their teams. There’s one thing the football coaches at all three local high schools have in common. They all believe their teams can get better and know they need to get better as the league season is fast approaching.

Here’s a closer look at what this week holds for the gridiron squads at Reed, Spanish Springs and Sparks.

Carson at Reed, tonight 7:30 p.m.

The visiting Senators are still looking for their first win after suffering back-to-back lopsided losses (to Spanish Springs and McQueen) to open the season. They won’t find a patsy looking to help them out this weekend, either.

After a surprising 26-14 season-opening home loss to Bishop Manogue, the RHS crew bounced back to knock off Canyon Springs of North Las Vegas, 34-20, last Saturday. Still, the Raiders’ execution has been far from crisp as they have been plagued by sloppy play for long stretches of clock in both of their games.

“We’re getting better but we’ve still got a lot to work on. That’s why we have non-league games, to practice situations and work things out,” Reed coach Ernie Howren said. “After last week, it’s very obvious we need to get better at that (ball security). There are a lot of different factors contributing to those problems. I don’t think we can pinpoint one. The only thing we can do is focus on getting better at holding on to the football.”

The Raiders can look forward to the return of starting quarterback Tyler Pine, who was knocked out of Reed’s opener against Manogue in the first quarter after suffering a concussion. The junior signal caller has been cleared to play, but his back-up, Brandon Mondragon, impressed Howren enough during his stint under center that he will also see snaps in the backfield.

Howren said that Mondragon’s effective play will only be a positive for the Raiders as they now have confidence in their quarterback depth.

“It sure is nice to know we have a back-up like Brandon Mondragon that can step in and take over and act like we don’t miss a beat,” Howren said. “I was really impressed by the poise and effort on his part.”

Reed coaches have done their fair share of scouting Carson over the past week. With Reed playing Saturday, some of the Raiders’ coaching staff was able to see the Senators in person Friday in the loss to McQueen.

Carson may be 0-2, but it looks to have played two of the better teams in the North. Howren was quick to point out that players are adjusting to the new system and style of first-year coach Blair Roman. The Raiders' veteran skipper said he expects the Senators to get better and better as they become more comfortable in their system.

“We know they’ve got a new program going with a lot of kids out. They have always been real fast,” he said. “They’re putting in a new offense and it’s just a matter of time before that starts clicking for them.”

You can bet Reed fans hope Carson waits at least one more week to click.

Spanish Springs at Galena, tonight 7:30 p.m.

Just once in Spanish Springs' six-year history of playing varsity football (in 2004) have the Cougars beaten Galena. Coaches, players and fans of the Cougars’ program would like nothing more than to pick up that second win against the Grizz tonight.

One thing is different about this year’s battle from that of years past. The game is no longer a High Desert League affair as the Northern 4A’s recent realignment shifted Galena to the Sierra League.

So will that change the intensity of this matchup?

“I think the kids see this as a good measuring stick,” Spanish Springs coach Scott Hare said. “I think the kids know this is going to be a really good game against a team that has been to heights our program has not seen yet. To get to the top of the mountain, we have to climb over those who have already been there.”

Early indications would lead many to believe this is the year Spanish Springs climbs over Galena. While Spanish Springs has rolled over Carson and Wooster by a combined score of 64-20, Galena has put together consecutive lackluster losses — 24-6 to Legacy of Las Vegas and 26-3 to North Valleys.

While the one-sided scores have left Galena 0-2, they have not left Hare and his Cougars coaching staff feeling overconfident about walking away with a cupcake victory in Week 3.

“They have a couple losses, but they have made a lot of mistakes that I know their coaches will clean up,” Hare said. “Galena has one of the best coaching staffs in the area and they will be ready to play. … When they clean up their turnover issues they are going to be a good team. We better be ready for a battle with a team that has won a lot of games over the last two years.”

Spanish Springs won last week in spite of shooting itself in the foot time and time again. There were times Friday night when football fans probably thought they were watching a Flag Day festival. Officials in the Cougars' win over Wooster weren’t shy about calling penalties against the Purple and Teal.

“The main thing that bugged me last week was we had 10 penalties in our first 30 plays. There were a lot of non-focus penalties,” Hare said. “We must clean up those penalties, the ones where we lined up wrong, or had false starts. Those are yards we are just giving away.”

Spanish Springs probably can’t afford to give much away if wants to capture just its second 3-0 start in school history.

Sparks bye week

Going into the new season, Sparks coach Rob Kittrell thought he'd scheduled a bye at the perfect time for his young squad. After an emotional comeback win at South Tahoe in Week 1 and a painful 31-point loss to Fallon in Week 2, nothing has changed that outlook.

Sparks, a 3A North playoff qualifier the past three seasons, opened the season against a pair of 4A opponents and now has a week off before opening 3A North play against perennial league power Dayton.

"This is the perfect bye for us. We needed it because we needed to return to basics," Kittrell said. "We need to review and refocus and the kids have responded well. This week they have been re-energized. It's probably one of the better bye weeks of practice we've had."

The bye week may change the intensity level for players on Friday but it hasn't changed the Railroaders' routine. Kittrell said Monday was a walk-through practice, Tuesday and Wednesday were physical days and Thursday was not. He's planning a scrimmage today to try and replicate some game situations.

Kittrell said keeping the practice schedule the same was a priority. However, he's hoping that this week's workouts bring some change because after the blowout home loss at the hands of Fallon, he said his club must get better.

"Fallon pretty much exposed everything," the Railroaders' skipper said. "We looked pretty bad and they played pretty well. They were the better team that night and we didn't respond well to that adversity. We didn't stand toe to toe. We lost track of our mental game."

The good news is the Sparks squad has an extra week to regain and re-learn what it lost.