Darrell Moody: Carson standouts solid for San Mateo

Three former Carson High football stars — Blake Plattsmier, Austin Pacheco and Justin Barlow — are finishing up their season at College of San Mateo.Plattsmier, one of three quarterbacks on the CSM roster, has completed 39 of 71 passes for 618 yards, and he’s also rushed 59 times for 218 yards and three scores.Barlow, a down lineman, has 10 tackles and an interception.Pacheco is 2-for-6 in field goals, is averaging 59.4 on kickoffs and is 23 of 31 on extra points.CSM has one more regular-season game left.•••Did anybody take a close look at the Division I-A soccer brackets? Seven, count’emseven, teams made the regional playoffs with losing records.On the boys side, Elko 2-7-1 , Lowry at 4-6, and Dayton at 2-8-0 all made it. On the girls’ side, Dayton 2-7-1, Spring Creek 4-5-0, Lowry 4-6-0 and Elko 2-6-1 all got in.Can you say ridiculous? This is absolutely absurd. Do eight of the nine schools total really need to make the playoffs? Is this what high school athletics is turning into?The administrators, NIAA and coaches need to get some guts and cut the playoffs down. In a 9-team soccer league there should only be four teams, PERIOD.Check out the Division I volleyball playoffs. Carson made it in at 6-10, while Douglas got in at 7-9. If you can’t go .500 in league you should be watching from the sidelines instead of getting to play another match.•••One of my pet peeves regarding soccer is that the time is kept by the center official, and only twice this year have I heard an official tell the teams how much time is left officially.Grant Fleming, the assigner for soccer in northern Nevada, said that in the rule book the time is supposed to be kept on the scoreboard. However, the NIAA, citing cost factors at the various schools, is taking it out of the school’s hands. That’s so wrong. The players want to know the true time. Ditto for the media, coaches and fans.Come on NIAA, let’s think outside the box. If there is a competent adult running the clock then let’s have the scoreboard started and stopped on signals from the head referee like they do in the college game.Fleming admitted he would prefer it that way, but says his suggestion has fallen on deaf ears.•••And while we’re on the subject of soccer, why does the NIAA devalue the sport so much? I say this because next week the state tournament is being held at Heritage Park which is a site similar to Edmonds Sports Complex in Carson City.Is field width coming into play? We know that coaches don’t like playing on football fields which are 10 yards shorter in width. What’s wrong with UNLV?I find it hard to believe that between Las Vegas and Henderson there aren’t two or three school sites to have the tournament.•••The Giants, despite winning the World Series, have a few difficult decisions to make.Do you keep Marco Scutaro? I do, but I’m careful bout what I’m going to pay him. At 37, he’s not worth more than maybe $3 million.What do you do with Brian Wilson? I’ve never been a big fan, because he is all about blowing smoke and hitters, even crummy ones, can hit a 95 mph fastball. If he’s coming back, make him the set-up man and keep Sergio Romo, who has more pitches, as the closer.What do you do with Angel Pagan? Definitely keep him. He’s got at least three more good years left in him, and he covers a lot of ground which you need to be able to do at AT&T. He’s worth $5 million a year.I wouldn’t keep Freddy Sanchez. Good player, but way too many injuries. I’d keep Xavier Nady. Might be a useful pinch-hitter from the right side.I was glad to see the Giants cut Aubrey Huff. With Brandon Belt at first and Buster Posey playing there once in a while, Huff was expendable.