RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT Joe Serrano, 30, of Beatty runs for a short gain, in the Hornets’Äô 28-12 loss to Indian Springs, in a Nevada Class A Central Division football game played Thursday, during Homecoming. Advertisement

For the third consecutive year, Nye County eight-man football power Tonopah is in the Nevada Class A playoffs.

Unfortunately, Nye County rival Beatty did not qualify, after the Hornets lost 28-12 in their Homecoming Game Thursday night.

For the Hornets, it was one of those nights where the Halloween goblins started their pranks prematurely.

First, the officials went to Indian Springs first, so they arrived in Beatty 90 minutes late. Then the Thunderbirds, coached by the legendary Sope Faga, combined a strong defensive effort against the Hornets, while their offense generated four touchdowns.

Matt Everts, the Hornets' senior quarterback who had to go to a hospital after being shaken up in a 56-6 loss to Tonopah a week earlier, scored on a 54-yard run, and Junior Dare, inserted as a running back late in the game, got a touchdown on a 38-yard run.

"It was a cold night, and while we were waiting for the officials, I took the boys out onto the field twice to warm up," said Gus Sullivan, the Beatty coach. "The kids started to get a little annoyed with me; they wanted to stay out. But I didn't want them to tighten up ... it was just so cold."

Sullivan was disappointed with the setback. "I thought we would have qualified for the playoffs if we had beaten Indian Springs ... it's sad that we lost," said the first-year coach.

Indian Springs will travel to defending state champion Pahranagat Valley Alamo, 9-0, for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

Indian Springs would have finished 3-2 with a loss, a record that would have been matched by Beatty, which had a major edge. The Hornets defeated Henderson Warren-Walker 44-20, while Indian Springs gained a forfeit victory after the Wolverines canceled their season.

In the meanwhile, Tonopah, under the direction of coach Curt McElroy, is preparing for its game against Las Vegas Calvary Chapel. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Saturday for the contest between the Muckers, 8-1 after their 56-6 rout of Round Mountain, and Calvary Chapel's Lions, who earned their first-ever playoff berth by upsetting host Laughlin 30-28.

Quarterback Joey Criscuollo led the Lions from behind, hitting Cory Welch with a touchdown pass and running for Calvary's other three scores.

Welch, a freshman, has scored 18 touchdowns this year.

The Lions are coached by Bobby Johnson, who directed Las Vegas Chaparral to a Class 3-A state title in 1977, when the 3-A was Nevada's largest-school classification.

Laughlin (2-2, 7-2) missed a third straight trip to the playoffs; the Cougars lost to Eureka in the state semifinals in 2005.

In a first-round game played at Tonopah in 2005, the Muckers surrendered 24 points on turnovers in the second half and lost 64-40 to Laughlin. The year before, Tonopah outscored the Cougars 58-28, then lost 26-6 to Pahranagat Valley Alamo in the state semifinals.

Alamo lost 18-6 to Wells in the title game that season, but the Panthers shelled Carlin 52-8 in the championship contest last fall.

Alamo, the South Division champion, has a 20-game winning streak active and is ranked No. 1 in Maxpreps.com's eight-man football ratings.

Tonopah, for the third straight season, went 5-0 to claim the Central Division championship.

In other first-round games Saturday, it will be East champion Carlin vs. West No. 2 Eureka and West winner Smith Valley at home against East No. 2 Wells.

The semifinals are Nov. 11, with the matchups Carlin-Eureka vs. Tonopah-Calvary Chapel and Smith Valley-Wells vs. Alamo-Indian Springs.

The state championship game will be played at a southern Nevada site Nov. 18. A Northern site will be used if no Southern teams are in the finals.

In other 1-A regular-season games last week, it was Eureka 52, McDermitt 6; Smith Valley over Pyramid Lake by forfeit, and Las Vegas Mountain View Christian 51, Sandy Valley Keystone Academy 6.