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On Wednesday, the Times will run a composite day-by-day schedule for Pahrump Valley, Beatty and Tonopah high school fall athletics teams.

Talk about a crowded schedule; fall 2008 will be the busiest on record for those three Nye County schools -- especially Pahrump Valley.

The complete Lady Trojans' golf schedule is not yet available, so it's possible there will be even less days off. Of the 56 days (excluding nine Sundays) in August, September and October, there will be at least one fall sports event on 52.

The Trojans will play 16 Class 4-A Sunset Region Southwest Division games or matches in volleyball and boys soccer; the girls have a double-round robin slate of games in the Southern Nevada Class 3-A soccer; the football team has a nine-game schedule and the boys and girls cross country teams will be on the road for all of their meets, barring any changes agreed to at a series of meetings next week at Silverado High School in Las Vegas.

The cross country team does plan to host a 5K run as a fundraiser during the Pahrump Fall Festival Sept. 27. Coach Andy Andersen is formulating details for the run, which will have age-group competitions and cost $30 per runner. The race will start at 7 a.m. and will be concluded long before the annual festival parade.

The season begins Aug. 28 for the Lady Trojans' golf team, which will host its former 3-A rivals at Mountain Falls. Coach Julie Floyd's team will be at Mountain Falls. Sept. 15 to play its Southwest Division opponents.

Other firsts:

* Tonopah's football team, defending Nevada Class A champion, will go to Carlin Aug. 28 for its season opener, coach Curt McElroy reported earlier this week. The Lady Muckers' volleyball squad goes to Carlin Aug. 29.

* Volleyball will begin on two fronts Aug. 29. The PVHS junior varsity will host a small-school invitational tournament Aug. 29-30; on those same days, the Lady Trojan varsity will be in the prestigious Las Vegas Invitational. Beatty is entered in the JV tournament.

* Pahrump Valley's girls soccer team will travel to Galena High School in Reno Aug. 29-30. The boy booters will be at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman for the JZ3 Invitational those same days.

* The first cross country meet is Aug. 30 at Palo Verde High in northwest Las Vegas.

* Beatty's first football game is Sept. 5 at home against Beaver Dam, Ariz.

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Elsewhere ...

* Washoe County school trustees last week delayed giving Reno McQueen officials permission for random drug testing of varsity, junior varsity and freshman football players this season. If the rule is enacted, McQueen would become the first Northern Nevada school to test for recreational and performance-enhancing drugs.

Green Valley in Henderson has tested athletes for both since 2006. Battle Mountain has tested for recreational drugs, but not alcohol, since 2004.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association imposed a drug and alcohol policy on member schools in 2002.

* The football team at Bishop Gorman, a Sunset Region Southwest Division school, has already started practice. The defending Nevada 4-A champion Gaels will open their 2008 season Aug. 23 at the home of the National Football League Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix.

Gorman will play Arizona state 5-A champion Phoenix Brophy Prep. According to Gorman coach Bob Altshuler, Brophy asked the Gaels to compete in the game, named in memory of famed Arizona sports historian Barry Sollenberger, who died in 2005.

The Gorman team is tentatively scheduled to leave Las Vegas Aug. 21 and hold two workouts in the Phoenix area. The Gaels, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun, will return Aug. 24 and start preparing to face Service High School of Anchorage, Alaska, Aug. 29.

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Pahrump Valley, Beatty and Tonopah football teams will start preseason workouts Thursday.

The Trojans, coached b y Leo Verzilli, will have two workouts a day until school starts, starting at 8 a.m.

Verzilli is a first-year varsity coach, as is Brian Hayes at Beatty; Curt McElroy has returned at Tonopah, which will be out to defend its state championship in 1-A.

For Verzilli and Hayes, the numbers game will be critical. How many boys will turn out on that first day -- and remain with the teams?

Pahrump Valley was 0-8-1 in 2007; except for a 24-20 loss to Phoenix Christian and a 34-34 tie with Yucca Valley (Calif.), the Trojans had their problems, both offensively and defensively.

Beatty won four games, but many of the Hornets' best players have graduated. Gone, too, is coach Gus Sullivan. Hayes is going to be the workhorse of county coaches; he is slated to direct both the basketball and baseball teams in 2008-2009.

There will be more on the Trojans, Hornets and Muckers as the dogs days of August progress ...