Moapa Valley, Truckee share respect for each other, legendary Wolverines coach
It was typical Truckee High School football weather, just in early May.
The persistent rains eventually turned into light snow and temperatures seemed to get cooler by the hour, bringing fond memories of Friday nights to the Wolverine fans at the stadium. They gathered to honor the man who built Truckee into a 3A power.
Robert Shaffer, the program’s beloved coach for nearly two decades through 2013, had unexpectedly died in a car crash a few weeks earlier.
In the long line of well-wishers paying their respects that spring day in 2017 — everyone from former players to community members — Brent Lewis could have felt out of place.
Lewis, after all, is the coach of one of Truckee’s biggest rivals — Moapa Valley of Overton. The two storied programs seemed to always meet in the state playoffs, with the games mostly closely contested. They face off again at 1 p.m. today in the state semifinals at Moapa Valley.
Under Shaffer, Truckee won nine state championship and 170 games, including 41 consecutive victories from 2008 to 2012. Many times, Truckee and Moapa Valley were the last teams standing, as they tangled five consecutive years in the title game.
“When you take it on the chin so many times, you develop a respect and admiration for someone,” Lewis said. “They certainly had our number.”
Turns out that respect is mutual.