Halftime incident inspired Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 6, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

RENO --- John Robinson could have given the game ball to several well-qualified candidates following his team's fourth consecutive Fremont Cannon victory against in-state rival Nevada-Reno, 16-12, Saturday night at sold-out Mackay Stadium.

He could have given it to junior linebacker Adam Seward, whose first career interception of a Jeff Rowe pass with 37 seconds left sealed the hard-fought win for the Rebels (4-1).

He could have given it to junior fullback Dyante Perkins, who celebrated his birthday with what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, a 29-yard run off left tackle that gave UNLV a 13-12 lead.

Or he could have given it dependable senior placekicker Dillon Pieffer, who was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals to give him seven in his past two games.

But if you listened to the Rebels players afterward, the person who deserved the game ball the most probably was Kevan Old.

Old is a 31-year-old Reno man who was arrested and charged with battery after allegedly nailing Robinson below the right eye with a beer container from the east end zone bleachers as the Rebels walked back to their locker room at halftime.

UNLV was trailing, 9-3, at intermission and seemed to be getting soundly outplayed in the trenches by a Wolf Pack (3-2) squad that could very well have been playing to keep fourth-year head coach Chris Tormey his job.

But a number of Rebels players saw the incident while heading to the locker room and said afterward that it definitely served as motivation to play even harder in the second half when they outscored Nevada-Reno, 13-3, to pull out the victory.

"I saw that happen," Seward said. "That really enraged me. We got back to the locker room and talked about how they had disrespected our coach. Shame on Reno for having to do something like that. Then we went out and they got basically what they deserved. You don't do that to somebody's coach. That's wrong."

"I saw a bottle flying and I was like, 'Man, what happened?' " fullback Andrew Faga, who threw one of the key blocks on Perkins' touchdown run, said. "Someone then told me it hit Coach Rob in the face. How can you hit the head coach of another team with a bottle? It's terrible. No class.

"He's our leader. Anytime your leader goes down or gets hit with something you take it personal."

UNLV quarterback Kurt Nantkes said Robinson, who appeared to have a small, pink welt on his cheekbone, didn't bring up the incident during his halftime pep talk.

"He didn't say anything about it," Nantkes said. "He took it like a man. But we knew what had happened and that was all that mattered. It was a sign of disrespect. It just made us want to go out and shut that crowd up."

University of Nevada-Reno President John Lilley issued a written public apology for the incident that was distributed to the media even though Old is not a UNR student.

"This is an unfortunate act that mars an otherwise great night of competition on the field," Lilley said.

Nevada-Reno athletic director Chris Ault also made it a special point to apologize to Robinson during his postgame press briefing.

For his part, Robinson, who had been doused with beer and hit with pizza from the very same bleachers during previous games at Mackay Stadium, tried to downplay the incident and even tried to urge the press to not write about it.

"Whatever that was does not deserve to be in the newspaper," Robinson said. "The (Nevada-Reno) people were classy and put on a great football game. It was a great atmosphere, great fans. I have respect for that football team and their coaches.

"Lets not dignify it. If you talk about it, you dignify him. He deserves to be in jail, that's all."

And ...

"This is a negative. Everybody has made this game negative and its not. It's a helluva game. ... Let's lift the rivalry up."

For that to happen, red-faced Wolf Pack officials probably will be re-evaluating their stadium security procedures, much as UNLV officials are following their recent WWF outbreak at Sam Boyd Stadium during the Rebels' 33-22 victory against Hawaii.

Even with an increased police presence -- UNLV even brought along 10 police officers from campus to Reno to help with security -- school officials said it was once again a very ugly scene around the Rebels' locker room, especially at halftime when some fans were even spotted urinating near the UNLV equipment truck just yards from the locker room door.

And, as usual, several hundred fans standing behind only a rope outside the locker room serenaded UNLV players and coaches with every four-letter word in the book as they went to and from the field for pregame warmups as well as at halftime and at the end of the game.

The Rebels don't get much time to celebrate the emotional victory against their arch-rivals. Not with a big Mountain West Conference opener at Air Force (5-1) on Saturday.

"We're going to get on the plane and go home because we have seven straight conference games ahead of us," Robinson told his team in the locker room afterward. "Bring it on!"

UNLV lost to Chance Harridge and company, 49-32, last year but won on their last trip to Colorado Springs, 34-10, in 2001.

"We play a great team in Air Force," Seward said. "The option always gives us fits. And they execute it to perfection. But I love going to Colorado Springs. It's a great atmosphere and you get to see those jets flying over. That's always fun to see."

No doubt much more fun than seeing beer containers being heaved at your head coach.