The Placer High freshman football team turned back the clock Thursday night. The Hillmen frosh welcomed Nevada Union to town for the first meeting between the two schools at any level since the 1980s.

The Miners used to be huge rivals when Nevada Union and Placer were the powers in their respective counties for many decades. While the Grass Valley school has remained a Division I power, Placer’s enrollment has steadily decreased over the past 25 years, making meetings on the football field tough to justify in either school’s case.

But Placer’s recent resurgence to football greatness, along with the ties coach Joey Montoya has to the Nevada Union staff have left some to speculate that the Highway 49 neighbors might renew their gridiron rivalry. While he’s intrigued at the prospect, Montoya said the Miners wouldn’t be on the Hillmen’s schedule in the next two-year scheduling cycle.

“Dave Humphers and I are very close and he and I both agreed our relationship’s too strong. We don’t want to go down that alley right now,” Montoya said. “It would be great for both communities, absolutely. It could happen in the future, but we agreed not to play in the next go-round.”

Coaches around the section are busy lining up their non-league schedules. Teams usually agree to two-year, home-and-away series. Montoya confirmed that Casa Roble would remain as a non-league contest next season and in 2011. The rest of the schedule has yet to be determined.

El Dorado — which will move out of the Pioneer Valley League next season in realignment — is a strong possibility to remain on Placer’s schedule along with former Sierra Foothill League squad Woodland.

And how about the possibility of reviving the fierce Del Oro-Placer rivalry?

“It would be something worth visiting,” Montoya said. “It would be great for both communities. Both schools would benefit financially and I think it would be a great game, a fun game.”

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Mountain biking legend Tinker Juarez was back in Cool last weekend, picking up some more hardware. The dread-locked diehard from SoCal took the title in the Leave No Trace Series — a set of four endurance mountain bike races organized by Auburn’s Jim Northey.

Juarez took sixth at last weekend’s Knickerbocker 8-Hour race, but had plenty of cushion to retain the series title.

He won both the Coolest 24 and the Boggs Mountain 24 last spring. Colorado native Brad Cole took second in the Leave No Trace Series, Mike Harrison was third and young Dez Wilder took fourth. Cool’s Mark Falcone — a single speed rider — placed sixth overall.