Aug. 28, 2016
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Mackay Stadium. As we count down the days until the opening of a newly renovated Mackay, let’s take a look back at some of the great games and memories from the first 50 years.
Pack tops Rebels in heated 1995 affair
Maxwell ties stadium and school record with seven touchdown passes
Oct. 28, 1995: Nevada exacts revenge on UNLV, drilling the Rebels 55-32 to reclaim possession of the Fremont Cannon. A stadium-record crowd of 33,391 crammed Mackay to watch the Pack and Rebels square off in a heated battle.
The first rivalry game at Mackay Stadium after the so-called “Red Defection” was not without its share of squabbles, as the teams jawed and scuffled during pre-game warm-ups. A determined Wolf Pack team proceeded to light up the Rebels as quarterback Mike Maxwell was masterful in the victory, throwing for 552 yards on 41-of-54 passing and tying a school record with seven touchdown passes. Fellow future Hall of Famer Alex Van Dyke caught 18 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns while Steve McHenry added nine catches for 181 yards and two scores.
Maxwell, a senior that season, tossed touchdown passes of 9, 24 and 46 yards as the Pack built a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.
The Rebels would answer with a pair of TD runs but Nevada punched in a touchdown of its own before the half to take a 28-12 lead into the break. The lead was cut to 28-25 in the third quarter but Maxwell answered, hitting Steve McHenry from 10 yards out and then Alex Van Dyke for a four-yard touchdown to push the lead back up to 42-25.
Nevada never took its foot off the gas and Maxwell would strike two more times in the fourth quarter, both to Damond Wilkins. Maxwell’s 552 yards passing are the most in a home victory in Nevada history.
The win not only brought the cannon home, it started a five-game win streak in the rivalry for Nevada.
