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Published Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 | 1:30 p.m.
Updated Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 | 1:35 p.m.
October 6
Brewer's Picks
Last Week:
15-3
78-18 (.813)
Brewer vs. Keefer
Las Vegas Sun reporters Ray Brewer and
Case Keefer attempt to pick
the winning team from prep contests
across the Las Vegas area.
Keefer's Picks
Last Week:
17-1
75-21 (.781)
Liberty is the class of the Southeast Division.
Liberty 35, Basic 14
Me picking against Basic? Sounds uncharacteristic.
Liberty 33, Basic 24
Let’s go with an upset special. I’ll take Coronado against underachieving Silverado.
Coronado 22, Silverado 20
Not stunned by Brewer's pick, but I'll play it safe and go with the slight favorites.
Silverado 28, Coronado 21
Del Sol's deficiencies on the line are making the Dragons a middle-of-the-pack team.
Foothill 23, Del Sol 18
Dragons could get back on track here, but they catch a bad break running into the Falcons after a bye week.
Foothill 34, Del Sol 28
Valley is better than you think, but I've told everyone that DP will be a threat come November.
Desert Pines 34, Valley 22
Vikings are tough, young and talented — three characteristics I like to lead them to a big-time upset.
Valley 22, Desert Pines 21
Eldorado breaks its losing streak.
Eldorado 38, Sunrise Mountain 12
Long season for the Miners continues.
Eldorado 54, Sunrise Mountain 6
Hey, Las Vegas: Go easy on my Cowboys.
Las Vegas 58, Chaparral 7
Only way to make this game interesting would be to spot Chaparral a six-touchdown head start.
Las Vegas 49, Chaparral 6
Canyon Springs prevails in a close game.
Canyon Springs 32, Rancho 29
Close game? Not seeing it.
Canyon Springs 34, Rancho 19
Cheyenne showed last week against Palo Verde that it can’t stop the double wing attack.
Arbor View 37, Cheyenne 15
Planned on picking an upset here, but Cheyenne's performance last week scared me away.
Arbor View 32, Cheyenne 21
This will be a rare Northwest Division victory for Mojave.
Mojave 19, Faith Lutheran 16
Crusaders quarterback Gino De George is starting to find his rhythm.
Faith Lutheran 28, Mojave 20
Palo Verde makes quick work of Shadow Ridge heading into bye week.
Palo Verde 56, Shadow Ridge 0
Palo Verde beat a good Shadow Ridge team by 38 last season, so there's no telling how ugly this one could get.
Palo Verde 55, Shadow Ridge 6
Gorman has a hangover from Servite game, starting slow before an offensive explosion.
Bishop Gorman 49, Pahrump Valley 0
Bishop Gorman's players could simulate a real hangover by wearing those drunk goggles that make everything blurry and still win by triple digits if they wanted.
Bishop Gorman 63, Pahrump Valley 0
Bonanza won't be challenged this week.
Bonanza 32, Clark 7
Stricken with Bengal-fever over here.
Bonanza 28, Clark 13
Desert Oasis secures the No. 2 seed in the Southwest for a second straight season.
Desert Oasis 32, Durango 19
If there's one victory Durango wants this season, it's this one. Trailblazers won't get it, though.
Desert Oasis 31, Durango 21
Spring Valley wins a nip-and-tuck affair.
Spring Valley 23, Sierra Vista 20
With the exception of Bishop Gorman, all of Sierra Vista's games have been extremely close. But the Mountain Lions usually come out on the wrong end.
Spring Valley 27, Sierra Vista 26
Green Valley’s winning streak reaches five games. But it won’t be easy.
Green Valley 30, Virgin Valley 29
That close? Are we analyzing the same game? Green Valley will win by at least two scores.
Green Valley 45, Virgin Valley 20
Boulder City grabs a tough road victory.
Boulder City 20, Western 17
Eagles soar over the Warriors.
Boulder City 26, Western 13
I would have taken Legacy two weeks ago, but Moapa Valley has looked great against 4A classification teams.
Moapa Valley 40, Legacy 29
In a game of the week candidate, Moapa Valley finds a way to win in a shootout.
Moapa Valley 36, Legacy 33
Centennial shouldn't lose the rest of the season.
Centennial 32, Cimarron 20
Hey Cimarron: Dust off that seat on your bandwagon, I want to get back on.
Cimarron 27, Centennial 21
For more coverage, including photos, videos, stats and schedules, check out our high school football section.
Palo basically has a scrimmage before a bye week. They'll be well rested for the end of season stretch.
You're both right about Foothill who will probably have more fans in the stands than the home team.
Ray- If Desert Pines can't beat Valley by 30+ they'll be a threat to no one outside of the NE
Also, if you're only picking Canyon Springs to beat Rancho by 3 i'm excited because that clearly means they won't be in your top ten. Any top ten team should be slaughtering Rancho
If Silverado can't beat Coronado they should be relegated to the SW or NE
The more I read about these Gorman-"insert poor division foe here" games, the more I really do think this reclassification plan is a good thing, however rather then send teams down a notch (from 4A to 3A), why not create a special "5A" division (football only) for schools like Gorman, Palo Verde, Las Vegas, etc... have them play intrasquad (non-league) games against their Northern foes (Reed, Reno, etc...) to fill out the schedule (not that Gorman needs help scheduling).. These blowout games do nothing good for anybody. Think of how exciting a regular season matchup between say Gorman and Reed would be? Just my two cents.
David that is a great idea and i agree. A 5a division would make for much better and competitive games. I would have a Southern section 5a division with Gorman, Palo Verde, Liberty, Las Vegas, Arbor View, Canyon Springs, Cimmeron , Del Sol, Cheyenne and Centinnial.
Dacon.. on paper that sounds good. But it wouldn't be fiscally possible, specially in this climate. I have always wondered why we don't have more southern schools scheduling games against northern Nevada opponents. It's a decent measuring stick for knowing what to expect for state. I would love to see a Palo vs McQueen, Liberty vs. Reed, Gorman vs. Manogue regular season games.
But part of the reason why Las Vegas, Palo, Gorman and now LIberty too are such strong programs is they receive player, parent, school, alumni and community support. Reno programs have more of that than down here. I love Reno and the small town feel it still has. Whenever i am up there I catch a high school football game and it's always made me jealous that many regular season games in Reno get a bigger crowd and more support than playoff games down south. Kids up there grow up wanting to be a Lancer or play for Manogue. Down here? Not so much.
The reclassification needs to happen. Schools like Clark who dress like 25 kids on varsity don't have enough support or players to compete against even Moapa Valley (3A). My only beef with the reclassification as it stands to be passed is that they are basing it on achievements of all sports.
so succesful tennis, wrestling and volleyball programs will have schools with horrible basketball, football and soccer teams still getting spanked in major sports.
Cheyenne will run the new 4A-II division when they get dropped. They may suck at other sports but they'll win state basketball and football more often than not and what good will all that realignment do the Clark, Westerns, Eldorado's when they know no matter how well they do in their league they still wont have a shot at any post season succes.
And it will suck for the wrestlers. Who wants to be state champ in 4A-II when as an individual wrestler you know you're better than the 4A-I champ? Or tennis? Tech Soccer, Clark Soccer, Bonanza soccer they'll be playing for 4A-II title when they'd probably beat most 4A-I squads.
It'll be a lot more fun when Gorman is playing Arbor View and Palo during the regular season.
I love the north, but this year i think the state representative that makes it straight into the final will be a sacrificial lamb to Gorman (see Reed 2009)
While the north dominated football for a while and every other year usually has a stand out team that can win state it wont happen this year. Your best teams couldn't win a game against Wyoming squads. It sucks but the 5 best teams in the state will have eliminated eachother before the state tournament even begins. The semi between Sunrise/Sunset champs will be the #1,2,3 or 4 team in the state against maybe the 5-8th best in the state...then they'll play what may be a 9-10th or worse team in the state in the final. Sunset playoffs will be harder to win that the state semi and final this year.
excuse me not Wyoming, Idaho teams...
So a 5A is pretty much what they are doing, they're just calling it 4A-I and 4A-II... if it weren't for the economy a 5a might make sense, but then the north would have like a 2-4 team 5a and the south would have like an 8-12 team 5A... north would have to do A LOT more traveling
I really like what you guys are saying, but the fact is that won't happen because we have the wrong people in the niaa. And what about having a few games at Sam Boyd. Like a dbl header Liberty vs. Las Vegas @ 4 pm and Gorman vs. Palo @ 8. Make use of the UNLV facilities shoot they want kids to stay home open up your doors and let the kids play in your backyard...i'm jus saying...
jussaying a double header like that sounds great. That's a great idea
The new 4A divisions aren't just for the bigger schools, it's also for the 3A schools. There are only 3 schools in the entire Southern 3A division. That means that Moapa, Virgin Valley, or Boulder City can go 2-7 and make the playoffs. This system ultimately benefits everyone.
Its funny you mention Cheyenne (my alma mater).. weren't they one of the unfortunate schools that was looked (before the season) at being "demoted" to 3A? I just think playing these bodybag games doesn't do anyone any good, not the schools, not the fans, and especially not the kids. Gorman is in a league by itself obviously, but I think schools like Palo Verde, Las Vegas, and perhaps even Arbor View, or Liberty could hold their own against them.
I keep hearing about this new alignment in divisions, can someone send me a link to the new alignment? I'd love to see it for myself
Here's the link from the NIAA website:
http://www.niaa.com/sports/niaa_releases...
Pick of the Week: Basic as a 15 point underdog vs. Liberty. I think they'll keep it close and may pull off an upset.