New schools Mojave, Palo Verde ready to embark on first varsity seasons

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 14, 1998 | 11:15 a.m.

The Grand Experiment finally is about to yield some results, varsity style.

Two years after becoming the first Clark County high schools to open solely with freshman classes, Mojave and Palo Verde are set to become full-fledged athletic programs this fall.

Since 1996, the Rattlers and Panthers have fielded freshman and junior varsity teams in most sports, along with partial varsity squads in individual-oriented sports like track, swimming and golf.

But this year, both schools are going full varsity across the board. That means they'll get the chance to prove whether a school with no seniors can hold its own on the football field, basketball court and baseball diamond.

Not surprisingly, neither Mojave Athletic Director Brian McAllister nor his Palo Verde counterpart, Darwin Rost, are predicting instant success for their programs.

Both do believe, however, that when the 1999-2000 school year rolls around and the two schools finally get their full complement of students, they will prove that there are athletic advantages to starting with ninth graders only.

The beginning

With the population growing rapidly in North Las Vegas and Summerlin, the Clark County School District opted to begin sending students to Mojave and Palo Verde in the fall of 1996, even though the two campuses weren't fully operational.

Given those constraints, the School Board started up the two schools with freshmen. In the past, new Clark County high schools have opened with grades 9-11 in the first year.

Students from Mojave spent their first year double-shifting at nearby Cheyenne, while Palo Verde's first class did likewise in portables at Cimarron-Memorial.

"The first year was exciting, but it was also frustrating," McAllister said. "Trying to work out schedules and times to play on someone else's campus was tough."

McAllister and Rost also scrambled to bring in a full complement of coaches. Finding individuals willing to start at square one with a brand new program proved difficult at times.

"When you've been a varsity coach all your life, and then you're asked to coach freshmen, it's tough," said Rost, who also will coach the Panther football team.

Still, a new school is not without its advantages, and both Mojave and Palo Verde were able to bring in several successful local coaches to head up their programs.

"Coming to a new school was kind of appealing," said Rattlers' football coach Mike Gutowski, who left Clark for Mojave. "I looked at it as a nice challenge."

Palo Verde's location in Summerlin also was a draw for many, including basketball coach Phil Clarke.

"It was closer to home and my son was going to begin high school here," said Clarke, who coached previously at Cheyenne.

Now, both Mojave and Palo Verde boast coaching rosters that rival those at several of the most established schools in town.

"It's been an opportunity for a lot of young coaches, as well as some who have been in the system for a while," McAllister said.

Looking for leaders

Whatever their reasons for coming to Mojave and Palo Verde, it didn't take the coaches long to realize the primary disadvantage of their new job: the lack of leadership from upperclassmen.

Without juniors or seniors on campus for two full years, the schools' young athletes have had no one to look up to or to learn from.

"You can explain things to them, but you can't scrimmage them against the older kids for a few minutes for them to see what varsity football is like," Gutowski said.

Rost, who coached football at Durango when the school opened in 1993, said it's been tough waiting for the first freshman class to grow into capable leaders.

"These kids have never had anyone here to look up to," Rost said. "When you open with three classes, those kids have already seen the experience of what a senior should act like (at their former school)."

On the flipside, the situation has forced young students at Mojave and Palo Verde to accept leadership roles sooner than expected.

"I just took on my natural leadership role," said junior-to-be Willie Ealy, a member of Mojave's football, wrestling and track teams. "We had excellent coaches, and they brought us along."

New traditions

Like seniors, Mojave and Palo Verde also have no tradition on which to build. Yet coaches, administrators and students at both schools say they welcome the opportunity to start their own.

"You can come out and try to set up some traditions and new standards here instead of trying to live up to someone else's standards," Gutowski said.

When the Rattlers play their first football game against Pahrump on Aug. 28, the player who scores the first touchdown will be etched into the Mojave athletic records forever. The same goes for the player who makes the first save for the Panthers' boys soccer team Sept. 1 against Valley.

"The first basket, the first varsity record, those things are going to stand forever and the kids realize that," Clarke said.

Palo Verde student body president Ryann Russell also recognizes the impact the move to the varsity level will have on school atmosphere.

"Our sports teams grew together and we all know each other so well," said Russell, a junior-to-be and a member of the Panthers' girls basketball and volleyball squads. "We're trying to get more spirit into the school this year, and varsity sports should help."

Still, tradition and winning tradition are two very different things. McAllister acknowledges that the latter may be tough to come by this year.

"Most schools have an idea what a winning tradition is, and they don't quite have that idea yet here," he said.

To increase the chances of starting with a winning season, Rost and Gutowski have opted to play the 1998 football season as "independent" entries, rather than as a member of the Sunset Division (where all other Mojave and Palo Verde teams have been assigned).

That should allow the Rattlers and Panthers to avoid the type of disastrous first campaign that Rost suffered through when Durango opened.

"We went 0-8 the first year, and I didn't want to go through that again," Rost said.

Instead, Mojave and Palo Verde will each play their share of 4A opponents on the gridiron this fall, but will also have the opportunity to square off against some of Southern Nevada's smaller schools.

Continuity

Coaches at Mojave and Palo Verde know seniors and wins may be equally tough to come by this year. They also know that when the 1999-2000 school year opens, the Rattlers and Panthers will boast an advantage no other local athletic program will have: continuity between coaches and athletes.

Most of the new schools' coaches will have worked with the same students at the freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels in a three-year period.

"The advantage of doing the ninth grade thing is that we've had the kids who are going to be our juniors for the past two years," Rost said.

"It's nice because you have these kids for four years, and they really know what you want," Gutowski said.

Even so, neither school is thinking it will compete for state titles this season. Instead, the Rattlers and Panthers will be content to learn about their varsity opposition and prepare for next year.

"This year is all about improvement," said Mojave junior-to-be Mike Givens, a member of the football and track squads. "We're looking to make a statement that Mojave High School is coming up."

While the new schools don't expect to challenge the established programs in town, they know that when they meet one-another, the playing field is even.

A rivalry that stretches from North Las Vegas to west Summerlin already is brewing.

"Our kids absolutely hate to lose to Palo Verde," McAllister said. "They take that very seriously."

"That was our battle cry the first year -- 'Just don't lose to Mojave,'" Clarke said.

Those sentiments should come to a head Oct. 9, when Palo Verde will host the Rattlers for the Panthers' homecoming football contest.

Optimism abounds

Down the road, natural geographic rivalries are likely to grow between Mojave and Cheyenne and between Palo Verde and Cimarron-Memorial.

And if recent results are any indication, it probably won't be long before the Rattlers and Panthers are challenging the schools who rule the Southern Nevada prep athletic scene.

Mojave already has had success on the varsity level, particularly in track and field, where young sprinters Calvin Redden and Nicole Ireland have been among the state's best.

Palo Verde has been busy preparing for 1998, fielding an American Legion varsity baseball team, entering a boys basketball team in the Big Time and Grand Finale tournaments and sending a football team to UNLV's Passing League Tournament.

"I said it would take five years to be competitive at Durango," Rost said. "Here I think we'll be competitive next year."

"You expect it's not going to happen in your first year because you have no seniors," McAllister said. "But we expect in our second and no later than our third year to be competitive in all sports."

If the successes enjoyed by recent newcomers Green Valley, Cheyenne, Cimarron, Durango and Silverado -- some of Southern Nevada's athletic powerhouses -- are any indication, the Rattlers and Panthers should be among the elite before too long.

Until that happens, athletes at Mojave and Palo Verde won't hang their heads. They'll be too busy taking pride in their new athletic status.

"We've all been waiting," Ealy said. "We all want to say, 'We're varsity. It has a certain ring to it.'"

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