Four days later, prep football playoffs begin

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Nov. 2, 1998 | 10:16 a.m.

Four days later than expected, the 1998 prep football playoffs kick off tonight, when the area's eight remaining 4A teams will be whittled down to four.

Bishop Gorman, Chaparral, Cheyenne, Cimarron-Memorial, Eldorado, Green Valley, Valley and Western will begin their quests to represent Southern Nevada in this year's 4A state championship game, slated Nov. 20 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Tonight's first-round games, which were pushed back after Las Vegas High forfeited four games and its playoff spot last week, are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Everybody's favorite to win the Southern Zone title? Undefeated Cheyenne, which outscored its opposition by an overwhelming 271-118 margin during a regular season that culminated with a Sunset Division championship.

The daunting task of trying to knock off the Desert Shields in round one belongs to 3-6 Valley, which qualified for the playoffs just last Wednesday when the Wildcats were bounced out.

Sunrise Division champion Eldorado will also open its playoff run at home tonight, hosting a Bishop Gorman squad that few predicted would make the postseason back in late August.

In the area's two other first-round matchups, Green Valley plays at Cimarron-Memorial and Western travels to Chaparral.

Sunrise superiority

Only Durango's 1-0 victory over Green Valley prevented Sunrise Division teams from sweeping the first round of this year's 4A Southern Zone boys soccer playoffs Saturday.

Las Vegas, Chaparral and Silverado earned victories to join the Trailblazers in the zone semifinals, which will be played Wednesday at Green Valley High School.

Las Vegas (16-2-1) will take on Silverado (14-2-3) at 5 p.m. in game one, with Chaparral (14-3-2) and Durango (14-1-4) slated to lock up two hours later.

In other soccer news, the Cowboys led the way with three players on this year's All-Conference squad: forward David Delcid, defender Kevin Gamett and midfielder Brady Okuda.

Also making the list: Durango's Murwyse Ahmady, Gorman's Boomer Arbelaez, Silverado's Brian Formisano, Valley's Fernando Flores, Las Vegas' Herculez Gomez, Cimarron's Dustin Koesk and Matt Shehadi, Bonanza's Matt Lambert and Cheyenne's Ricky Riley.

Arbelaez was named Player of the Year in the Sunset Division, while Gamett received Player of the Year honors in the Sunrise. Durango's Barry Forget and Las Vegas' Ron Fick were selected Coach of the Year in their respective leagues.

Arbelaez also captured the area's scoring title, netting 25 goals to finish four ahead of Delcid and five ahead of Riley. Durango's Mike Wintermute tallied 17 assists to lead all players, with Ahmady and Arbelaez tying for second with 11 helpers.

Running to glory

Green Valley's Abby Miller and Bonanza's Cory Jeffers captured the girls and boys individual championships at Friday's 4A Southern Zone meet.

Miller raced past her competition to post a time of 18:53, nearly a full minute ahead of Clark's Chaz Lahodny.

Jeffers outlasted Silverado's Dustin Hudspeth, finishing in 16:39 to grab the boys trophy by a 20-second margin. It marked the first time Jeffers has defeated Hudspeth in six meetings this year.

In team competition, Basic took home the boys title, with Bonanza, Silverado and Durango also qualifying for Saturday's state meet.

On the girls side, the Gators came out on top, followed by Basic, Durango and Silverado.