Prep football fest comes to end of the line

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Nov. 23, 1998 | 10:14 a.m.

Last week, Sports Illustrated posed the question "Is high school football dying?" across the corner of its front cover.

On Friday, Nevadans answered the question with a definitive "no," as more than 5,000 fans from across the state descended on Sam Boyd Stadium for this year's four state championship games.

Throughout the 1990s, Las Vegas has been host to the annual event, giving spectators the chance to see quality football from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. from the very same seat.

After nearly a decade, however, that tradition has come to an end.

UNLV's plans to replace the stadium's artificial turf with natural grass next season will prohibit multiple games from being played on the same day there.

Instead, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) will almost certainly stage the games at four different cites, with the 1999 4A contest already promised to the Reno area.

So in honor of the final prep football extravaganza at Sam Boyd Stadium, here's a diary of one man's experience commemorating the end of an era in high school sports.

* 9:45 a.m.: Armed with a heavy jacket, a jug of water and my trusty sunflower seeds, I arrive at Sam Boyd ready to meet the challenge of spending more than 12 hours in a football stadium for the first time in my life.

* 10:04 a.m.: The 1A championship game between Indian Springs and Eureka kicks off. Let the fun begin.

* 10:09 a.m.: Indian Springs senior tailback Derek Olsen scores the day's first touchdown, taking a handoff from senior quarterback Andrew Faga and scampering 49 yards down the sideline for the score. Faga, considered one of the state's top Division I prospects, tacks on the two-point conversion to give the Thunderbirds an 8-0 lead.

* 10:24 a.m.: Olsen's second touchdown run, this one from six yards, puts defending state champion Indian Springs up 16-0. Sensing a blowout, I exit the press box and head into the stands.

* 10:38 a.m.: I encounter Ken Young, Indian Springs' music teacher and director of the school's band. As his ensemble starts to play the team's fight song, I notice Young flipping on a taped version of the tune. He explains that in a school with only 375 kids in grades K-12, nine of the 12 members of his high school band double as varsity football players or cheerleaders. So Young has brought along a recording of the band's trademark songs, along with the middle school band to back it up. "I guess it's sort of cheating, but at Indian Springs, the entire school does everything," he says. "This is a big day for us. We brought the whole school out on five buses."

* 10:46 a.m.: Eureka gets on the board, scoring on a 20-yard pass from junior quarterback Peter Smith to sophomore receiver Joe Manzonie. The Vandals still trail 24-6.

* 10:49 a.m.: Eureka's cheering section doesn't get much time to celebrate, as Olsen skirts the sideline for a 90-yard Thunderbirds' touchdown to make it 30-6.

* 11:22 a.m.: During halftime, I meet Eureka fans Alan and Deann Jones, parents of six children, who made the five-hour drive to see their daughter, Rylie, participate as a member of the school's drill team. Despite the Vandals' 24-point halftime deficit, the Jones' are content, soaking in the sights and sounds at Sam Boyd Stadium. "Just to be able to sit and enjoy the sun is worth the trip," Alan says. "It's a beautiful day for a football game."

* 11:48 a.m.: The stadium's electronic scoreboard has stopped working. The time remaining, score and down are now anyone's best guess as action continues. Strangely, the scoreboard's automated ticker listing the game's various sponsors continues to roll along.

* 12:03 p.m.: The scoreboard has been restored. Sanity prevails.

* 12:40 p.m.: The final seconds tick off the clock, as Indian Springs successfully defends its 1A title with a 48-12 victory. The day's first celebration ensues, as Thunderbird players dump freezing water on Sope Faga, who took the team to the championship in his first year as head coach. "It feels great," says Andrew Faga, who is being recruited by several Big 10 and Pac 10 schools. "We knew we would be back here."

* 12:42 p.m.: Like clockwork, stadium workers begin removing the tape (which had narrowed the field for the 1A game's eight-man format) from the sidelines.

* 12:51 p.m. With fewer and fewer sunflower seeds left in my bag, the NIAA brings a tray of meats and cheeses into the press box, just in time. Within seconds, ravenous sports writers have devoured them.

* 1:32 p.m.: The 2A game between The Meadows and Needles kicks off. One down, three to go.

* 1:36 p.m.: The first bad officiating mistake. The Meadows' Victor Wright's 5-yard touchdown is erased by an inadvertent whistle, and the Mustangs don't get into the end zone.

* 1:45 p.m.: The officials are off the hook. Wright's 12-yard touchdown reception from Justin Michaels gives the defending 2A champs a 7-0 lead.

* 1:56 p.m.: I'm down in the Needles cheering section, talking to Butch Davis, father of senior quarterback Andrew Davis. Like many of his fellow Needles supporters, Butch is wearing a construction hard-hat with his team's logo and his son's uniform number on it. The hat was a gift from fellow parent Larry Bernal in response to a newspaper headline that read "The Meadows vs. Needles: Blue Blood vs. Blue Collar." With Butch is Scott Burroughs, a member of the last Needles' squad to play in the state championship, nearly 10 years to the day. "it's kind of like a 10-year reunion," Burroughs says. "It's exciting. You kind of get the chills."

* 2:10 p.m.: Wright, generally considered the top player in Class 2A, scores on a 40-yard run to give The Meadows a 14-0 advantage.

* 2:43 p.m.: Halftime No. 2, and I've just bumped into Meadows kindergarten teacher Linda Verbon. Throughout the football season, the school's six senior football players visit her class before each home game to talk football with her students. "One child wanted to know what those two lumps on their shoulders were," Verbon says. Two of this year's seniors -- Ben Meoz and Jaleel Anium -- were once in Verbon's kindergarten class. No wonder The Meadows always has good football teams. They start them off young.

* 3:05 p.m.: Needles breaks into the scoring column on Tii Anderson's 1-yard touchdown run. It's now 14-6, The Meadows.

* 3:25 p.m.: A fight breaks out on the field during a Meadows' punt return. During the melee, members of both coaching staffs spill off the sidelines. In the aftermath, officials toss Wright and Needles senior Joshua West. This type of thing certainly doesn't give prep football a good name, although Wright's ejection does give new life to Needles.

* 3:45 p.m.: Sure enough, Needles is on the comeback trail, pulling within 20-14 on Josh McDonald's 12-yard pass from Davis.

* 4:03 p.m.: The Meadows' recovers a late Needles' fumble to ice the victory. Celebration No. 2 begins as the Las Vegas private school earns the 20-14 win over its rival. After the game, Wright declares, "We're Mustangs, they're Mustangs. We're better. They're worse." Quote of the day, Victor.

* 4:10 p.m.: I hit the snack bar for the first time, opting for the always-safe hot pretzel. Upon returning to the press box, I discover that a tray of vegetables and dip has been provided in my absence. Healthy food at a football game? Who's running this show?

* 4:56 p.m.: The 3A game between Reno's Bishop Monogue and California's Tahoe-Truckee kicks off. We're halfway home.

* 5:29 p.m.: Senior fullback Jeff Andrs' 3-yard run gives Tahoe-Truckee a 7-0 lead.

* 5:33 p.m.: I leave the press box with my jacket on for the first time. It's getting a little cold for football out here. Are they really considering moving some of these games to Reno? I thought it was 20-degrees cooler up there.

* 5:45 p.m. Back in the stands, I meet Truckee parent Bill Anderson, father of senior defensive end Brandon Anderson. Bill has spent the past two days covering the 800 miles from his home in Blue Lake, Calif., to Las Vegas. He says he wouldn't have missed it for the world. "It's a once in a lifetime thing," he says. "How often do you have sons that play football, and how often do they get to be starters, and how often do they get to play for a state championship?"

* 5:57 p.m.: I've just been introduced to Teri Horton, wife of outgoing UNLV football coach Jeff Horton. Teri graduated from Bishop Monogue in 1980, and she's on the Miners' side cheering on her alma matter. "It kind of brought tears to my eyes to see green and gold out there," she says. "It's like coming home." She explains that hubby Jeff, who coached at Monogue in the early '80s, wanted to be here but is preparing for his team's season finale against TCU.

* 6:06 p.m.: The Miners have tied the score at seven on a 42-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dustin Garcia to junior running back Justyn Midanik. The Monogue side is a sea of green pompons.

* 6:25 p.m. The Wolverines answer right back, going up 14-7 on a 2-yard run by senior fullback Josh Wilson. Tahoe remains in control for the rest of the game.

* 7:05 p.m. Tahoe-Truckee becomes the third team to celebrate on the Sam Boyd turf in the past seven hours after finishing off a 28-14 victory for the 3A championship. It's the Wolverines' second title in three years.

* 7:25 p.m. The Cimarron-Memorial band has arrived, dressed like Gregorian monks. I have no idea what that's all about.

* 7:55 p.m.: For the fourth time in the same day, I stand and remove my hat for the national anthem. That's got to be a record.

* 7:57 p.m.: The grand finale begins: Cimarron-Memorial vs. Elko for the 4A championship.

* 8 p.m.: The Spartans get off to a great start when senior tailback Arnold Parker takes the ball around the left end and bursts down the sideline untouched for a 66-yard touchdown. Cimarron 7, Elko 0.

* 8:04 p.m. The wet spot created during Indian Springs' bath of coach Sope Faga (over seven hours ago) remains on the field. It has outlasted me. Ditching the bitter cold of the Cimarron sideline, I have retreated into the heated press box.

* 8:40 p.m.: Parker's second touchdown run, this one from 11 yards, gives the Spartans a 14-0 lead. My prediction in Thursday's paper that Cimarron would prevail is starting to look pretty good.

* 9:03 p.m.: Elko's magnificent marching band takes the field. The Indians may be getting shut out on the scoreboard, but their band in second to none. The ensemble performs a couple of numbers that could put most Division I college bands to shame.

* 9:11 p.m.: I've been talking to Cimarron basketball player Josh Englehart, who is braving the elements to support his fellow students. Along with several teammates, he has bared his chest, which is painted with the school's C-M logo. "We wanted to be different and to have an impact," he says through chattering teeth.

* 9:20 p.m.: Elko's best chance to make things close goes by the wayside, as the Indians fumble the ball inside the Cimarron 5-yard line.

* 9:33 p.m.: My arm is getting sore and my stats are beginning to suffer. Time for a hot dog.

* 10:05 p.m.: Cimarron-Memorial High School defeats Elko 24-0 to become just the fifth Las Vegas-area school to win the large school championship since 1984. Spartan fans pour onto the field in celebration, as teary-eyed Cimarron seniors try to express their emotions. "The whole team came out on a mission," Parker says. "We came out to have fun, and that's what we did."

* 10:25 p.m.: Parker's words are still with me as I climb wearily into my car. I have witnessed four teams win and four teams lose, and I have seen parents crying tears of joy and parents crying tears of sorrow. But at the end of a 12-hour day, I can safely say they all enjoyed their visit to Sam Boyd Stadium. And I think they'd all agree that high school football is alive and well in Nevada.

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