Chaparral’s win leaves Sunrise race open with week left

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Oct. 19, 1998 | 11:35 a.m.

With just one week to go in the 1998 prep football season, the race for the Sunrise Division title is more wide open than ever.

Thanks to Chaparral's 7-0 win over Green Valley Friday night, three teams sit tied atop the league standings with 5-1 records: the Gators, Cowboys and Eldorado, which downed Rancho 34-21.

Despite the loss, Green Valley still finds itself holding all the cards when it comes to the state's tiebreaking procedures.

Should all three teams win their final games this Friday (Green Valley plays at Valley, Chaparral visits Las Vegas and Eldorado travels to Silverado), the Gators would get the top seed based on point differential in games between the three clubs.

And should Chaparral lose to Las Vegas -- the division's fourth playoff qualifier -- Green Valley would get the top seed by virtue of its win over Eldorado earlier this season.

Assuming the Gators win, the only scenario which would not give them the league title would be a Chaparral win combined with an Eldorado loss. If that happens, the Cowboys finish first, Green Valley is second and the Sundevils are third.

"After we lost, we told the kids that if we win next week, the worst we are is co-champs and we're probably still the number one seed," Green Valley coach Larry Thomas said. "And because of what happened against Chaparral, we should come out with more focus this week."

Shields keep rolling

Despite playing without junior fullback Deon Ned -- the area's leading rusher coming into last Friday's action -- Cheyenne stayed undefeated with a relatively easy 27-11 win over rival Cimarron-Memorial.

With his team already assured of a playoff berth, Desert Shields' coach George Perry opted to sit Ned, who suffered a knee bruise in his team's week seven win over Clark.

"I've been coaching 25 years, and I'm not going to hurt a kid to win a game," Perry said.

According to Perry, Ned's status for this week's regular season finale against Western will be determined later this week.

"He wants to play, and if he can run 100 percent on his leg, he'll play," Perry said.

A win over the Warriors will give Cheyenne the Sunset title, while a Western victory would vault the Warriors into the top spot.

As it turned out, Ned's absence not only didn't keep Cheyenne from winning the game, it also did not cost him a shot at the area rushing title. That's because his defensive teammates held Spartan tailback Arnold Parker, Ned's chief competition, to fewer than 50 yards in the contest.

In other week eight action, Valley downed Silverado 35-14, Las Vegas routed Basic 44-14, Western held off Durango 17-6, Gorman toppled Bonanza 21-7, Clark pounded Mojave 33-10, Boulder City picked up a critical 30-7 3A win over White Pine and The Meadows hammered Lincoln 57-26 behind 317 rushing yards from Victor Wright.