Eldorado, Durango pull off ambushes

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Aug. 30, 1999 | 9:20 a.m.

Just one week down, and already the local prep football scene has been turned on its head.

On Friday night, Cheyenne and Western -- expected to be two of the state's top squads -- lost their opening games, sending a shock wave through Southern Nevada.

The Desert Shields, ranked No. 2 in the year's first Sun statewide poll, were shocked at Eldorado, 23-20, while No. 5 Western fell at home to Durango, 16-15. The Warriors' loss was particularly costly, coming to a conference opponent.

Cheyenne, which didn't lose a game in 1998 until the zone championship contest, lost to a young Sundevils squad that many predicted would struggle this season.

"We don't have a lot of experience, but this team is real disciplined, very united and team oriented, and that's a major change," Eldorado coach Ken Trujillo said. "We just executed the game plan we worked with all week long."

The Sundevils won despite surrendering more than 200 rushing yards to Cheyenne tailback Deon Ned -- the area's second-leading rusher last year. The Desert Shields had a chance to win late, but coughed up the football inside Eldorado's 15-yard line late in the final quarter.

"This win is going to make our team hungrier and build a lot of confidence," Trujillo said.

For Durango, the win over Western also gives the Trailblazers an early lead in what is expected to be a wild Sunset Division.

"A lot of coaches were picking (Western) No. 1, and rightly so, and our kids knew that," Durango coach John Mausbach said. "It always feels good to beat a team like that and get a leg up on everybody."

Early on, it looked as if the host Warriors might roll, as Chris Lightford took the season's opening kickoff and busted loose for a 91-yard touchdown return.

But Durango responded after the play, shutting the Warriors down for the rest of the first half. Meanwhile, Blazers quarterback Jamal Brimmer took matters into his own hands on offense, staking his club to a 9-7 halftime lead.

"We told them that kickoff was kind of a fluke, and the defensive kept us in the game after that," Mausbach said. "We went into halftime with momentum, and we were ahead when time ran out."

* NEW TRIO BLANKED: Week 1 wasn't particularly kind to Southern Nevada's new 4A programs, as Centennial, Desert Pines and Foothill were outscored by a combined 125-0 margin Friday night.

Centennial dropped its opener, 32-0, at Valley, and Foothill fell at Basic, 26-0. But the night's ugliest pasting belonged to Desert Pines, which was walloped, 67-0, at Las Vegas High.

"I'd hoped for better, but I knew were in a mismatch situation," Jaguars coach Gary Findley said. "Now, reality has set in for the kids. It's something we have to take a long-range view on."

Despite the lopsided final score, Findley said he harbors no ill feelings toward the Wildcats' coaching staff, which pulled starting quarterback Anthony Marini, along with the rest of the first team, early in the second half.

"I told my coaches that I would have handled the situation the same way," Findley said. "It's the first game of the year, and you have to let your first team play at least the first half."

* AROUND TOWN: In other Week 1 action, defending state champion Cimarron-Memorial picked up where it left off in 1998, blanking visiting Mojave, 29-0.

Also posting Sunset Division victories were Bishop Gorman, a 20-7 winner at Palo Verde, and Clark, which beat host Bonanza, 27-13.

In the Sunrise's lone conference game, Silverado held off visiting Rancho, 35-20, to take an early division lead. The area's other two squads, Green Valley and Silverado, lost to Utah squads, with the Gators dropping a 63-0 decision at Snow Canyon and the Cowboys falling at home, 34-26, to Copper Hill.