Lifting their chances

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 9:55 a.m.

Tonight's 4A zone championship

Las Vegas (11-0) at Cimarron-Memorial (10-1), 7 p.m.

Saturday's 2A state semifinal

Tonopah (7-2) at The Meadows (9-0), 1 p.m.

For years it's been the common perception that Nevada's northern prep football teams emphasize size and strength, while the state's southern squads rely more on their speed.

In tonight's 4A Southern Zone championship, the Las Vegas Wildcats and Cimarron-Memorial Spartans will be living proof that that trend may be a thing of the past.

Although both Las Vegas teams boast speed at several positions, their coaches acknowledge that it's their players' diligence in the weight room that has them within one win of an appearance in the 1999 state title game.

"Getting football players lifting weights is an essential part of a football program," Cimarron coach Greg Spencer said. "Your schools that have been dominant always stress the weights."

Agreed Las Vegas coach Kris Cinkovich, "It seems like the success of the two teams is not a coincidence. I think it has a lot to do with weight training."

These days, a strong commitment to weight training is a year-round proposition, not one that begins during preseason football practice.

Both Spencer and Cinkovich teach weight classes at their respective schools during both semesters, classes that a vast majority of football players take in lieu of other physical education offerings.

In addition, football players are expected to participate in voluntary weight training sessions throughout the summer, and attendance can often be the difference between a fall season on the field and one on the sideline.

"If you're willing to put the time in in the weight room, you're willing to put the time in on the field," Spencer said. "It shows you who's willing to work. The kids who want to get better are there, and those that don't aren't."

Cimarron senior Taylor Miller, a 6-1, 200-pound starting linebacker and tight end, has felt at home in his school's weight room since he started high school.

"Coach Spencer has always put a lot of emphasis on weights," Miller said. "Ever since my freshman year, I was strong into the weights, and that's part of the reason I'm where I am today."

Likewise, Spartans senior Jason Orians, a 5-10, 195-pound starting linebacker and guard, credits much of his development as a player to his work in the weight room.

"When I came in, I didn't like to lift," recalled Orians, who has played for the Spartans in two state championship games. "Coach Spencer worked on me and pushed me, and that's really helped. You can tell the people that lift, because they're out here playing."

And according to Las Vegas senior Jonathan Pollard, a 6-2, 227-pound starting linebacker and tight end, he and his teammates notice a difference when they play against teams that do not emphasize weight training to the same extent.

"They get fatigued, they're not as fast or as strong," Pollard said. "Even against bigger players, a lineman may be 300 pounds but I feel I may be stronger, may be able to get off the block quicker."

Miller said the difference becomes more noticeable later in games, as opponents begin to show signs that they haven't put in their time in the weight room.

"When it comes around to the fourth quarter, we're still the same as we were in the first quarter and they're starting to wear down," Miller said.

The zone finalists' commitment to weight training can also be observed off the field. At Las Vegas High's annual powerclean lifting contest, the competition regularly comes down to a battle between who else? The Spartans and Wildcats.

"Cimarron always brings a strong group, and it's come down to our two schools every year," Cinkovich said.

Despite the increased emphasis on weight training in Southern Nevada, though, Spencer points out that more can be done to bring area weight programs to the same level of their northern counterparts.

During the summer, many schools in Northern Nevada offer official weight training classes, for which players receive credit and coaches receive pay. Here in Las Vegas, summer weight classes are strictly on a volunteer basis, for both athletes and coaches.

"For whatever reason, the northern schools accept it as a class and here we don't," Spencer said. "I've tried for the last couple of years to implement that here, but we still don't have it."

Even so, Spencer proved his program could match the strength of Northern Nevada's best last fall, when the Spartans handled Elko 24-0 in the state championship game.

Tonight, his club will try to get back to that stage. But to do so, Cimarron will have to get past a Las Vegas club built on the same basic principal: hard work in the weight room equals success on the field.

"This game will be won in the trenches, by whoever can last the longest," Wildcats defensive back and receiver Kyle Wilcox said. "We lift all year to be strong in the playoffs."