Cheyenne aims to salvage year

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

With three weeks left in the prep football regular season, a clear-cut favorite has emerged in each division, the playoff picture has started to come into focus and Chaparral's Mario Hagan is running away with the local rushing title.

But there's still one unanswered question on everybody's mind: What's wrong with Cheyenne?

Coming off an 11-1 campaign that saw them go undefeated in regular season play, the Desert Shields were a popular preseason choice to represent Southern Nevada in this year's state title game.

Certainly, with the area's top returning rusher in senior Deon Ned and one of the state's top overall defensive players in senior Lynn McGruder back in the fold, Cheyenne would be among the Sunset Division's top clubs, at the very least.

Yet seven weeks into the 1999 season, the Shields sit tied for fifth place in their conference, a half game out of the playoffs if the postseason were to begin today.

"We're inexperienced this year," Cheyenne coach George Perry said. "We're just not as good as in the past."

Things started on a sour note for the perennial power from North Las Vegas, as the Shields dropped a 23-20 decision at Eldorado -- a team they devoured 28-0 in week one last year.

Cheyenne righted its ship temporarily with a 33-point win over Palo Verde and a 25-point victory over Bonanza in weeks three and four.

But then the roof caved in.

Perry's club hit the tough portion of its conference schedule and proceeded to drop consecutive games to Western (19-12), Bishop Gorman (29-28) and Durango (16-7) to move to 2-4 overall and 2-3 in the division.

Another loss tonight on the road against undefeated Cimarron-Memorial (6-0, 5-0) could knock the Desert Shields out of the playoff picture entirely -- a scenario almost unthinkable just six weeks ago.

"We're not looking at it as a must-win because the worst thing that happens is that we don't make the playoffs," Perry said. "And even if we lose, we'll still have a chance to make the playoffs. So we'll approach it the same as every other game. If we were 0-5 or 5-0, we'd be doing the same thing."

In large part, Cheyenne's unexpected decline can be traced directly to the graduation of starting quarterback Lawrence Turner, the Sun's 1998 State Offensive Player of the Year.

Although successor Chris Hall, already one of the team's top linebackers, has done an adequate job, he doesn't pose the same type of passing threat as Turner. And that has allowed opposing defenses to focus on Cheyenne's potent running game.

"Lawrence was a kid that doesn't come along very often," Perry said. "Chris has been playing well, but he's not a great passer. When (defenses) put nine or 10 in the box, that makes it tough to run."

Despite the extra attention, Ned has managed to accumulate more than 800 yards on the ground in six games. But the Shields have had difficulty finding the end zone of late, managing just seven offensive touchdowns in their last three contests -- a far cry from the team that averaged more than 31 points per game in the regular season last year.

"We always play pretty good defense. We just haven't been doing the things we need to on offense, and that's depressing," Perry said.

Tonight, the Desert Shields find themselves up against a Cimarron squad that has limited the opposition to fewer than eight points per game. But Perry knows that if his club can find a way to topple the rival Spartans, the win could give Cheyenne the momentum it needs heading into the postseason.

"We don't let the kids get down," Perry said. "Cimarron is a big rivalry for us, and we play for an eight-foot trophy. We won it last year, and we want to keep it, so that's another motivating point for our kids."

* ON THE AIR: KSHP AM-1400 will broadcast tonight's Cheyenne at Cimarron game, while KNEWS AM-970 will air Clark's game at Durango. Cox Cable Channel 48 will show tonight's Palo Verde at Mojave contest next Wednesday at 7 p.m.