Southeast schools swept away

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 11:37 a.m.

4A Sunrise Region

Valley 41, Basic 27

Las Vegas 43, Silverado 29

Desert Pines 31, Foothill 21

Eldorado 35, Green Valley 10

4A Sunset Region

Bishop Gorman 32, Centennial 7

Palo Verde 28, Western 0

Cheyenne 21, Durango 7

Cimarron-Memorial 33, Clark 0

3A Regular Season

Lake Placid (Fla.) 12, Boulder City 9

2A State Tournament

The Meadows 43, Faith Lutheran 0

It may be months before Henderson-area prep football fans can shake the image of big, athletic running backs riding roughshod over their teams' defenses.

That's exactly what happened last Friday night, as Eldorado's Steven Jackson, Las Vegas High's Antione White, Desert Pines' Cornell Johnson and Valley's James Sims contributed huge offensive performances to help sweep the Southeast Division out of this year's 4A Sunrise Region Tournament.

Jackson, the area's leading rusher during the regular season, rumbled for 276 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Sundevils to a 35-10 victory over visiting Green Valley.

White was close behind, racking up 274 yards and getting into the end zone a first-round best five times to lift the Wildcats to a 43-29 win over visiting Silverado.

Johnson ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the Jaguars' 31-21 win at Foothill.

And despite playing the entire game on defense as well, Sims picked up 245 rushing yards and scored two critical touchdowns to help the Vikings to a 41-27 road win against Southeast champion Basic.

"I think the caliber of football was pretty good in our division this year," Las Vegas coach Kris Cinkovich said. "You've got to be ready to play every week, or someone is going to get a lot of yards on you."

While their three division mates built early leads and held on to win, the Vikings needed some second-half magic from their top back to topple the Wolves.

Moments after Basic took a 20-19 lead midway through the third quarter, Sims took an option pitch from quarterback Demetrius Ford around the left side and burst downfield, racing along the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown.

After forcing the Wolves to punt on their ensuing possession, the Vikings got the ball back and gave it right back to Sims -- who scored on the very same option play, this time from 33 yards out. That gave Valley a 14-point lead it never relinquished.

"Those two plays were huge for us," Vikings coach Greg Sellers said. "We've seen good backs all year, and I think James is right there with the best of them."

This week's Sunrise semifinals will feature a pair of Northeast Division rematches: Desert Pines (8-2) at Eldorado (8-2) and Valley (5-5) at Las Vegas (6-4). Earlier this season, the Jaguars upset the Sundevils 27-22 and the Wildcats downed the Vikings 26-9.

In 4A Sunset Region action Friday night, Bishop Gorman (7-3) prevented a similar sweep by the Northwest Division with a 32-7 win over Centennial at home. The Gaels' win avenged a loss to the Bulldogs earlier this year.

Up next for Gorman: a matchup with Palo Verde, a squad coming off a dominant 28-0 showing against visiting Western in round one.

"We really played well defensively, and it's a good time to start peaking defensively, that's for sure," said Panthers coach Darwin Rost, whose club improved to 7-3.

Two-time defending state champion Cimarron-Memorial (10-0) opened the playoffs with an easy 33-6 win over visiting Clark. The Spartans will host Cheyenne (7-3) -- 21-7 winners over Durango -- this Friday in another division rematch. Cimarron held on for a 28-21 victory over the Shields in the teams' first meeting.

Led by Megan Matthews, who finished second individually with a time of 19:51.6, the Bulldogs wound up with 58 points, two better than South Tahoe and eight ahead of third-place Green Valley. Carson's Shanna Sparks won the race in 19:37.9.

On the boys side, Basic's Kolby Campbell missed out on the 4A individual title by less than two seconds, with Reno's Dan Wolf making a late charge to finish in 16:34.2, just ahead of Campbell's 16:35.7. The Huskies also claimed the team title with 47 points, 36 ahead of second-place South Tahoe.

The Boulder City boys and Faith Lutheran girls captured 3A and 2A state titles, respectively, with Crusaders freshman Nikki Peterson taking home the 2A girls individual trophy with a time of 20:17.8.

Forced to play eight-on-11 when three players were ejected by referees (two for arguing calls and another for a dangerous play), the Gators scored late in regulation and then again in the final minute of sudden-death overtime.

Durango captured the Sunset Region title with a 2-0 win over rival Bishop Gorman Saturday. The Trailblazers and Gators will join South Tahoe and Reed in the four-time state tournament, which begins Friday at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex next to Cimarron-Memorial High School.

Representing Northern Nevada will be defending state champion Churchill County, along with Douglas and Galena. The three-day state tournament concludes Saturday.

In 2A action, The Meadows captured the Southern League title on Saturday, downing Needles 3-15, 15-6, 15-9 in the finals.