1st-place Basic clinches playoff spot

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Oct. 9, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

Week 6

Silverado 42, Green Valley 28

Basic 21, Foothill 14

Valley 35, Rancho 15

Las Vegas 22, Desert Pines 21

Durango 31, Western 6

Bishop Gorman 17, Clark 0

Palo Verde 49, Mojave 7

Cimarron-Memorial 28, Centennial 0

Eldorado 38, Chaparral 13

Cheyenne 31, Bonanza 7

Boulder City 14, Pahrump Valley 13

The Meadows 40, Faith Lutheran 6

Break out the champagne, Basic High School football fans. The Wolves are going to the playoffs.

On Friday night, Basic clinched its first postseason berth in more than a decade with a 21-14 victory at Foothill. The Wolves (2-4, 2-0 Southeast Division) last made the playoffs in 1989.

"We have a pretty solid group of kids who have been in the program for four years," Wolves coach Cliff Frazier said. "They've seen the lean times, and they knew we had to persevere until we turned a corner.

"Our kids have always been positive, but now there's a little more dip in their hip, a little more pep in their step, a little more glide in their stride."

Basic's win, which came at the expense of a Foothill squad that knocked off then-unbeaten Chaparral just one week earlier, gives the Wolves sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division. Silverado is also unbeaten in league play, but has played just one division contest.

The Wolves took control of Friday's game from the start, scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions to go up 21-0. Senior quarterback Mark Rose spearheaded the attack, rushing for the first score and finding receiver Brandon Hawkins for the team's other two touchdowns.

"(Rose) is a tough kid, and he really understands what we're doing with our offense," Frazier said.

Also on Friday night, Las Vegas High (2-4, 1-1 Northeast) dropped Desert Pines (5-1, 1-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 22-21 win. The victory snapped a three-game Wildcats losing skid.

"We've been playing all these good teams and it finally paid off," said Las Vegas coach Kris Cinkovich, whose club has lost to No. 1 Cimarron-Memorial, No. 4 Eldorado, No. 9 Cheyenne and tough California squad La Costa Canyon this year. "We knew if we could keep our kids together, our preseason schedule would help."

Trailing 21-16 in the final quarter, the Wildcats got a defensive boost from free safety Jared Jones, who picked off Jaguars quarterback Darrell Byrd -- the first Las Vegas interception of the season. That set up Antione White's 23-yard go-ahead touchdown run.

One week after yielding 315 yards to area leading rusher Steven Jackson of Eldorado, the Wildcats became the first team to hold Desert Pines' Cornell Johnson under 100 yards this year, limiting the sophomore to 80 yards.

"Our kids fought hard and scrapped," Cinkovich said. "If we continue to improve we can be pretty solid."

Elsewhere on Friday night, top-ranked Cimarron (6-0, 2-0 Northwest) remained unbeaten with a 28-0 shutout of Centennial. The Spartans now own the only unblemished record among local 4A schools.

Eldorado improved to 5-1 with a 38-13 nonleague win at No. 8 Chaparral behind another 200-plus rushing game and two touchdowns from Jackson.

No. 10 Bishop Gorman overcame the suspension of 11 players to defeat host Clark 17-0 while ninth-ranked Cheyenne routed visiting Bonanza 31-7.