Parkhurst wraps up Rebel career with a touchdown

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Nov. 19, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

Scott Parkhurst had a nice memento from his final football game as a UNLV Rebel.

Sitting inside his locker at Falcon Stadium Saturday afternoon was one of the game balls from the Rebels' 34-10 season-ending victory.

Not just any game ball, mind you. But the one Parkhurst scooped up after Air Force quarterback Keith Boyea fumbled following a jolting tackle by Adam Seward. Parkhurst then ran 21 yards into the end zone for a touchdown and a 28-10 UNLV lead.

"I talked them into letting me have an Air Force ball," Parkhurst said with a sheepish smile. "They were really cordial about that. They're nice folks."

What was going through Parkhurst's mind as he ran into the end zone with the key touchdown?

"That my wife (Eva) is going to be really, really happy," he said. "She's been telling me for a couple of weeks, 'I want you to get a touchdown.' And I'd say, 'OK, me too.' "

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound former J.C. All-American from Long Beach City College waited until the final half of his final college game to do it.

"I never scored a defensive touchdown before," Parkhurst said. "I've had a couple of safeties, but never a touchdown on defense. Just getting the win was a nice way to go out. Then to score a touchdown on top of it makes even more special."

Remember, when folks such as Kevin Thomas and Peter Tramontanas played as freshmen, the Rebels were 0-11 and in the midst of a 16-game losing streak. They arguably were the worst team in Division I football.

But that group improved to 3-8 as sophomores, then went 8-5 with a stunning Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arkansas as juniors before dropping back to 4-7 this year.

In their final two years at UNLV, the group that went 0-11 as freshmen went 12-12 overall, 7-7 in Mountain West play, won a bowl game and had all 11 games televised to boot.

"All you seniors stand up and let us give you a helluva hand," UNLV coach John Robinson said as the Rebels gathered in their locker room afterward.

Before Saturday's finale, a number of seniors stood up in the locker room and talked about how special it had been playing football at UNLV.

"We were in here crying before the game," junior quarterback Jason Thomas said. "All the seniors got up and spoke about what it meant to be on this team, what it meant to go from 0-11 to 3-8 to 8-5 to 4-7. It's been an emotional roller coaster, but we're brothers. ... That first play I went out there I actually had tears in my eyes."

"I had tears in my eyes, too," junior tailback Joe Haro said. "It was very emotional beforehand. I think we really went out and played with some passion (Saturday)."

The fact that the hard-nosed Haro played at all surprised Robinson.

"I didn't think Joe Haro would be able to play," Robinson said. "His knee was the size of a pumpkin (on Friday) and they drained it. He didn't do anything until warm-ups. Joe Haro is big-time."

"They took out 65 ccs (of fluid)," Haro said. "I think I might have tore a little something in there. (But) I said I'd be ready to do what I could. I've been playing on this for the last couple of weeks. I really don't know what it is. I'll probably have to get an MRI and find out. But it's no big deal. A lot of guys are playing hurt right now."

Guys such as sophomore linebacker Ryan Claridge, who had 13 tackles despite a bicep the color of a big plum.

"I think I may have torn my bicep muscle," Claridge said as he struggled to put on his clothes afterward. "It's very sore right now. But I had to play this game. I've got time to heal now."