Division leaders suffer 1st losses

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Oct. 15, 2001 | 11:47 a.m.

Silverado 48, Chaparral 41

Foothill 34, Green Valley 28

Eldorado 13, Valley 7

Las Vegas 17, Rancho 14

Bonanza 24, Western 0

Clark 12, Durango 10

Cheyenne 15, Palo Verde 14

Cimarron-Mem. 55, Mojave 12

Desert Pines 61, Basic 8

Gorman 38, Centennial 35, 2 OT

Coronado 21, Boulder City 20

Moapa Val. 61, Sierra Vista 0

Meadows 28, Lincoln County 3

Faith Lutheran 20, Needles 9

Unbeaten was far from unbeatable in week seven of the high school football season.

All three of the area's remaining undefeated squads -- No. 3 Palo Verde, No. 5 Durango and No. 6 Chaparral -- suffered their first loss of the year on a wild Friday night that also saw two other local ranked teams survive late upset bids.

For the Panthers, Trailblazers and Cowboys, the defeats proved extremely costly, as all three fell out of first place in their respective divisions after starting the season 6-0 overall.

Palo Verde (6-1, 1-1 Northwest), which fell 15-14 at Cheyenne (4-3, 2-0), now finds itself a game behind the Desert Shields and Centennial, both of whom are 2-0 in league play.

"We stepped up tonight and shut down their offense. I knew that would be the key," said Cheyenne coach Dave Snyder, whose club forced five turnovers and stopped the Panthers twice on fourth down. "They usually are a good ball control team ... but turnovers happen; that's football. Fortunately we were on the good side of that."

Palo Verde led 14-3 at halftime, but the Shields took advantage of two of the Panthers' turnovers to score a pair of touchdowns. Nick Brown's fumble recovery inside the 10-yard line set up Chris Murray's 2-yard score in the third, and Keith Richardson put the hosts over the top on a 16-yard fumble return in the fourth.

Durango (6-1, 2-1 Southwest) dropped a 12-10 decision at Clark (5-2, 3-0), guaranteeing the Chargers the division title and a top seed in the upcoming Sunset Region Tournament.

"I have to give a lot of credit to my defensive coordinator, David Yacubovich," Chargers coach Jim Massey said. "We asked our defense to stop three plays that they run quite well, and we did a good job with that."

Clark's biggest offensive play came in the game's closing minutes. Facing a third-and-11 at their own 5-yard line, Chargers' quarterback James Rensvold shoveled the ball to tailback John Tuitele, who raced 36 yards to give his team a critical first down.

"We'd run it earlier and it had worked," Massey said. "I don't know if their backers had blitzed, but when (Rensvold) kicked it out, all you saw was our little tailback squirting out of there."

Chaparral (6-1, 1-1 Southeast) came out on the losing end of a shootout, going down 48-41 to visiting Silverado (4-3, 2-0). The Skyhawks trailed 41-27 early in the final quarter, but forced two late Cowboy turnovers and scored the game's final 21 points.

"We talked at the beginning of the year about winning our division, and now it's up to us," Silverado coach John DeNardin said. "We don't have to rely on anyone else to win our division now."

Skyhawk tailback Larry Patterson contributed his second 300-plus yard rushing game of the season, racking up 310 yards and five touchdowns on 24 carries. Fullback Marvin Reddick added 113 yards and a pair of scores for the victors.

No. 5 Las Vegas (6-1, 3-0 Northeast) clinched a division title with a tight 17-14 home win over Rancho in the annual "Bone Game" between Las Vegas' two oldest high schools.

The Wildcats, whose only loss came in week one against California's La Costa Canyon, held off a late Rams rally, stopping a final drive inside their own 20-yard line.

No. 9 Foothill (5-2, 2-1 Southeast) also emerged with a close win, withstanding two last-minute plays in its own endzone for a 34-28 come-from-behind victory over Green Valley. Falcons' tailback John Ford, nursing a lower back injury, did not play for the second straight week.

No. 8 Desert Pines (5-2) was the only local ranked team to triumph without dramatics, blasting winless Basic 61-8 at home.

In another exciting 4A contest, Bishop Gorman (4-3) bested Centennial (4-3) 38-35 in double-overtime in a non-league contest.

Also on Friday night, The Meadows tied Nevada's all-time record with its 36th consecutive victory, a 28-3 win at Lincoln County in a rematch of last year's 2A state title tilt.