McQueen reigns supreme

Adam Candee

Monday, Dec. 9, 2002 | 10:10 a.m.

Few tonics exist for the pain of losing in the playoffs, no matter what the sport. The Desert Pines football team knows that too well today.

At the same time, a huge mental difference exists between the sting of losing a game you should have won, and the acceptance of losing one that never was yours to win. The Jaguars definitely fall into the latter category after falling to Reno's McQueen High School, 38-7, in Saturday's 4A State Championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Lancers, who finished their unbeaten 14-game season with a combined score of 680-35, clearly ruled Nevada's prep football landscape in 2002. Desert Pines coach Leon Evans experienced that dominance Saturday, watching a cruelly efficient McQueen team control his athletic and talented squad for four quarters.

"We made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized on it," Evans said. "They were all over us today."

The Jaguars fought the good battle, hanging with McQueen for the first half. When Marcel Johnson hit B.J. Williams on a perfect 22-yard corner route to cut McQueen's lead to 10-7 in the second quarter, Desert Pines appeared to be in the game, especially after forcing the Lancers into a three-and-out on the ensuing series.

McQueen scored once more before halftime on an Ed Cortez one-yard touchdown run, but even a 17-7 halftime deficit did not appear insurmountable.

However, against the Lancers, a squad with 38 seniors thoroughly displeased with just a 10-point edge, the game truly was over.

"Quite frankly, I was disappointed in how we looked in the first half," said Lancers coach Ken Dalton, who won his fifth state title. "I thought we really looked lethargic."

Dalton said this of a team that led 10-0 after just seven minutes of the game. He would be much more pleased when McQueen scored 14 points in the first five minutes of the second half, on two Cortez scoring runs.

"That was really the backbreaker for them," Dalton said.

Cortez said the game turned quickly with some help from Dalton's halftime words.

"Our line wasn't pushing really well in the first half," Cortez said.

The powerful Lancers front seven shut down the Jaguars from there. Playing with torn rib cartilage, Desert Pines tailback Cornell Johnson never looked himself and the Jaguars offense also never established itself. Johnson totaled just 73 yards on 14 carries, most of those coming on two longer runs.

"We didn't get Cornell going today," Evans said. "We saw early that he couldn't go. His ribs were bothering him. He was thinking about it."

Even when the Jaguars did get a little something started, the muscular McQueen defense seemed to come back to control the line of scrimmage and quell any uprisings. By playing assignment defense, McQueen did not allow Desert Pines any of the home run-type plays that its offense relied on all season.

Just how disciplined was this McQueen team? When it came time for the team picture with the championship plaque, Dalton simply gave a short blast on his whistle to organize his troops, as though the team was starting wind sprints. Players quickly snapped to attention and lined up, even though the season technically ended minutes earlier.

Dalton, though, credits his senior class for taking charge on the field.

"Senior leadership is the key to being state champions," Dalton said.

Desert Pines did not lack for senior leadership, not with Cornell Johnson and Marcel Johnson leading a hungry group. Both players tried to choke away the tears after the game, both with little success.

Though the Jaguars came a long way in just their fourth year of existence, the bitter taste of losing that final high school game is awfully tough to wash away, even though it should not be so for this Desert Pines squad.