All-Star game gives seniors final shot

Spencer Patterson

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.

Derek Niggemeier's final football campaign didn't end exactly the way he had hoped.

Though his Chaparral Cowboys put together an 8-1 regular season, a three-way tie for first in the Southeast Division dropped them to a No. 3 seed for the playoffs, where they lost 31-28 to Desert Pines.

Five months later, Niggemeier has a chance to put a different finish on his prep playing career. Saturday night, he'll be a captain and starting linebacker for the Sunrise Region squad in the Lions Club High School All-Star Game. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Las Vegas High.

"I'm taking it as another chance to play football," Niggemeier said. "Of course, I would have loved for (my Chaparral team) to go as long as we could in the playoffs. But the (Sunrise) side hasn't won it in four or five years, so I take it as any other game, like any other practice -- I want to win."

Niggemeier was selected by his Sunrise teammates earlier this week as one of four captains along with Las Vegas High's Antione White and Rusty Hale and Desert Pines' Darrell Byrd. Niggemeier has taken that responsibility seriously, calling plays for his defense in practice and even spending extra time at Las Vegas High to watch game footage of Sunset coach John Mausbach's Durango team.

"That's pretty cool. No one told him to do it, but he's been getting here early, watching film," said Wildcats coach Kris Cinkovich, who will serve as coach for the Sunrise team. "He's fired up, like it's the middle of the season right now."

Among those joining Niggemeier on the Sunrise defense will be Desert Pines' linebacker Jamar Barnes, Eldorado linebacker David Salgado, Foothill tackle Paul Viray, Valley defensive back Ronnell Thomas and Las Vegas tackle Mustafa Barnes-Cruz, one of eight participants off Las Vegas' 2001 4A state championship squad.

The Sunrise offense will feature Byrd and Rancho's D.J. Porter at quarterback and the dangerous White -- the Sun's State Player of the Year with 2,949 yards and 50 touchdowns -- at tailback. Chaparral's Grady Thomas, Rancho's C.J. Dickey and Desert Pines' Steve Dyson are other threats, with Foothill's Paul Lethbridge and Las Vegas' Greg Gifford anchoring the line.

Foothill running back John Ford, originally slated to participate, is not expected to play.

Like his Durango team last fall, Mausbach's Sunset squad will likely be big and physical, with Palo Verde's Ryan Worthen, Centennial's Patrick Gray and Bishop Gorman's Quintin Jones serving as captains.

Worthen will be joined on defense by the likes of Cheyenne's Darrell Henderson and Keith Richardson, Clark's Travis Stewart and Bishop Gorman's Aaron Cunningham-Winder.

Bonanza's James Rensvold and Cheyenne's Kevin Richardson will split time at quarterback, with Gray, Jones, Durango's Corey McCants, Cimarron-Memorial's Kellen Marshall and Mojave's Michael Franklin forming a deep tailback corps. Durango center Tony Bachhuber will hold down the middle for the offensive line, with Clark's Kinson Jean-Francois and Cimarron's Will Harris pairing at receiver.

"They're all all-stars and they can do some things, so we're not going to get too fancy," Mausbach said. "We like to pound the ball, and with the line and running backs we have, we feel like we should be able to move the ball."00