Palo Verde victory a work of pop art

Adam Candee

Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

Teams ranked by the Sun and Sparks Tribune.

Darwin Rost trusts the VCR after Friday night's street fight of a win against Coronado.

"The tape doesn't lie and they seemed really aggressive," Rost said.

Palo Verde endured perhaps its most physical game of the season to outlast Coronado, 14-0, spoiling the Cougars' homecoming. There were, however, plenty of crowns to go around.

"We were popping them," Coronado coach Paul Berg said.

The Panthers (7-0, 2-0 Northwest) are used to such battles in their own division, but they encountered a team in Coronado (5-2, 1-1 Southeast) that felt it needed to prove something. The Cougars built their strong early record against weaker opponents and they played with a distinct chip on their shoulders against Palo Verde, apparently intent upon establishing credibility.

With a ferocity that carefully bordered on out of control, Coronado hung with Palo Verde, allowing only one offensive score on Jarell Harrison's 1-yard QB keeper. The Cougars drew a couple of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the Panthers, who seemed initially stunned by Coronado's physical play.

The Panthers led just 7-0 at halftime, but saw a chance to double that out of the break.

"We saw it on tape that we could pop one on a kickoff return," Rost said.

Jamal Brumfield then took the second half kickoff back 93 yards to account for the final margin. It was Brumfield's second important scoring kick return of the year -- the first came in Palo Verde's victory against Cimarron-Memorial.

Even in defeat, Berg feels his team earned a victory of respect.

"That was a great team effort," Berg said. "I think we showed we are capable of hanging."

The truth in that will be tested over the next two weeks as the Cougars face Foothill (7-0, 2-0 Southeast) and Basic (5-2, 0-2 Southeast) with playoff seeding on the line.

While the Cougars and Falcons tangle for control of the Southeast, Bishop Gorman (5-2, 3-0 Southwest) and Western (4-3, 3-0 Southwest) meet up to decide the Southwest. The Gaels are riding a five-game winning streak, capped by a whipping of Sierra Vista.

The Warriors, a sleeper team gaining steam, have a chance to prove their mettle against Gorman. Western has beaten the weaker sisters in the division -- which somehow includes Durango (2-5, 0-3 Southwest) this year -- and can step forward by downing the Gaels.

That is the amount of time left when Coronado improbably returned a kickoff for a score to stun Silverado in the opening week of division play. As it is, the Skyhawks have already earned a playoff spot -- a big accomplishment for first-year coach Doug Thornhill and the Silverado program to have it wrapped up with two weeks left.