LV draws tough playoff opener

Adam Candee

Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 | 10:31 a.m.

Kris Cinkovich, never a boastful coach, gushed about his team's ability to handle adversity after Las Vegas whipped Desert Pines, 36-8, Friday night without starting quarterback Chris Gifford.

"We don't make excuses in our program," said Cinkovich, who plugged in sophomore QB Jeremy Craddock for Gifford without skipping a beat. "Somebody makes results."

Getting past Gifford's season-ending broken tibia might look like a speed bump compared to the mountainous task awaiting Las Vegas in its first two playoff games.

The top-ranked Wildcats (NE-1, 9-0) draw one of the toughest first-round assignments against Basic (SE-4, 7-2), which beat Southeast champion Coronado, 20-19, to close the regular season. Winning that game would earn Las Vegas the dubious task of taking on Foothill (SE-2, 8-1) -- which has the beefy lineup to scrap with the Wildcats in the trenches -- in the second round.

Oh, and was it mentioned that sophomore tailback Eric Jordan -- the city's leading candidate for offensive player of the year honors -- left Friday's game in the second half with a wrist injury that could make his playoff availability questionable?

"It'll be a great challenge for us," Cinkovich said, speaking mostly about Basic but with general regard for the postseason.

If Las Vegas makes it back to the lofty heights of its 2001 state championship, it appears the view will be even more beautiful than before after this journey. Much of that task will fall to the Wildcats' defense that, save for one big play, clamped down on Desert Pines.

"The defense, they were tuned in," Cinkovich said.

And so goes the theme for a wide open 2003 postseason: Stay tuned.

Durango downed rival Sierra Vista, 21-15, Friday to finish in a three-way tie at 2-3 in the Southwest along with the Lions and Bonanza. That left two playoff spots for three teams.

Since the teams all split their games with one another, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association process calls for a remedy based on combined margin of victory against teams in the tiebreaker. The best margin wins the tiebreaker and the other two teams are weeded out by head-to-head record. There is a cap at 13 points added or subtracted per game to discourage teams from running up scores to gain an advantage.

It broke down like this:

The Lions emerged from the tiebreaker and Bonanza grabbed the final berth based on its win against Durango. That means the poor Blazers needed just one more point (or a Bonanza win, which would have created a winnable two-way tie with Sierra Vista for fourth place) to continue their season.

What a bitter twist in a weird season at Durango.

The first round begins Friday, Nov. 7.