Gaels intend to prove they belong

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:27 a.m.

Cimarron-Memorial (5-4, 1-2 NW)

vs. Bishop Gorman (7-2, 5-0 SW)

7 p.m. Saturday

Piggott Stadium at Valley High School

Eastern at Karen, Winchester

Mutual opponents: Desert Pines (4-5) -- Bishop Gorman won 23-10, Cimarron-Memorial won 44-14.

Key for Bishop Gorman: Control the emotion. This isn't a Southwest Division game; things are tougher now. And Cheyenne is looming.

Key for Cimarron: Get Hatch connecting. His passing is make-or-break for Cimarron this year.

Shadow Ridge (6-3, 3-2 NW)

at Bonanza (6-4, 4-1 SW)

7 p.m. Friday, Judy Cameron Stadium

Torrey Pines at Oakey Las Vegas

Mutual opponents: Rancho (1-9) -- Bonanza won 31-6, Shadow Ridge won 68-0.

Key for Bonanza: Stay in the game. Anything can happen, just like the Bengals saw when they beat Sierra Vista in overtime.

Key for Shadow Ridge: Blow them out. The Mustangs will need to be healt hy and rested to have a chance next week.

Tired of hearing about how bad the rest of its division was, Bishop Gorman's football team just wants to get out and play.

"It's getting old," Gaels coach David White said. "What we're doing to teams in our conference -- whether they're good, bad or ugly -- we're holding teams under 67 yards. Could we play better? Do they have better teams over there? Overall, probably. We can't do anything about stuff we can't control."

The Gaels ran the table in the Southwest Division this year, earning top seed in this weekend's Sunset Region quarterfinals. They'll face 5-4 Cimarron-Memorial on Saturday night at Valley High School.

Last year, Bishop Gorman was one of the four Southwest teams that were swept by Northwest schools in the Sunset quarterfinals. But last year's Sunset playoffs won't be remembered for the Northwest's dominance.

After losing to Cheyenne, the rivalry between Gaels running back DeMarco Murray, then a sophomore, and Cheyenne senior David Peeples incited a postgame brawl. The fight cost both teams their first games of this year's season, and nearly cost Cheyenne its playoff run until a court order kept the Desert Shield alive.

Sure enough, a Bishop Gorman win would put the two teams on a collision course for a semifinal rematch next week. But White said his team isn't thinking about what happened last year.

"Right now for them, the most important game is the next one," White said. "Of course, it carries them and they're motivated by it. They're excited to play Saturday and they'll be the only game in town Saturday night and they'll have fun."

The Gaels have been anchored by All-American linebacker Ryan Reynolds, but the real key has been the return of quarterback Craig Sedoris, who suffered a broken collarbone in Gorman's one loss this year, in September at Colton, Calif.

Murray, who also plays free safety, and Reynolds will have to reckon with ace Cimarron quarterback Andrew Hatch, who trails only Eldorado's Brandon Godfrey in passing yards.

"A lot of teams have had trouble throwing against us," White said. "Our DB's are pumped up that now they can get some balls thrown at them."

Shadow Ridge at Bonanza

Once upon a time, Southern Nevada's passing leader was Shadow Ridge's Chris Berkeley, who now has moved behind Hatch on the leaderboard. Berkeley and the Mustangs wound up with the third seed in the Northwest after beating Cimarron, Mojave and Centennial but losing to Cheyenne and Palo Verde in league play.

Despite opening on the road, a loss to Bonanza on Friday night would be a disappointing end to the Mustangs' season. They started the year 4-1, losing to Eldorado by a safety, before running into Cheyenne and Palo Verde on consecutive weeks. For a second-year school, that's an impressive effort, considering Liberty, which also opened last year, has won only two games in that stretch.

Mustangs coach J.D. Johnson said despite this being their first playoff experience, his team is preparing well.

"Practice is still just as high tempo as it was before," he said. "We try to keep it the same so kids don't feel overwhelmed. It's been our goal since December to be in the playoffs, so we're not really shocked to be there. Our attitude is definitely upbeat going into our first game."

The Bengals (5-4, 4-1 Southwest) earned a second seed by upsetting then ninth-ranked Sierra Vista in double overtime. Bonanza's played its share of tough teams, losing at Las Vegas and Bishop Gorman, but first-year coach Jay Weinman thinks Shadow Ridge's style of play is comparable to Sierra Vista's.

"We think they're a similar kind of team. They both have a pretty good running back," Weinman said. "(Shadow Ridge) has rolled up a lot of points on people, so the focus this week is on defense and to try and scheme on them. They do about 100 formations. We're focused on defense and on how to stop Snodgrass and keep them from running up the score on us."

Like Berkeley, running back Ricky Snodgrass was at one point the leader in Southern Nevada rushing yards. Now, he's also slipped back to third.

"Defensively, when we're at our finest, we've managed to hold up people to an average of 12 points per game and when the offense is clicking, they can put the points up," Johnson said. "It's a matter of both sides of the ball clicking, and if one side isn't, the other side has to pick up the pace."

With the winner likely to face second-ranked Palo Verde in the Sunset semifinals, Johnson said the memory of Shadow Ridge's 50-19 league loss in Summerlin earlier this year is still fresh in his players' minds.

"They know who's on the horizon. We're still a little bit ashamed about that Palo Verde loss, by losing by that big of a margin," Johnson said. "But they can't overlook Bonanza. Bonanza's done some great things."