Silverado defense focused on Jordan

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 | 9:53 a.m.

Silverado (8-2, 4-1 SE)

vs. Las Vegas (9-2, 4-1 NE)

7 p.m. Friday

Frank Nails Field

Sahara at Hollywood, Sunrise Manor

Mutual opponents: Chaparral (2-8) -- Las Vegas won 47-18, Silverado won 32-7; Eldorado (7-4) -- Las Vegas lost 21-28, Silverado won 21-14; Green Valley (6-5) -- Las Vegas won 35-7, Silverado won 14-12.

Key for Las Vegas: Find other options besides Eric Jordan. Silverado's defense has been one of the best in town this year. They'll find a way to slow down No. 15.

Key for Silverado: Cover everybody. Teams that have been successful against Vegas have defended the whole field, not just one part of the Vegas offense.

Already breaking new ground after its first playoff win since first taking the field in 1993, Silverado's football team is on another mission -- to avenge its Oct. 22 loss to Foothill and advance to the state semifinals.

To get that chance, though, Silverado will have to beat a Las Vegas team that advanced to the state championship game last year despite losing its two best players to injury and suffering the death of a teammate in last year's Sunrise Region championship.

One of those players who was out last season, running back Eric Jordan, is not only healthy this season but running circles around opponents this year, leading the two southern 4A regions with 2,059 yards and 29 touchdowns so far this season. Jordan had 135 yards and three touchdowns last week in the Wildcats' 35-7 quarterfinal win against Green Valley.

"Obviously he had to do what he normally does," Wildcats coach Chris Faircloth said. "Sometimes he has huge gains and sometimes he doesn't, but we're pretty dependent on him every week."

The Wildcats lost two games this season, the first coming in a 27-6 home loss to Cheyenne, and the second two weeks later when Eldorado won at Frank Nails Field 28-21. With Las Vegas averaging 32.8 points per game, both scores could be considered defensive accomplishments by those opponents.

Silverado, without a doubt, is a team built on defense. In the 23-20 loss to Foothill, the Skyhawks held the Falcons to their lowest point total since a 10-0 win at Lynwood, Calif., in September. A week later, Silverado hung onto second in the Southeast by beating Green Valley 14-12. Last week, Silverado advanced by edging Eldorado 21-14.

Doug Thornhill, Silverado's second-year head coach, said the key to beating Las Vegas is stopping one player.

"It's got to come down to No. 15," he said, referring to Jordan. "He's the real deal, a great football player and if we can keep him from making 80 yard runs, keep him to 4- or 5-yard runs, I think we're in good shape."

That sums up most opponents' opinion of playing Vegas, although few have been successful at it.

"Obviously some teams shut him down a bit," Thornhill said. "If we come on trying to shut them down and make them beat us with somebody else. I don't know if that's possible or not, but we're going to try."

Meanwhile, Silverado's offense continues to do just what it needs to do to win football games. The Skyhawks' leading rusher, Jesse Benites, has 689 yards this year -- less than a few teams' second-leading rusher. Quarterback Tyler McNeace leads the team in total yardage with 354 rushing yards on top of 589 yards passing.

"We don't have the big all-star rushers and things like that, but everybody contributes," Thornhill said. "We've been moving the ball all year, we haven't put up the big numbers because we had some problems, but once we started taking care of the ball we've been pretty effective in our offense."

And that offense's goal is to get another shot at Foothill, which Thornhill said was the tougher of his team's two losses this year.

"The kids are thinking about nothing but that," he said. "It's definitely a motivator. They'd love to have another shot at Foothill."