Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Nick Christensen: Playoff pressure new thrill for Valley

Nick Christensen covers high school athletics for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Valley (8-2, 4-1 NE)

vs. Foothill (11-0, 5-0 SE)

7 p.m. Today Falcon Stadium

College at I-515, Henderson

Mutual opponents: Sierra Vista (7-4) -- Foothill won 26-20, Valley lost 24-27; Desert Pines (4-6) -- Foothill won 56-6, Valley won 30-6; Coronado (5-5) -- Foothill won 42-23, Valley won 20-7; Eldorado (7-4) -- Foothill won 23-20, Valley won 28-25.

Key for Foothill: Use the size advantage. Few teams can compete with Foothill's line -- Valley isn't one of them.

Key for Valley: Keep composure. Teams have come back on Foothill before -- but teams have also given up before the end of the first quarter.

The contrasts between Valley's and Foothill's football teams are stark.

Foothill relies on the rush, Valley is more balanced. Foothill has size, Valley's got speed. It even goes down to the grass roots level, where Valley plays on a nice, soft, green synthetic field, whereas Falcon Stadium's playing surface is hard as a rock with probably two square feet of green grass remaining.

But the most striking difference between the two teams is their recent history. Foothill (11-0, 5-0 Southeast) is 28-3 over the past three seasons, whereas Valley (8-2, 4-1 Northeast) went 3-15 in the two years before its breakout season.

Despite the track record, Foothill coach Ray Fenton said he thinks his team is the underdog going into tonight's Sunrise Region semifinal game at Falcon Stadium.

"We're playing an excellent football team," Fenton said. "If we don't play a good game -- our best game -- our season will end."

Through the course of the year, Foothill has gone from looking like a lucky, beatable team to an unstoppable machine. Nonleague wins with scores such as 23-20 (against Eldorado) and 26-20 (against Sierra Vista) turned into conference blowouts of Liberty (73-0), Green Valley (43-12), and Basic (68-34).

Fenton said that was by design, as he and his coaching staff sought a sound offensive game plan in the first five games, which don't count in the playoff seedings.

"At the beginning of the season, we used the preseason games just for that," Fenton said. "We tried some new things, some new looks for our weapons. We were trying to find what we can run effectively and efficiently. Our goal offensively was to whittle that down week by week. I thought there was a chance we were going to be 1-4."

Instead, Foothill ran off more wins than any other school in Henderson history. The credit to that was the size and talent of the Falcons' line, which helped running back DeAngelo Jones rush for 1,945 yards this season and quarterback Arthur Mayville roll for 1,022 ground yards.

Valley linebacker Marcus Cotton said he hopes his team's speed can compensate for Foothill's size.

"Foothill pounds the ball, they run hard on teams," Cotton said. "We worked on that all week -- we'll get through before they have time to get up. There's nothing to be nervous about -- we've worked hard, we just gotta have heart."

Valley's offense was led by Major Gray, who rushed for 748 yards on 105 carries, and quarterback Matthew Christman, who threw for 1,282 yards on 94-for-182 attempts.

"It's important for us that everybody stays involved in the game," Fenton said. "They have three legitimate receivers, it makes it very, very difficult."

David Sosa, Chuck Jackson and Jarrell Hawkins all finished with more than 250 yards receiving this year.

Vikings coach Jim Massey, in his first season at Valley after taking Clark to the Sunset Region semifinals in 2001, said his team's position makes it a little easier to prepare for this week's game.

"I feel like the pressure's on them because they are 11-0," Massey said. "The kids think everybody will be watching the Cheyenne-Gorman game anyway."

Spread around town

A few not-so-random thoughts after traversing most of the Southern Nevada football universe this week:

First, the Pirates ran every yard line, a 3,360-foot jog to kick things off. They then ran the length of the field, then back to the 50, back to the goal line, then to the 40 and back, the 30, the 20, the 10, and a few quick trips to the five yard line for a total of 4,170 feet.

This brought chuckles, coming a day after watching one local 4A team huffing and puffing after running the length of the volleyball court in the gym about five times.

Lund's Jeff Faught passed for 1,097 yards this season, tops amongst eight-man 1A competitors. But here's a perfect name for a receiver -- Lund's Blaze Griffin had 47 receptions for 1,012 yards.

Averaging more than 21 yards per catch, the name is well-earned.

We finally got up-to-date stats from Mojave this week, and wanted to run this correction -- quarterback D.J. Tilche finished the year with 101 completions on 188 attempts, totalling 1,490 yards. Receiver Alfonso Greer had 41 of those receptions for 789 yards.

Anyway, on to some predictions, with the 4A kids playing at 7 o'clock tonight, and the 2A and 3A games slated for 1 p.m. tomorrow.

The call: Palo Verde 35, Bonanza 21.

The call: Cheyenne 33, Bishop Gorman 28.

The call: Silverado 23, Las Vegas 21.

The call: Foothill 30, Valley 24.

All bets are off: The Meadows at Pershing County, Battle Mountain at Needles, Virgin Valley at Truckee, Spring Creek at Moapa Valley.

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