Cheyenne marches on after emotional win

Nick Christensen

Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

DeMarco Murray lay on the field Friday at Valley High School, the rubber pellets in the artificial turf absorbing the tears that just kept coming.

Murray, Bishop Gorman's leading rusher, fumbled the ball on the 2 in the second overtime of Cheyenne's 17-14 Sunset Region semifinal victory. The Desert Shields recovered, and needed just a field goal in their half of the second overtime to advance to this week's Sunset Region final against Palo Verde.

A few feet away from Murray's tears, Cheyenne's football team celebrated as they eliminated Bishop Gorman from the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Jarmeul Pearson, who in the fourth quarter went down in the end zone and had to be carried off the field with what appeared to be an ankle injury, leapt for joy. And as the Desert Shields gathered together in the east end zone for a team picture, a familiar face sat in the middle of the party.

David Peeples, a UNLV tailback who last year carried the Cheyenne team to the Sunset Region final, passed up his new team's trip to Colorado to instead watch his alma mater again vanquish the Gaels.

It was Peeples' and Murray's jawing that led to last year's post-game brawl when Cheyenne and Gorman met in the Sunset Region quarterfinals, and Peeples' legal motions that kept the Shields playing after the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association decided to end Cheyenne's season as punishment for the fight.

Friday night's contest was anything but a normal football game. Metro Police officers joined the usual school police presence, and private security was present for the game, also. A group of officers stood on the field as the two teams shook hands following Richard Young's game-winning field goal.

Those police who were actually in Piggott Memorial Stadium witnessed a thrilling comeback by Cheyenne.

Bishop Gorman scored with just under a minute remaining in the first quarter, on a 5-yard Murray run to go up 7-0. It was 36 minutes -- exactly three quarters -- after Gorman's score that Cheyenne got on the board.

The game-tying drive culminated in a 14-yard touchdown run by quarterback Quinton Carter.

Carter had a 7-yard touchdown run in the first overtime to put Cheyenne ahead 14-7, and despite Murray fumbling the ball on the Gorman's first play of overtime, the Gaels were able to tie it at 14.

After an illegal motion call in the second overtime, Murray had a 5-yard carry to put the Gaels back at the 10-yard-line on second down. But after an 8-yard carry, Murray's fumble essentially ended the Gaels' season. Murray finished the game with 134 yards of offense.

Fresh from his team's jubilant huddle with their redshirting alumni, first-year Cheyenne coach Charles Anthony credited his team's resiliency to hold on for the win.

"They've been battling adversity all year long," Anthony said. "They did a great job battling. They didn't give in."

Once around the town

"Eldorado, Sierra Vista, Bonanza, Liberty, Coronado, Basic, Desert Pines..." Sherman read, reminding his players that with Valley having played five of those teams, maybe the Vikings were as good as Foothill, after all.

After losing 21-3 in their season finale at Las Vegas, and not playing well last week in a 20-7 quarterfinal win against Coronado, the Valley Vikings looked like they'd be next in line to lose to undefeated Foothill in Friday's Sunrise Region semifinals.

Instead, Valley pulled the shocker with a 13-12 win at Falcon Stadium. They'll advance to the Sunrise Region final, a rematch against Las Vegas.Foothill had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but a 27-yard-field goal attempt was wide left and the Vikings were able to hold on for the victory.

Valley coach Jim Massey said his team started to feel like the game was slipping away early.

"They came out and shoved us around pretty good," Massey said. "It was funny. When they scored, we kind of got a spark. When we scored, you could see their team pick it up. "

Meanwhile, Las Vegas took advantage of Silverado's previously sound defense as the Wildcats advanced 48-20. Eric Jordan had 168 yards and three touchdowns for Las Vegas.

Silverado's Jeramy Pate returned the second half's opening kickoff for a touchdown, pulling the Skyhawks to within 28-20. But Las Vegas opened up late to secure the victory.

"They're just a real solid club. They might have been able to tell us where the play was going and we might have been unable to stop them," Bengals coach Jay Weinman said of Palo Verde's double-wing offense.

"I think there was some excitement generated this year," he said, "and getting that playoff win helped a ton. I think we'll get kids out for football. We're not looking to recruit from outside the school, but recruiting within the school is what we need to do."

Reed beat Sierra League champion Hug 26-7, and McQueen defeated Sierra runner-up Douglas 20-6. McQueen (11-0) was the top-ranked team in Nevada for the entire season.

The winner of Friday's Northern Region championship will host the Sunrise Region champion in the state semifinals, and the loser will play at the Sunset Region winner.