Friday, Sept. 3, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.
Nick Christensen covers high school athletics for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Darwin Rost's offense is about to graduate its first class.
The double-wing of Southern Nevada football lore, put into place three years ago at Palo Verde and the bane of defenses across the city, has its first group of seniors who have played in it since junior varsity. That sets the stage for high expectations for the Panthers early in the season -- although last year's 9-0 squad didn't stumble out of the blocks, either.
The offense has been described as crazy, wacky, and frustrating. Basic coach Cliff Frazier, whose Wolves head to Summerlin tonight to open their season at Palo Verde, described it with an emotion.
"I hate it," Frazier said. "It's one of those offenses I can't stand. You just get tense watching the game, when you start watching all that misdirection. It takes you completely out of your reaction and everything else. We just establish keys for the kids to read and get them to stick with those keys."
Even Rost has a hard time fully describing it, instead opting to discuss its main rule.
"It's a lot of timing," Rost said. "The more you run it, the more you practice it, the better you get it. It's timing between the backs and the linemen. If you're off a fraction of a second, sometimes that makes a difference. Later in the season, it seems like timing's a little better."
That's why this year is so important. With Rost's core players having three years of experience with it, getting an early start with the double-wing could translate into steamrolling through the playoffs. Or, it could just give opponents a better idea on what works and what doesn't in trying to stop it.
"It seems like it's a little better than it was a year ago," Rost said. "We've been going since August 12. We're dying to play a game, it's been a long time and a lot of repetition and stuff."
Also making his 2004 debut tonight is Basic quarterback A.J. Montano, whose older brother Chris started for the Wolves over the last three seasons. It won't be Montano's first turn at quarterback -- A.J. won three games his sophomore season when Chris was out with a torn ACL -- but it will be a time with high expectations, as the Wolves went 7-2 last season.
The early take on the younger Montano is that while his foot speed is marginally better than Chris', Chris was a slightly better passer. Considering how quick A.J. is and how good a passer Chris was, that's a compliment to both. Last season, Chris led Las Vegas with 1,380 yards on 75-for-147 passing. Twenty-one of those receptions were to A.J., who caught for 413 yards and eight of Chris' 15 touchdowns.
"He's really doing a good job," Frazier said. "Here's a kid that basically has to develop his own personality from a position. He's taken on that challenge. There's always going to be comparisons between he and Chris. He doesn't see it as that. He sees it as a challenge for him and his athletic ability."
Spread around the town
All right! Enough already! We figured, hey, Las Vegas, let's run a prediction people understand. After all, if we say Liberty will beat Bonanza (and boy were we wrong on that) 14-13, isn't that the same as setting a line?
But to spare us from offending anyone or corrupting our local youth, we'll stick with predicting final scores.
But be warned -- this could get ugly. We did bad enough without having to put up a hidden over/under.
Games start at 7 p.m. today.
The call: Green Valley 42, Bonanza 36.
The call: Coronado 38, Centennial 34.
The call: Foothill 45, Cimarron-Memorial 31.
The call: Liberty 21, Clark 20.
The call: Durango 21, Chaparral 12.
The call: Las Vegas 37, Snow Canyon 27.
The call: Silverado 35, Mojave 23.
The call: Palo Verde 43, Basic 36.
The call: Shadow Ridge 36, Rancho 26.
The call: Sierra Vista 32, Valley 26.
The call: Eldorado 40, Western 30.
The call: Canyon Springs 2, Spring Valley 0.
The call: Virgin Valley 24, Del Sol 12.
Out of bounds: Meadows at Milford, Utah; Faith Lutheran at Dayton; Pahrump Valley at Spring Creek; Moapa Valley at Kanab, Utah; Boulder City at Mohave, Ariz.
Last week's w/l: 4-2. Last week vs. spread: 2-4.
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