Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 | 8:20 a.m.
If experience counts for anything -- and it usually does in the fluid world of high school sports -- then the Las Vegas High football team should be an overwhelming favorite when it meets Hug in the 4A state championship game Saturday at Mackay Stadium in Reno.
The Wildcats are making their third consecutive appearance in the championship game and their fourth since 2001, when they last brought home the title after beating McQueen in overtime at Mackay Stadium.
By head coach Chris Faircloth's estimate, the Wildcats have about a dozen players on this year's roster who have been to the previous two state championship games.
"I hope that's an advantage for us this year," said Faircloth, who is in his second season as the Wildcats' head coach. "Going up there and being overwhelmed by the trip and all the hoopla that surrounds it, it's no big deal to these kids because they've been there."
1. The emotion
Saturday's game surely will rekindle some emotions in those Wildcats players who were on the 2003 team that advanced to the state championship game in Reno following the death of teammate Edward Gomez as a result of a tackle he made in the Sunrise Region championship game a couple of weeks earlier.
This will be the first trip back to Mackay for many of the players who were on that team and experienced the loss of their teammate, and Faircloth spent time this week preparing his players to deal with those emotions.
"Obviously, we haven't been back to Mackay since that year, two years ago, so I'm sure that's going to play into it," Faircloth said. "(We talked about it) to make sure that they understand what it's going to be like because that was a hard time the last time we went there.
"It will have some effect on us; we just want to make sure that the kids have prepared themselves for it and they're not an emotional mess when it hits them when they get there."
2. The redemption
After advancing to the state championship game each of the past two seasons only to come away empty-handed, the Wildcats have a sense of urgency to complete their mission on Saturday.
"We're excited to have another chance to play in this championship game," Faircloth said. "It's another opportunity and we're going to need to cash in here pretty soon to validate all the work that we've put in to get here.
"We won it in 2001 and the bar was kind of set there, so you constantly work to achieve that."
3. The offense
Although the Wildcats scrapped their run-dominated offense after last season in favor of a more balanced spread offense, senior running back Jamal Lomax has been the team's workhorse this season. Lomax has rushed for a staggering 2,049 yards and 29 touchdowns on 285 carries and has six 200-yard rushing games.
Junior quarterback O'Ryan Bradley has guided the Wildcats' spread offense well, passing for more than 1,500 yards and rushing for 11 touchdowns.
4. The opponent
In Hug (12-1), the Wildcats are facing something they typically don't face in their Southern Nevada opponents: size and speed.
"We would like to think (we match up well), but you never know," Faircloth said. "Are we going to be overwhelmed? It's really hard to say. You just don't know how it's going to go until you're there."
5. The loss
The Wildcats have won 13 consecutive games after opening the season with a 34-28 loss at Pine View of Utah.
"We're not real big on the idea that you have to lose to get better," Faircloth said, "but the great thing about that game is that the kids never, ever gave up, and I think at that point, we knew this was going to be a pretty good group."
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