Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.
Nick Christensen covers high school athletics for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at [email protected].
In one of the strongest midseason tests for a state title contender, Shadow Ridge will face J.K. Mullen, a Catholic school from the Denver area, at 6 p.m. today at Ray DePalma Field.
Mullen comes to Las Vegas ranked as one of the top teams in Colorado despite losing its opening-week game, and won the state's 5A championship last year.
Shadow Ridge, which opened three years ago, comes in ranked as the top 4A team in Nevada for the third consecutive week.
In fact, this contest came close to being a matchup of 5A title contenders. Classes, of course, are subjective. Utah's 3A contains teams that would, in Nevada, be in the 4A. A decade ago, Nevada's large-school teams were playing in the 3A league before a fourth classification was added to accommodate the growing disparity between very-small and kinda-small small-schools.
Back when the Clark County School District was lacking money for silly stuff like sending a small army of basketball players to Reno to play in an eight-team state tournament, the great thinkers of our state -- well, Dr. Jerry Hughes, Larry McKay and Eddie Bonine -- were formulating how to best do away with the expensive and cumbersome process.
And some backbenchers began to sing a chorus of creating a 5A classification, which would neatly eliminate the need to travel for a championship, be it for the football title game or for track and field events.
The North would be the 4A. The South would be the 5A.
But that raised the not-so-pretty possibility of having no true state championship for the large schools. With all 5A schools within a 50-mile radius of downtown Las Vegas, and all the 4A schools, except for Elko, within a 60-mile radius of downtown Reno, a state title would be cheap for the districts but less meaningful for the students.
Plus, there was the nasty issue of establishing a definition for exactly what a 5A school would be. No matter where you set the limit, Carson and Reed would meet the 5A enrollment criteria. Other schools, such as Liberty and soon-to-be-large-enough Pahrump Valley, would be the lone rangers down south.
About that time, some people were longing for the past -- when the 4A South played the 4A North for the state title. One proposal had the two southern regions play a semifinal, but the 4A North team would get a free ride to the title game. Another was to have the 5A champion play the 4A champion for a state championship.
With twice as many 4A schools down south as there are in the Cow Counties, that proposal just didn't make sense.
In the end, cooler heads prevailed, and the 5A proposal was scrapped in favor of the current system -- alternating championships, with three Southern teams getting into the state semifinals when the championship is down here, and the semifinals evenly split when the state semis are up in Reno.
The 5A fans aren't all gone yet. In theory, the NIAA will add a fourth 4A region in three years, and when the 4A North is outnumbered by Southern schools 3-to-1, the chorus from the Cow Counties will pick up that the South should pick up its ball and go home. Until then, it sure seems like the NIAA has a good deal going.
In fact, the Greater Nevada sports site, which for nearly 10 years has been the source for news and features for every school not in the 4A South, is on thin ice after some key sponsorships dried up.
The site and its editor, Chuck Hildebrand, have been a great source of information for the Sun about the goings-on of the small schools in Southern Nevada, and frankly, if he wasn't covering McDermitt football or Pahranagat Valley volleyball, it's doubtful anybody else would.
Hopefully, a sponsor will step up and contribute to the Greater Nevada site. It's nice to know what's happening in Round Mountain, Lincoln County and Eureka.
Tysson Poots from Coronado and Troy Cummings from Shadow Ridge both will serve mandatory one-game suspensions for being ejected from a game.
They're by no means the only athletes to have been suspended this year. Two players from South Tahoe were also suspended. According to NIAA assistant director Jay Beesemyer, 213 players and coaches were ejected last season, up from 181 in 2003-04.
Soccer players were the most-suspended bunch. And, to nobody's surprise, baseball coaches were the most likely to hit the showers early.
Foothill at Bonanza
Some newspapers have claimed to have been on the Foothill bandwagon all along, but we wanted to wait for them to prove themselves before we hopped on.
The call: Foothill 48, Bonanza 14 Arbor View at Liberty
The field turf remains bagged up on the parking lot up by the Orchard, which is a shame, because we were looking forward to an excuse to buy some Gilcrease apple juice. It's about the only positive in the vicinity of Aggie football so far.
The call: Liberty 38, Arbor View 0 Coronado at Cimarron-Memorial
Even our favorite Spartans fan (who shall remain nameless) was skeptical of their preseason chances. Now, she's as surprised as we are.
The call: Cimarron-Memorial 38, Coronado 24 J.K. Mullen at Shadow Ridge
The Battle of the Mustangs -- Mullen seems to have no running game, Shadow Ridge will be without its best receiver.
The call: J.K. Mullen 24, Shadow Ridge 20 Canyon Springs at Mojave
How about those 2-0 Rattlahs?!? A loss here and there and Mojave could be alone atop the Northwest Division standings. But we cede to the only 2-0 team in the Northeast right now.
The call: Canyon Springs 30, Mojave 7 Las Vegas at Cheyenne
The Vengeance Bowl for Vegas, which was embarassed by the Shield last season. Any other week, we pick Vegas in this game. But Ye Ole Hunch makes its first appearance of 2005, and it says "Vegas is focusing on #15."
The call: Cheyenne 24, Las Vegas 20
Rancho at Spring Valley
In a battle of wild mountain creatures, the Rams take on the Grizzlies as both teams seek their second wins. The nod here to Rancho's experience.
The call: Rancho 28, Spring Valley 6 Valley at Clark
A week ago, this would have been a tough pick. But Clark's good days are about as good as Sierra Vista's bad days, which apparently is what the Mountain Lions had when they got blasted at Valley last week.
The call: Valley 48, Clark 20 Desert Pines at Durango
Both teams desperately need this win, but Desert Pines has suffered against some much tougher competition. Their gritting it out will show.
The call: Desert Pines 21, Durango 20 Green Valley at Centennial
Greg Murphy returns to his old stamping grounds and his team does some serious stomping against the struggling Bulldogs.
The call: Green Valley 26, Centennial 14 Eldorado at Palo Verde
The Sundevils' season of torture continues with a trip to Summerlin. It'll be the closest game for Eldorado yet, but probably not enough to top the defending champs.
The call: Palo Verde 28, Eldorado 14 Chaparral at Del Sol
We're taking suggestions for a name for this contest. Paradise Valley Pandemonium? The C-D game? Anyone? Please?
The call: Del Sol 30, Chaparral 7 Silverado at Sierra Vista
Here's a game with two teams that desperately need a win. Silverado's offense has got to show up at some point this season -- here's to thinking tonight's the night.
The call: Silverado 38, Sierra Vista 13 Basic at Western
Now that the Warriors have found their offensive stride (to a degree), it's easy to pick a team on the rise. (Then Basic will win by 40 and make us fools.)
The call: Western 26, Basic 18 Bishop Gorman at Battle Ground, Wash.
Word from Vancouver is that Battle Ground didn't look good in Week 1, and we know Gorman didn't. The nod goes to the team we know.
The call: Bishop Gorman 40, Battle Ground 14
Already Decided: Reed 33, Hug 14; Spanish Springs 20, Reno 7; Churchill County 41, South Tahoe 0.
Off the Uprights: Virgin Valley at Hurricane (6 p.m. in Hurricane, Utah), Moapa Valley at Dixie (6 p.m. in St. George), Boulder City at River Valley, Pahrump Valley at Sparks, Faith Lutheran at North Tahoe (1 p.m. Saturday at Tahoe City, Calif.),
Out of Bounds: Carson at Bishop Manogue, North Valleys at Elko, Wooster at Galena, Douglas at McQueen.
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