Home News Football Guide:

Coaches Poll: Las Vegas, Palo teams to beat

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

1. Las Vegas High 239 (9)
2. Palo Verde 234 (8)
3. Silverado 218
4. Bishop Gorman 214 (7)
5. Cheyenne 192 (1)
6. Del Sol 181
7. Centennial 145
8. Green Valley 54
9. Cimarron 30
10. Spring Valley 21
Others receiving votes: Liberty 14, Arbor View 8, Valley 7, Mojave 5, Western 5, Rancho 4, Shadow Ridge 3, Coronado 2, Legacy 2, Basic 1, Chaparral 1.
Scoring: Coaches ranked teams from first to 10th place, with first place assigned 10 points down to one point for 10th place. Total points awarded was 1,375. Number of first-place votes is indicated in parenthesis. The Home News surveyed all 31 of the valley’s 4A coaches; 25 responded.

Las Vegas High and Palo Verde are the teams to beat this fall.

Las Vegas, which has captured three state titles since 2001 and advances far into the postseason each year, was picked by Southern Nevada’s large-school classification coaches as the team to beat in the Home News’ annual Preseason Coaches Poll.

The Wildcats received a valley-best nine first-place votes to take the top spot, while Summerlin’s Palo Verde received eight first-place selections and is ranked second. Defending state champion Bishop Gorman had seven first-place votes and is ranked fourth.

The Wildcats were also tabbed as the top team in last year’s poll. They won the Sunrise Region, but lost in the state semifinals.

“It’s good to be respected, but it still comes to where you finish at the end,” Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. “I wouldn’t have picked us No. 1. There are four or five teams who can win it.”

The poll’s top two schools are loaded with talent. Palo Verde, led by USC commit Torin Harris, had four players on the Home News’ Southern Nevada All-Valley Preseason Team, while Las Vegas has three receiving preseason honors.

“It comes down to being No. 1 at the end,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. “It doesn’t matter where you start the season. You don’t have any control of that.”

Palo Verde has won four of the last six Sunset Regional titles, but fell to Gorman in last year’s regional finals in the last minute of the game.

“We do have some experienced kids who will be a factor,” Rost said. “But we have a lot of work to get back to that game.”

For all the teams who didn’t crack the top 10, don’t worry. Silverado was left out last year and proceeded to go undefeated in the regular season and win the Southeast Division crown.

Ray Brewer is the sports editor for the Home News and can be reached at ray.brewer@hbcpub.com or 702-990-2662.