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November 22, 2009

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From the Press Box:

Disappointing loss should not define Palo Verde’s talented football squad

Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 | 3:12 p.m.

Ray Brewer

Ray Brewer

Nobody remembers who takes second.

This saying, which is often used in sports to describe teams that lost the big game, isn't necessarily true with Palo Verde's football team.

The Summerlin squad suffered a heart-breaking 13-12 loss Saturday to Reno's McQueen High in the large-school state championship game at UNR's Mackay Stadium. The defeat, however, shouldn't define an otherwise dominant season.

In a day and age when a majority of Southern Nevada team's are watered down, the result of growth spreading the talent to a slim few at each school, Palo Verde was stacked. So stacked, that you can make arguments that it was Las Vegas' best team in the last decade.

The Panthers were led by a group of five who could be playing Division I football next fall and outscored opponents 537-148 to enter the title game undefeated. Palo Verde has gone 26-2 the last two years, with both losses decided in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

A day after falling to McQueen, with the disappointment of the loss still fresh in his voice, Palo Verde's Darwin Rost called the squad one of the best he's coached.

While the Panthers' talented athletes played a huge role in their success, it wasn't the only thing that made them a special group.

"The thing that stood out was these guys were really good friends," Rost said. "They could care less who got the glory."

Palo Verde had eight seniors who saw significant action on both sides of the ball. They were the last to board the bus following the loss, and received a standing ovation from teammates for their contributions to the program.

Seniors Alex Bonczyk, Dave Castro Jr., Edwin Cruz, Torin Harris, Sidney Hodge, Liloa Nobriga, Chaz Thomas and Kelly Zurowski set an example for younger teammates about how to dedicate themselves to the program, the coach said.

Linebackers Castro and Nobriga, two of the Las Vegas Valley's top defensive players, volunteered to play both ways this year, adding offensive line duties to their resume to help key Palo Verde's dominant rushing attack. The Panthers rushed for a Las Vegas Valley best 4,395 yards.

"All these kids had such a great passion for the game," Rost said.

Rost also has a passion for the game. He's spent every Sunday in the football office at Palo Verde since the middle of the summer preparing.

Even with the season over, Rost logged his normal office hours last weekend, less than 24 hours after coming up short in the title game.

Rost's dedication to winning is the main reason why the Panthers have played in the last seven state semifinals, including capturing the 2004 crown. He puts in ridiculous hours year-round to give the Summerlin community one of the state's top programs.

Sure, the Panthers came up short this year, but Rost will have them back in thick of the postseason next fall.

Knowing the coach, he probably spent that first Sunday in his office working on a starting lineup for next year.

Sports Editor Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@hbcpub.com.

Discussion: 2 comments so far…

  1. your only have a dominate season if you win every game. palo didnt have a dominate season. people might remember this seasons team for a couple years, but mcq's win will be etched in stone. and palo stacked?? what cause they had two good running backs?? from what I saw mcq was the dominate one in the state and the most stacked.

  2. You guys aren't going to let this loss go I see.

    1) The Summerlin community needs a lot more right now in their schools than a good football program. We need to be spotlighting teachers who are pushing education, not giving kudos because a football coach is already looking ahead to next season after a loss.

    The High School, and its neighboring Rogich Middle School, are becoming a REAL mess (and this is from experience). Parents moving to Vegas and expecting a higher standard of living in Summerlin are going to have some horrified kids if they came here from top-notch out of state school systems.

    2) The level of football here is mediocre. Being dominant down here doesn't equate to much, and remember they didn't really dominate Cimmaron OR Sierra Vista. This isn't a football state, and Palo's advantage is they focus heavily on their athletics programs. It isn't so much that their athletes are superior, or that the coaching is at a higher level, the priority here is different than at many other schools.

    Centennial looks like the squad to be somewhat dangerous next season. You always have that wild-card unknown, which could be kids moving in from out of state (after all, don't thousands and thousands of people move here every month?). Who knows what star could suddenly appear as a senior that we've never seen before.

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