Faith Lutheran sports to make debut in 4A

Richard Brian

Faith Lutheran Athletic Director and basketball coach Bret Walter, right, poses inside the school’s gym with players Chase Saunders, left, and Brett Lubbe. The school is being moved up to the 4A classification level so sports will be more competitive.

By Christopher Drexel

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 | 8:27 p.m.

Richard Brian

Faith Lutheran's championship banner from last year's boys' basketball title run.

It has been almost five years since Faith Lutheran's sports teams made the jump from state's 2A classification to 3A. Now, the Crusaders are on the verge of raising the bar again.

Next year, the school will make its debut in the 4A level as the classification's smallest school with just more than 700 students. But coaches and administrators believe the school will not have a problem competing, Athletic Director Bret Walter said.

They have preached to the school's athletes that having as much success as possible this year will serve as a springboard for next season.

"I've been here 12 years and when I got here we were 1A with 100 kids," Walter said. "Myself, football coach Jake Kothe and a few other coaches have seen us move from 1A to 2A and 3A and now 4A. We have a lot of people here that know what it takes to get through a transition."

Faith Lutheran petitioned the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, the governing body of prep sports in Nevada, to be moved up last spring. The decision came on the heels of the NIAA voting to apply a multiplier to the enrollment of private schools in regard to athletics classification. The multiplier would put the Crusaders at more than 1,400 students, while the cutoff for schools in 4A is 1,201.

The multiplier — used to create a level playing field between private and public schools — wouldn't go into effect until the next realignment in 2012, but Faith Lutheran asked to be moved to better prepare itself and because of the current lack of schools in the 3A.

With the move of Pahrump Valley to 4A this year, only three other schools — Boulder City, Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley — remain competing in the 3A Southern league.

That makes for only three league football games and just six league games in sports like basketball and volleyball.

"We enjoyed our time in 3A. I don't believe it's getting old in any way," said Walter, who is also the boys basketball coach. "But we've decided as a school that 3A is a dying league, and it's in our best interest to explore 4A."

The boys basketball team has captured the 3A state title every year Faith Lutheran has competed in the 3A. It has gone 95-27 the last four years, only losing two games to 3A opponents.

"It would be good to end being in 3A with another state championship," said Chase Saunders, a senior guard on the boys basketball team. "(A title) is definitely the goal every year but this year being our last in 3A, I think there is more pressure."

The boys basketball team is also no stranger to facing larger schools as it plays 10 to 15 games per season against 4A teams. Last year, the Crusaders went 7-4 against such opponents. Sophomore forward Brett Lubbe said he is excited to face 4A teams for a full season.

"We might not be able to do the four-peats again with basketball but we've proven we can hang with them for sure," Lubbe said. "We beat the same team at state four years in a row now so seeing new competition will be nice for the school. It's nice to win state, but I like playing against the top teams."

Not all Faith Lutheran teams have had the same success as boys basketball, however. Though the gym walls are lined with banners and teams such as boys and girls soccer and boys and girls golf remain among the best in their classification, the boys basketball team was the only squad to win state last year.

Other teams such as girls basketball and football will experience a sharp increase in competition. But coaches insist they'll be prepared.

"There will be a bit of a learning curve," girls basketball coach Jennifer Karner said. "Everything will be different than what we're used to now especially since we haven't played a lot of those (4A) teams before. But I think we'll rank somewhere in the middle. We're no Centennial yet, but we'll have a chance to work our way up to that."

Walter said Faith Lutheran won't add many more students than it has now unless it expands its facilities. But by being in 4A, it is possible the Crusaders will attract more athletes.

"We've had athletes who have left Faith Lutheran because we're not a 4A school," Walter said. "Our first goal is to keep our middle school students here. The unknown is how many others would be interested in attending Faith if it was a 4A school. There is a mentality in Las Vegas that you need to compete at 4A to give yourself the best chance to move on to the college level."

Christopher Drexel can be reached at 990-8929 or christopher.drexel@hbcpub.com.