Palo Verde’s hopes high with the season dawning

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Palo Verde High football coach Darwin Rost sat behind a table near the entrance of the team’s locker room Wednesday morning and waited for a storm of eager players to come collect their equipment for the upcoming season.

Passing out gear is never one of the veteran coach’s favorite days of the summer. After all, fitting players from the program’s three levels with helmets, shoulder pads and other necessities is an exhausting task.

But it is a task — one done by all 33 large-school-division programs this week — that signals a new beginning. Today is the first day of official practices, when teams are permitted by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association to practice in helmets. Full gear workouts start Monday.

“The kids know this is when we get it cranked up,” said Rost, who is entering his 13th year at Palo Verde and is the most tenured coach in the Las Vegas Valley.

While Rost and his staff were busy distributing equipment, several players couldn’t help recalling this winter when they turned in their gear. The Panthers had an eight-hour bus ride back from Northern Nevada following a 13-12 loss to Reno’s McQueen High in the state title game. Handing in their gear closed the books on a disappointing day.

They hope this year will be different.

Palo Verde is ranked as Nevada’s top team and No. 98 in the nation by recruiting Web site Rivals.com

If Palo Verde does capture state, Rost said, returning equipment will be an easy process. “We’ll just have them throw it all in the room,” he said.

Two-way starter Tyrone Blake, who will be in his fourth varsity season, was the first player to grab his equipment. The running back, who has 23 career rushing touchdowns, secured everything in his locker before leaving for the day.

He’ll be back at 6:30 this morning for the first practice with high expectations — winning the state championship.

“My whole goal is getting a ring for me and another one for Coach,” Blake said. “We’ve been through so much together and he means a lot to me. We’re going to get a ring together.”

Palo Verde, Bishop Gorman and Las Vegas High are Southern Nevada’s traditional powers, and each is expected to make a deep playoff run come November.

Don’t be surprised if Palo Verde, which has played in the past seven state semifinals, continues its season into the first weekend of December. That’s when the state championship game is scheduled for Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Everyone thinks that Palo Verde is No. 1, but we still have a lot to prove,” senior defensive end Daniel Godkin said. “There are still some people who doubt us because we lost so many players.”