Trick play leads Green Valley to victory over Centennial

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 | 12:05 a.m.

Centennial had no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary when Green Valley lined up for a 44-yard field goal attempt with seven minutes remaining in Friday night’s game.

Green Valley senior kicker Nolan Kohorst is widely considered to have the strongest leg in the Las Vegas valley.

He had only narrowly missed a 50-yard attempt minutes earlier.

So there was nothing fishy about it, right?

Wrong.

Kohorst took a direct snap and fired a 19-yard pass to senior receiver Joel Blankmeyer to set up a game-winning 18-yard field goal two minutes later as Green Valley knocked off Centennial 10-7.

“I actually didn’t know we were going to run that play until I walked on the field,” Kohorst said. “We knew it would be open, because they were coming hard after all of our kicks.”

Green Valley senior quarterback Jordan Corbett completed 15 of 24 passes for 144 yards and carried the ball 17 times for 37 yards in the victory.

He made a handful of key plays for the Gators, but the biggest pass of the night came from Kohorst. Corbett laughed off a suggestion that his job could be in danger because of Kohorst’s accuracy.

“He passes great,” Corbett said. “He did good work tonight.”

After Kohorst’s 18-yard field goal with five minutes to play, Centennial drove down to Green Valley’s 38-yard line with just less than two minutes to play.

Bulldog quarterback Cody Clark dropped back to pass and was swarmed by Gator defenders. Green Valley knocked the ball loose and recovered the fumble to clinch the victory.

“That hurt the worst,” Centennial coach George Baker said. “We looked like we were moving the ball.”

It was a fitting turnover because of the way Green Valley pressured Centennial throughout the night. The Gators prevented the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, Chris Henderson, from completing a pass in his six attempts. Clark went 3 for 6 for 45 yards, but two of those completions came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs simply had no answer for Green Valley’s defensive line, led by junior John Archuleta and senior Babatunde Adesanwo.

“We know our line is big,” Green Valley coach Matt Gerber said. “We’ve got three big ole’ boys in the middle that not many teams can match up with. They set the tone for us tonight.”

Green Valley’s first touchdown came on a 49-yard run by senior Treveece Jackson, who rushed 14 times for 76 yards overall, with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter to go up 7-0.

Centennial answered before the end of the quarter when it scored on a quarterback sneak by Clark from the 3 yard line. An 83-yard scamper up the middle by Bulldog senior Javanh Sanders set the score up.

It was Centennial’s only strike of the night.

“In all honesty, I’m disappointed we lost,” Baker said. “But I’m not really disappointed in a well-fought football game between two really good programs. We always have a great first game match-up with Green Valley.”