Gorman football a dynasty in the making

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 3:23 p.m.

Las Vegas Valley high school football teams shouldn’t bother handing out equipment this fall.

That’s what one 4A classification coach jokingly said last week when discussing how loaded Bishop Gorman appears to be.

If Gorman is this stacked, why bother going through the motions, right? Obviously, the coach was being facetious ...but you can’t argue his humor.

The Gaels’ talent, especially on defense, is best described by the emergence of defensive end Ian Bobak. Buried behind a pair of Division I ends last year, Bobak received limited playing time and only had five tackles and one sack — for the year, not one game.

This summer, however, he has gotten a chance to shine.

Gorman more than held its own at Fresno State’s competitive team camp two weeks ago, battling against some of California’s best programs in showing they are the team to beat in Nevada.

Bobak, on a defense that will feature as many as five with Division I offers, was one of Gorman’s top players. So good that Fresno State offered him a scholarship.

That means seven from Gorman have offers from major Division I schools, including 15-year-old junior-to-be defensive end Jalen Grimble who has offers from USC, UCLA, LSU, Texas Tech, Utah, and UNLV. Grimble’s cousin, rising senior Xavier Grimble, already committed to USC and is rated as the nation’s best tight end by recruiting Web site Rivals.com.

“If our kids match the talent level with work ethic and intensity, we’ll have the opportunity to do something special,” said Tony Sanchez, Gorman’s first-year coach who was hired after a national search this winter.

Don’t be surprised if doing something special means matching the dominance of the private school’s baseball program. Gorman’s baseball team has captured four straight state titles, was ranked No. 1 last week in Baseball America’s final rankings and won the American Legion World Series last summer.

Just months into Sanchez’s tenure, it’s not far-fetched to predict the football program will enjoy the same success.

Sanchez has the swagger and confidence needed to handle the expectations at Gorman, and his an energetic attitude is contagious.

It doesn’t hurt that Gorman has more than its share of special athletes.

Gorman’s stable of talented players goes deeper than next year’s senior class. Sophomore Marc Philippi — son of former UNLV strength coach Mark Philippi — will be the starting quarterback and sophomore tailback Shaquille Powell has the potential to Las Vegas’ top rusher in each of the next three years.

But let’s not prematurely engrave Gorman’s name on the championship trophy.

If the Gaels have an Achilles’ Heel it would their lack of team speed, something that was exploited by Palo Verde last fall in the Sunset Regional title game. Palo Verde turned the contest into a track meet and Gorman was simply too slow in a 50-14 defeat.

Palo Verde, which has played in the last seven state semifinals, is still the team to beat.

But Gorman, at least for now, is a close second.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected].