Budget cuts behind trimming football season by one game

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Monday, March 9, 2009 | 10:31 a.m.

One of Nevada’s oldest high school football rivalries will be put on hold for the foreseeable future starting next fall.

The annual “Jug Game” between Basic and Boulder City highs, which is usually the season opener for both schools on the last Friday of August, was canceled after the Clark County School District eliminated the opening week contests it referred to as hall-of-fame games.

A nine-game schedule, down from 10 games the past four years, was released last week.

Previously, the host school would pay $500 to play the hall of fame game, with money going to fund the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s hall of fame. Nearly all of Southern Nevada’s 30-plus high schools took the extra game.

However, the Clark County School District had to foot the bill for game officials, schools police, ticker takers and other workers. The district elected to cancel the contest in anticipation of athletic department funds being reduced as part of Gov. Jim Gibbons’ orders for the district to trim millions from its budget.

The Basic-Boulder City contest has been referred to as the Jug Game since the mid-1970s, when a milk jug was introduced to the rivalry and awarded to the winning team to paint in its schools colors. The jug will stay painted Basic white and blue after the Wolves were victorious last year 48-20.

“Everyone wanted to keep the game. We just couldn’t do it,” Boulder City coach Alex Kazel said. “It was a great game for both teams to start the year. We tried keeping it.”

Boulder City will open Sept. 4 against Mohave High of Bullhead City, Ariz., and Basic will open against Desert Pines on the same day.

The Basic-Boulder City rivalry started in the 1940s and used to be a game residents of Henderson and Boulder City circled on their calendars.

The week leading up to the game included plenty of pageantry and playful pranks, like Boulder City players driving their cars slowly along Water Street in Henderson to get the attention of Basic players and bonfire pep rallies the night of the game.

The rivalry had all but died by the early 1990s as the schools, which were always in different leagues, started paying more attention to beating teams they were fighting for playoffs spots. But in 1999, the coaches of both teams got together to bring it back.

“It’s tough because we were trying so hard to revive the rivalry,” Basic coach Jeff Cahill said. “The kids on both sides liked playing the game. Hopefully we can get it back in the future.”

Those are not the only schools affected by playing a shortened season.

Eliminating the hall of fame game will hurt teams from the large-school classification’s Southwest and Northwest divisions the most. Those leagues each have nine teams, meaning league games — contests that count toward making the playoffs —start immediately with the opener on Sept. 4.

Traditional powers Cimarron-Memorial and Cheyenne, schools that opened together in 1991 and have a history of close games, start the season Sept. 4 against each other in the Northwest. Most years, the contest impacts the postseason seeding.

While starting with such a crucial game is not ideal, Cimarron coach Rod Vollen — like several coaches questioned — understands why it’s being done.

“With the economic times the way they are, you have to be fiscally responsible as a district,” Vollen said. “They would be foolish not to show fiscal responsibility. Every team (in the Northwest) will have to start with a league game. You won’t have as much time to polish some things up.”

To compensate, most teams will have two scrimmages, up from one in years past. Each scrimmage gives the starting and reserve units roughly 10 plays on offense and defense.

That does not leave much time to get inexperienced players accustomed to varsity football.

Palo Verde, which lost in the state championship game, has several skilled-position players to replace, including quarterback. Coach Darwin Rost, whose team opens Sept. 4 against Mojave, said he has three signal callers who could receive playing time.

“If you draw one of the powers right off the bat, you could be chasing all season,” said Rost, who is also the president of the Southern Nevada Coaches Association.

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