Las Vegas wins Bone Game against Rancho to gain momentum for playoffs

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 | 12:40 a.m.

The Las Vegas High football team did more on Thursday night than extend its impressive streak of victories in one of Nevada’s most storied rivalry games.

The Wildcats’ 44-0 victory against visiting Rancho in the annual Bone Game was their 14th straight triumph in a series that dates back to the 1950s.

More importantly, the win gives an inexperienced Las Vegas squad momentum heading into next week’s Sunrise Regional playoffs that it can add to a more significant streak.

Las Vegas (8-1) has won six straight regional crowns, and thanks to its thorough victory over the Rams, the Wildcats have a new-found confidence that another title is obtainable.

Farrell Victor rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries and Hassan Henderson completed 10-of-18 passes for 172 yards and three scores to help the Wildcats close Northeast Division play undefeated.

While Las Vegas’ league record is perfect, its performance Oct. 30 against Desert Pines opened the door for much criticism just two weeks before the playoffs. The Wildcats didn’t score an offensive touchdown and were lucky to escape with a 7-6 victory.

Henderson, a sophomore, struggled finding receivers against Desert Pines, and the Las Vegas offense was prone to mistakes and turnovers.

What a difference a week makes.

While Rancho, which only dressed 23 players for the game, isn’t up the caliber of competition Las Vegas will see in the playoffs, the Wildcats definitely got their swagger back.

“We really settled down on offense and we continued to play good defense,” said Trey McElhaney, Las Vegas’ senior defensive end and team leader. “We just have to hold on to the ball and not have any turnovers and we will be OK.”

Las Vegas led 17-0 at halftime behind a 14-yard scoring strike from Henderson to Saeveon Butler, a 30-yard Michael Flores field goal and a 1-yard touchdown run from Victor.

Henderson followed with a pair of third quarter touchdown passes — 27 yards to Cameron Rogers and 48 yards to Maotoi Pearson — to give the offense a new spark at the right part of the season.

“We know (our offense) can score. We just got outplayed last week,” Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. “We’ve been grinding the kids and grinding ourselves all week to get better.”

Part of the change is a bigger focus on the running attack. Las Vegas mostly passed out of its spread offense this year as it tried to get Henderson — a first-year varsity performer — more familiar with the offense.

“We have a great running back (Victor), we just have to find ways to get him the ball,” Faircloth said.

Las Vegas will open the playoffs Nov. 13 with a quarterfinal match against Liberty or Silverado. Regardless of the opponent, the players realize everyone will be trying to dethrone the champions.

“We love being at the top of the mountain,” senior linebacker David Prieto said. “You always want to be first in everything you do and have people chasing you.”

Rancho finishes the season with a 2-8 record, but coach Elvin Dick had nothing but positives to say about his players.

“The kids fought hard and kept it close early,” Dick said. “If we could have gotten some things to go right for us early we might have been able to put some points on the board. It’s been the same story all year.”