Las Vegas hangs on for win against Utah school

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 | 1:23 a.m.

For a split second, the entire Las Vegas High sideline and stands went dead silent.

With a minute to play in Friday night’s game, Snow Canyon (Utah) receiver Jacob Brown caught a fourth down pass in the end zone that could have sent the game into overtime.

But as Brown hit the ground, the ball popped out. The drop ensured that host Las Vegas would hang for a 17-10 win.

“Man, I was scared,” Las Vegas sophomore running back Farrell Victor said. “I thought it was overtime right there.”

Las Vegas shouldn’t have found itself in that situation as it committed four turnovers to keep Snow Canyon in the game.

Victor, who rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, had two fumbles and sophomore quarterback Hasaan Henderson added a fumble and an interception.

“We did most of the damage to ourselves by not holding on to the football,” Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. “We had some momentum swings and we just kept giving it back to them.”

Every offensive blunder, however, turned into a defensive triumph. Snow Canyon only scored three points against the Las Vegas defense all night.

The Warriors lone touchdown came in the first quarter when senior Nicholas Bott returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to make the score 10-7. Other than that, Snow Canyon gained only six yards in the first quarter.

Las Vegas senior defensive end Trey McElhaney had a pair of sacks, including one late in the fourth quarter to set the table for Snow Canyon’s failed last play.

It was third-and-six from the Las Vegas 17-yard line when Snow Canyon quarterback Austin Larsen dropped back to pass. Only Larsen had no time with McElhaney exploding through the line.

“It was a formation where I’m the widest rusher and the tight end tried to reach me and I wouldn’t let him reach me,” McElhaney said. “The quarterback rolled out and I just had him. I wasn’t going to let go.”

It was perhaps the most important play of the game as it set up fourth and 14 and forced Snow Canyon to throw into the end zone.

The Las Vegas defense also scored the first touchdown of the game when senior Riyaadh Nevins returned an interception 30 yards in the first quarter to make the score 10-0.

The Wildcats failed to score again until the first play of the fourth quarter when Victor ran up the middle for a 5-yard touchdown. The score followed a 30-minute lightning delay.

“I was so anxious to come back out here and play,” Victor said. “The team was ready and we executed.”