Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Eldorado coach leaves for same post at Centennial

Spring Valley job one of two vacancies in the 4A classification

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Coach Evans

The Northwest Division will have two new football coaches next fall.

Leon Evans, who coached the last two seasons at Eldorado High, was hired this week at Centennial. Also, David Cochran was elevated to the top spot at Cheyenne.

Evans replaces George Baker, who went 18-22 in four seasons with the Bulldogs. Centennial, despite consistently fielding successful junior-varsity and freshman teams, hasn't reached the playoffs since 2003.

Evans brings valuable postseason experience after leading Desert Pines to the Sunrise Regional title and spot in the state championship game in 2002. Desert Pines lost to Reno's McQueen High in the finals.

He knows returning to the state finals will be an uphill battle — especially in the Northwest, where making the playoffs is considered an achievement. The Northwest, which is nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division" because of its numerous quality teams, is considered the state's toughest league.

"I'm excited to be part of the Northwest," Evans said. "It's the best league we have in Nevada and I look forward to coaching that caliber of athlete (everyday). From what I understand, we have enough athletes at Centennial to be competitive."

Evans won four games in 2008 during his first year at Eldorado, nearly equaling the program's five wins in the previous three years. The Sundevils went only 1-8 this fall, but the lone victory was against rival Chaparral in the Cleat Game.

Cochran is a familiar face at Cheyenne.

He was an assistant under former coach Charles Anthony, but didn't coach this fall after Anthony left for a job in Washington state.

Cochran takes over for Perryn Hale, who replaced Anthony but was dismissed in the final week of the season because his teaching credential expired.

Cheyenne took fourth in the Northwest in 2009 and lost to eventual state champion Bishop Gorman in the Sunset quarterfinals.

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Coach Murphy

That leaves two openings in the 4A classification — Eldorado and Spring Valley High. Coach Kelly Murphy said he was told last Friday by school officials at Spring Valley that they were going to take the program in a different direction.

Murphy, who went 13-8 in two years, led Spring Valley to the Sunset Regional quarterfinals in each of his seasons at the helm. The Grizzlies went 8-2 in 2008, but were upset by Cimarron-Memorial in the quarterfinals.

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

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