Southern Nevada high school football is beginning to get recognition

Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 | 2 a.m.

One benefit Southern Nevada enjoys from years of explosive population growth is there are more high schools and a larger pool of young athletes to draw from for high school sports. In terms of football, the talent pool is still not as deep as it is in far more populous communities in California, Texas and elsewhere. But the improvement shown locally has been significant enough to draw attention from major college recruiters and national publications and websites that track high school achievement. That is all the more remarkable because Southern Nevada doesn’t have a major pro football team to inspire youngsters, and the collegiate squad at UNLV has struggled for years.

Much of the credit for recent national attention to high school football belongs to Steven Jackson, the Eldorado High standout running back who went on to set records with Oregon State University and with the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. Jackson last year shattered the Rams’ career rushing record that had been held by Pro Football Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson. Jackson followed up in June with induction into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. The spotlight that Jackson brought to high school football in Southern Nevada has benefited others, including former Bishop Gorman High running back DeMarco Murray, who set the career touchdown record at the University of Oklahoma and is a rookie with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that two-time defending 4A state high school football champion Bishop Gorman was ranked as the nation’s seventh-best team by RivalsHigh.com, a recruiting-based website. The ranking came with a backhanded observation from RivalsHigh senior analyst Dallas Jackson, who wrote: “Perception says Bishop Gorman is the best team in a bad state ...” But as Ray Brewer, sports editor of the Las Vegas Sun wrote last week, teams the Gaels are expected to face in the playoffs are anything but weak. The likely foes include neighborhood rival Palo Verde High, which has lost only one regular-season game in the past four years.

It is fitting that Bishop Gorman will open its season Saturday at the Sollenberger Classic against another nationally ranked school, Chaparral High of Scottsdale, Ariz., at University of Phoenix Stadium, home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. As an added bonus for Southern Nevadans, the Sollenberger Classic will feature last year’s state 3A runner-up Moapa Valley Pirates versus a squad from Show Low, Ariz.

For such a small school to play in such a large stadium is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that few similarly sized schools nationwide will ever enjoy. After all, the website Maxpreps.com ranked the Pirates 5,437th among the nation’s high schools. It is little wonder, then, that Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis would tell the Sun’s Case Keefer: “When the kids found out we were playing in the Cardinals stadium, that was an eye-opening thing for them. They have just been so excited.”

They have a right to be, and so do their fellow Southern Nevadans, who are being treated to excellent levels of high school football that should produce outstanding college prospects for years to come.