Arbor View dealing with elevated preseason expectations

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.

If the Arbor View football team were a boxer, its first few matchups this season would be against helpless foes in attempt to bolster its record.

Arbor View — a team that leaned on a loaded roster of underclassmen en route to a school-record 10-2 season last year — is one of the most promising up-and-coming squads in the region. Unfortunately for the Aggies, high school football schedulers aren’t as keen on easing potential juggernauts into competition as fight promoters.

Arbor View opens the season with two straight games against teams that advanced to the state semifinals last year in Liberty and Palo Verde.

“They both have great programs,” Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said. “Palo is obviously always at the top of our division and Liberty kind of had a season like ours last year. Although they had a good year before, they really broke out last year.”

Arbor View scratched off a couple program milestones in 2010 including making the playoffs for the first time and winning a first-round game. It outlasted Durango in a 48-46 shootout.

The five rushers who combined to rack up 524 yards in that game — Donnie Gaskin, Roderick Eason, Steve Burns, Christian Rodriguez and Henry Hoffend — are all back to orchestrate Arbor View’s run-first attack.

Barnson has sensed a feeling of unfinished business from his team as a whole, which he cheerfully accepts. The players seem to have struck a healthy balance between remembering what they accomplished last year while still putting it behind them in search for something more.

“Do you think the Patriots wore their Super Bowl rings around a few years back?” Barnson asked. “And we didn’t come close to winning any rings. The kids are proud of what we did, but it’s time to move on.”

Either Gaskin, a junior, or Burns, a senior, could lead Arbor View in rushing on any given night. Eason fits in that category, too, although he’s even better on the other side of the ball as a defensive back. Rodriguez is the bruising fullback, while Hoffend enters his second year at quarterback.

Barnson expects the Aggies to improve up front this season. Starters on the line include 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior Jordan Mock and 6-foot-5, 220-pound junior Elijah George, who made the preseason All Sun team.

“He’s a big kid,” Barnson said. “He’ll help anchor that unit. We’re expecting big things out of him.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.