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Friday, Nov. 11, 2011 | 12:39 a.m.
High school football highlights
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KSNV coverage of four high school games, Nov. 10, 2011.
Prep Sports Now
Familiar arguments emerge as playoffs move along
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Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer disagree on the Liberty vs. Las Vegas matchup for the same reasons as last year. They come to a consensus on the rest of the games, but also break down the matchups.
Related coverage
With less than two minutes remaining and Palo Verde High trailing visiting Centennial 20-16 in the Sunset Regional semifinals, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-seven from the Centennial 34-yard line with their undefeated season on the line.
Palo Verde sophomore quarterback Parker Rost hit senior running back Jacob Witham on a screen pass and Witham made a defender miss to pick up 19 yards and extend the drive.
“I took off right trying to get the linebacker to go with me and once he did, I just turned and threw it to Witham and he made a great run to get the first down,” Rost said.
Three plays later, Panther junior running back Ryan Beaulieu used his speed to get to the corner of the end zone on a 7-yard touchdown run, giving the Panthers the 23-20 victory.
The Panthers defense forced Centennial to turn the ball over on downs on the ensuing possession in advancing to next week’s Sunset championship game to face rival Bishop Gorman.
“They’re real good,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said of Gorman. “We’ve seen them ’07,’08, ’09, 2010, and now 2011. Five years in a row we’ve seen them. (Gorman coach) Tony Sanchez does a great job and they’re nationally ranked. We’ll have our kids prepared and give it a shot.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 16-0 first half lead off a safety and two touchdowns from junior tailback Lee Griggs.
On the Panthers first drive of the second quarter, Griggs caught a 50-yard reception from Rost to move the ball to the Centennial 2-yard line and he scored on the following play.
On the Panthers ensuing drive, Rost connected with Griggs on a 47-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 16-0 with 6:32 left in the second quarter.
Griggs finished with five receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown.
“Griggs is a great player,” Parker Rost said. “He’s one of the best athletes in the state. He can do anything. You just have to get him the ball and he’ll make moves and break tackles.”
Just when the game was looking like it might turn into a lopsided affair like the Sept. 16 matchup in which the host Panthers defeated the Bulldogs 49-12, Centennial responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Coby Newton 1-yard touchdown run to trim the deficit to 16-6.
With the Bulldogs trailing by 10 points at halftime, Centennial play inspired football in the third quarter, outscoring the Panthers 14-0 and holding Palo Verde to one first down.
Centennial cut into its deficit midway through the third quarter when junior quarterback Austin Turley hit senior receiver Najeem Popal for a touchdown on an 11-yard fade route to cut the score to 16-13.
After Centennial’s defense forced a three-and-out, running back Jacobi Owens busted free for a 65-yard touchdown run off left tackle to cap 20 unanswered points for the Bulldogs.
Centennial intercepted a Rost pass with just over four minutes remaining, but Palo Verde’s defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Bulldogs possession to give Rost a chance to redeem himself.
Rost took advantage of the second opportunity as he threw for 59 of his 170 yards on the game-winning drive, including a 30-yard shovel pass to Griggs to get the drive started.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Bulldogs, but even in defeat Centennial showed it can play with one of the elite teams in the state.
“I’m so proud of my kids tonight,” Centennial coach Leon Evans said. “They played their butts off and they had an opportunity to win that thing tonight… It kind of puts us over the hump that we can compete with the elite teams in town. We want to be one of those elite programs in town and to be one you have to compete with these guys, and I think we did that tonight.”
On the national stage you have one shot to crack the top 100 in the nation. You are not going to win, lets just be realistic. But don't quit! You have all of Nevada football riding on this. Your efforts will shine a light on not just your program but Arbor View and now Centennial. Colleges are going to be looking at you guys this next week. This is your moment! Go for Broke!
This game truly showed the lack of second half focus that the Palo Verde Panthers have shown in the second half of recent years playoff games.
Palo, when beaten by Gorman will now be able use the excuse of Gorman recruiting, ect. When it really comes down to poor coaching, poor substitution of players, lack of player depth positionally and incredibly bad choices of players in skill positions. The stats will tell you one story about the "passing" game that Palo has but the game tape will tell you something COMPLETELY different. Roll outs and shovel passes won't work against Gorman, Coach Rost. What are you and your 5'3", rag armed QB going to do when Gorman brings all 11 men into the box? Do you think you will be able to throw past the line of scrimmage???
I was really worried for a minute there no offense to Centennial but Nevada football would have been further disregarded had big bad Palo the only team with a shot** at Gorman lost to Centennial. Had Palo won convincingly like they did the first time they play Cent then quite possibly they would have neared top 100-150 in nation by some polls or at least top 200.
I will discount this as simply 16-17 year old kids doing what all of us were doing and planning out next Friday versus Gorman. There were some bad calls by Rost and I don't think they have a flying chance in hell next week. They are a solid team they should learn from what Arbor View did and play with no fear even if you're getting stomped. Collect yourselves Palo it's time for war and I know you'll come ready to play I always look forward to this game.
As for Centennial, what a heartbreaker, great effort and you have a lot to be proud of. I'd have to rank Centennial #5 in the south end of season rankings just behind Liberty. Well done boys.
Do you think Rost wishes he hadn't run off the Williams kid (now at CM) who rushed for over 1700 yds this season. Or the McQuaig kid(at Durango) over 900 yd. And instead had them both back. This is the weakest Palo team I have seen in 10 years. No playmakers anywhere. Their front 7 plays tough, but their secondary is so weak and overrated. It's easy to have a good pass defense when nobody in your league knows how to pass, (except Faith, but they don't count cause they have no o line or RBs). Forget about the first game of the season btw AV and Liberty. liberty is twice the team they were earlier. I always gave the NW their props. But now I realize this is the most overrated league in the city. They can't pass and they can't stop a pass. Liberty and Foothill, and maybe Basic would run these NW teams off the field.
BG will destroy this Palo team. Their QB and Wrs can't wait for this game. And BG DBS may have 5 plus ints. Just a bad matchup for Palo. Really don't see how Palo can score at all. Palo can stop the run but will get destroyed by the pass.
Hey Palo, it's called an offense when you can pass and run.
Game of the week won't be the BG vs Palo like we thought, it'll be Liberty vs Foothill
Damn, a little hate there lvfootball fun? Palo has done nothing this year but beat every team that has been put in front of them. I hate the coach, but don't discount the team. They overlooked a good Cent team and almost lost. But last time I checked they still haven't lost a game. They will lose to Gorman, just like every other team for the rest of this year. But to say that Liberty, Foothill and Basic would beat them is a joke. You know it and I know it. There is only one indicator you can go by without playing each other. That is who they have played and if they won. AV beat Liberty easily and Palo and AV are nearly clone teams. The stupid "it happened early in the season" argument is almost as lame as the "Liberty and Foothill, and maybe Basic would run these NW teams off the field" comment.
Truth hurts. Liberty is on a roll. Maybe you should go watch them. Foothill has the top QB in valley with best open field playmaker in Keplinger. Did you watch Palo last night? They really struggled against the pass. If you want to talk about common opponents or results from earlier, Cent lost to LV and LV was dominated by Liberty. Liberty had almost 600 yds total offense last night. Foothill is very well coached. My problem w the NW is not the kids but the coaching or lack of. Why can't these teams pass the ball? The reason they struggle against the pass is because they never practice it or see it much. And don't count Faith. I do apologize if I offended the kids. I didn't mean it that way. But you have to agree the lack of passing game hurts these kids. Especially hurts kids who might be good receivers.
lvfootballfun, How can you say Palo has "no playmakers anywhere"? They're record is 11-0 and all but 3 games were blowouts. Somewhere plays ARE being made!!!
Of course all but three were blowouts, because there are only three or four teams in Las Vegas that are really contenders. I agree with the posts above, Palo will never make it in the top 100, because Rost doesn't play his best talent. His son should definitely not be playing in the QB position, especially when he has more qualified QB's on the sideline. The bottom line is Rost doesn't play his best QB's, RB's, etc. Poor coaching, and the inability to determine which players are the best fit for each position ultimately hurts the team and the players in the long run. When you put kids in positions they're really not good in you set the kids up for failure, because these kids go off to college only to be sidelined, because they can't compete on a national level. If he played the best players he wouldn't have had a circus like last night.
Why does it have to be that Palo is that bad....couldn't it just be that Centennial is that good? The Bulldogs played their hearts out last night. Sorry to say, but it's time they earn a little respect from everyone. There are some great athletes on Centennial with a passion and love for the game that is palpable at each and every game. They never gave up on their fans, their coaches or their teammates and that made all the difference this season and especially last night. It was a great game and the Bulldogs were out to represent. There is no way Palo looked like a better team than Centennial. They were two GREAT teams and Palo got lucky in the last 56 seconds of the game....that's the truth. Centennial deserves some credit where credit is due.
fballmom,
Good job! I agree, Centennial is moving up the chain and will compete for the Sunset title again next year. Now the bad news, you have to cheer for Palo Friday night. If you want your school to matter and get these kids names in front of real scouts and coaches, Palo has to compete and give Gorman a good game. Look at Rivals or MaxPreps, they are all over this game. This one is important on the national level. If Palo can pull off the upset they can crack the top 100 in the polls. So now Centennial gets some love splashed on them too. But unlucky for Palo, Gorman needs to keep the pedal down and run up the score big time. Texas playoffs begin in a week. There are 3 teams that can hop over Gorman on the national spotlight. So to stay a national contender Gorman has to take Palo to the woodshed.
Congrats Centennial on an awesome season.
Tuasdad, if you look at Rivals.com top 100. Teams being considered for top 100, you will see Palo Verde so they are already there where you're saying they could possibly get to.
Lvfootballfun, if Griggs (my son) had as many carries as McQuaig or Williams he'd have just as many yards"do the math.
Fballmom, I agree with a lot of what you said. The kids over there did play their hearts out but you have to play till the final whistle.