Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 | midnight
Prep Sports Now
Special teams are a special disaster
Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer are back to talk about high school football leading into this week. They discuss the recent problems with special teams and break down their weekly picks.
Related coverage
The Valley High football team closed the game Friday with 20 unanswered points in a 27-24 victory against host Chaparral.
“Our kids hung in there and we had a couple of kids make some big plays,” Valley coach Marcus Sherman said.
The biggest play came midway through the fourth quarter with Valley trailing 24-20 and Chaparral driving inside the Vikings 15-yard line. That’s when Erik Edmonds intercepted a pass and returned it to inside the Chaparral 20.
Moments later, Anthony Sanders connected with Eric Burrell for the winning touchdown with minutes to play.
Freshman Dillard Davis, a 5-foot-6 running back, led Valley (3-4 overall, 3-2 Northeast) with a pair of rushing touchdowns. “He proved he can carry the load by himself as a freshman,” Sherman said.
Chaparral, which has just one win this season, didn’t play like a struggling team, Sherman said. The Cowboys ran the Wildcat formation offensively with junior running back Antonio Thomas tough for the Valley defense to contain.
“Chap came out with guns blazing,” Sherman said. They got us off guard with (Thomas). That kid is tough.”
Chaparral High School has seen better days.
Once among the top performing schools in the Clark County School District, Chaparral High is undergoing changes to counter dismal test scores and the lowest graduation rate in the district.
The campus located near East Flamingo Road and U.S. 95 is one of five turnaround schools not meeting the expectations outlined in No Child Left Behind.
Chaparral is now looking to clean up its reputation, touching every aspect of the school from restrooms to test scores.
Changes weren’t received well by students who openly protested the cuts to faculty and the new order that banned the use of cell phones and music players during the school day.
Under stricter rules, tardy students are locked out of classrooms, bathroom breaks during class time aren’t allowed and the lunch hour was pushed back to 1:40 p.m.
Superintendent Dwight Jones told students he’s not settling for half successes.
“Right now, 50 percent of the kids in this school don’t graduate high school. Is that acceptable to you? Think about that. Right now, some of the friends that you’re with aren’t going to graduate. Is that OK? That’s unacceptable to me. I think you guys ought to kick all of us out.”
- Year built:
- 1971
- Mascot:
- Cowboys
- Principal (Year Hired):
- David Wilson (2011)
- Enrollment:
- Approximately 2,250
- School Report Card:
- 2010-2011
Compiled by Gregan Wingert
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