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Published Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 | 7:45 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 | 1:53 a.m.
Prep Sports Now
The Great Northwest
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Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer look ahead to another week of high school football and detail why the Northwest division appears to be the strongest in town. Palo Verde, Arbor View, Centennial, Cimarron and Cheyenne have all looked impressive in the early season.
Related coverage
It’s just the third week of the high school football season, yet some teams are starting to show they have what it takes to make deep playoff runs.
In the Sun’s game of the week Friday, Arbor View hosts Centennial in a crucial Northwest Division battle of two teams that won playoff games last year. Both are expected to be back in the thick of the postseason.
Perennial powers Bishop Gorman and Palo Verde highs are also in action Friday and expected to win by multiple touchdowns. Two-time defending state champion Gorman plays a Southwest Division game against a host Durango team not at full strength, meaning the Gaels could duplicate last week’s 54-0 victory against Desert Oasis.
Palo Verde, which beat league rival Arbor View last week, plays at Mojave in a battle of two schools that opened together in 1996 but have went in opposite directions. Palo Verde is one of the state’s best programs and Mojave has only made one playoff appearance. Additionally, Mojave has never beat Palo Verde.
Foothill has opened with two wins and plays at Desert Oasis tonight in its final tune-up before Southeast Division play. The Falcons have won playoff games in each of the last two seasons and appear ready to continue the streak.
Check back all night as the games go final. There aren’t many marquee games on tonight’s slate, but one the beauties of high school football are anything can happen on any given night. That’s why they play the games.
• Bishop Gorman records second straight shutout in win against Durango
• Virgin Valley wins third straight by rallying past Shadow Ridge in fourth quarter
• Green Valley coach Brian Castro notches first career win
• Pahrump Valley snaps 30-game losing streak with win against Western
• Spring Valley’s victory over Clark special in its own way
• Bonanza’s Brett Doyle accounts for 3 touchdowns in win against Sierra Vista
• Moapa Valley defense doesn’t budge in win over Sunrise Mountain
• Foothill slips by Desert Oasis in final minutes, 28-24
• Palo Verde keeps rolling with win against Mojave
• Silverado uses rushing from Thurmon, stellar defense to beat Valley
• Coronado handles Chaparral, 42-14
• Del Sol overcomes slow start, penalties for lopsided victory against Eldorado
Just watched the Legacy game, and wow, there were great athletes on both sidelines. I was pulling for Legacy, but man, I felt bad for the boys on Faith. They just got out coached! Predictable on Offense, and no adjustments on defense.
Bonanza again??? Good for them!
The Gorman game against Durango was a joke. Durango is probably the worst team in Southern Nevada. And while Shaq Powell did score several td runs, it was against a very weak defense. But he has shown he could do it against national powers. Qb Soloman on the otherhand, was sloppy and couldnt hit wide open receivers. His 3 td passes were not impressive. Any other Qb could have had 3+ td passes against Durango tonight.
Hey RayC: Thanks for the scouting report for those of us who missed the game :). I wouldn't worry about Solomon. I first saw him play when he was a seventh-grader with the Island Warriors. Kid throws such a nice ball. You have to remember, the Las Vegas area is not known for its quarterbacks. Solomon is the exception.
Ray C: "But he has shown he could do it against national powers"...I don't think he did or has done ANYTHING BY HIMSELF!!! This is why these Gorman kids HEADS ARE SO SWOLLEN.
Really? Ragging on 16 year olds? Good job by 2nd and 3rd string defense in preserving shutout. In.other news silverado is officially over rated and congrats to Pahrump...finally
Ray B, just out of curiousity is there a Gorman coach that also coaches with the Island Warriors? Because i saw the QB Danny Hong play with the Island Warriors last year and he is also now at Gorman. Im not at all making any inference to recruiting because it would be natural for a middle school player to want to continue to play for the same coach in high school. Or is there a family relationship between Soloman and Hong since they are both Polynesians?
most high school juniors (like the quarterback he was ragging on) are 16-17. That's the point i was making. By all means if you have information on 20 year olds playing high school ball by all means contact the NIAA yesterday.
Mineral County 0, Spring Mountain 62
Palo Verde 48, Mojave 0
Faith Lutheran 6, Legacy 56
All scores from last night.. Las Vegas has absolutely pounded Eldorado in the "bone" game for 12 years in a row, Palo has whooped Mojave every single year since 1996. Call it like you see it but call it across the board not just with the easy targets.
Tuasdad, it was not my intention to "rag" on the qb as you are right in that they are just 16-17 year olds. I was just pointing out that he didnt look sharp. I have intntionally not named players in the past when i talk about Gorman recruiting because i know they are just kids and so i just referred to them by their jersey numbers. Anyway, i thought the entire offense didnt look very sharp and i expected a better perfornance against such a bad team. But Team Sgi, i do think the qb is good and has good footwork and throws good passes. I would just like to see him step up against the national powers. He is still only a junior but he needs to get a bit taller and step up in the national games if he wants to get to the next level of D1 college football.
Personally I think Solomon is decent, not amazing. He gets a lot of time to throw the ball from that massive O line and he isn't forced to win the game with his arm thanks to a loaded running game. I hope they get all the kinks worked out by the time Servite comes to town. Servite will likely be ranked #2 in California and likely higher than Gorman nationally by the time they come to town.
I am really looking foward to the Servite game. Very similar teams in terms of talent and discipline. My friends from Southern California who are still involved in high school and college football are coming up to see this game and also Gorman's freshman QB Hong in the jv game.