Valley comes out victorious in five-overtime game against Rancho

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Sept. 16, 2011 | 11:19 p.m.

Valley coach Marcus Sherman wasn’t planning on getting much sleep Friday night.

He couldn’t imagine doing anything other than thinking about his team’s 35-34 victory over Rancho. The Vikings won one of the more memorable high school football games in Southern Nevada history in five overtimes.

“It was just incredible,” Sherman said. “Both teams played their hearts out. They battled as hard as we did. They would score. We would score. It was just back and forth.”

The game was tied at 8 at the end of regulation after Valley got a fourth quarter safety.

That started the wild overtime session, which saw the Vikings score three times on a fourth-down play to prolong the game. The two teams went for two-point conversions in each of the first four overtimes.

The Valley defense — led by senior defensive end Charles Hicks — stopped Rancho’s two-point conversion in the fifth overtime. The Vikings scored on a fourth-down play when Anthony Sanders hit Erik Edmonds on a slant route.

That’s when Sherman sent out freshman Dillard Davis to attempt an extra point and end the game.

“I just decided we had to do it,” Sherman said. “It was the first extra point we made all year.”

When Davis made it, the Valley sideline burst into celebration. Sophomore Tyrone Prewitt also caught a touchdown in one of the overtime periods.

“I start four freshmen and five sophomores, and they battled,” Sherman said. “We’ll start slow, but we’re going to come on and fight until the end.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.