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Palo Verde High School’s Parker Rost talks to his father, coach Darwin Rost during practice at the school Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. Palo Verde will face Desert Vista High School (Arizona) in the Sollenberger Classic at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona on Aug. 18.
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012 | 12:49 a.m.
Palo Verde High beat Legacy in Sunset playoffs
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KSNV reports that Palo Verde High defeated Legacy High in the final regular season football game, Nov. 2.
Prep Sports Now
When basketball coaching fails, it's back to football talking
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Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer recount their experience coaching the Las Vegas All-Star team against Findlay Prep in basketball and move on to football talk in the 11th Prep Sports Now of the year.
Palo Verde HIgh football coach Darwin Rost could have been conservative and attempted a field goal Friday at the end of the first half against visiting Legacy in the Sunset Regional quarterfinals.
The Panthers were at the Legacy 3-yard line with about five seconds remaining before halftime, giving them enough time to run one play.
A short field goal would have given them a three-point halftime lead, while going for a touchdown came with the risk of no points and allowing underdog Legacy to gain confidence it could pull off the upset.
Rost’s gamble paid off.
His son, junior quarterback Parker Rost, rushed in for a touchdown for a seven-point halftime lead, and Palo Verde kept the momentum early in the third quarter in extending its lead to double digits in a 28-16 victory.
The win puts the Panthers in next week's Sunset Regional semifinals at three-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman, their biggest rival. The game has set NIAA attendance records in past seasons and is considered by several the most significant contest of the season in terms of interest.
Coach Rost knows being conservative won’t win many games. He set the tone Friday night with the gutsy call against Legacy.
“(Our plan) was to go for the win. The last couple of games, we played to hold on,” the coach said. “This week we went for the win and wanted to play hard every play.”
When Parker Rost called the Panthers’ final timeout of the half after a short rush by Lee Griggs brought the ball to the Legacy 3, several assumed the Panthers would bring out the field goal unit for the sure thing. Instead, they rolled the dice.
“We took the risk of trying to get some momentum going into halftime,” Parker Rost said.
The rest of the game belonged to senior Ryan Beaulieu. He caught three passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns, opening the scoring four minutes into the game with a 51-yard scoring strike from Rost.
With the game close in the second quarter and early in the third, Beaulieu went to coaches and expressed confidence he could beat the single-coverage defense on the outside.
He stayed true to his prediction.
He caught a 77-yard touchdown from Griggs to open the scoring in the third quarter and give Palo Verde a 21-7 lead. After a Legacy field goal, Beaulieu again scored on a long pass, hauling in a ball from Rost for a 59-yard score.
“We saw the safeties playing up and they were just trying stop the run,” Beaulieu said. “The corner was pressing me, so I knew it was one-on-one to see if he could cover me. I got behind him and scored.”
Duplicating the effort next week against Gorman will be easier said than done.
Gorman hasn’t lost to a local opponent since falling to Palo Verde in the 2008 playoffs, and while the games have been close at times the past three seasons, Gorman has posted double-digit victories each year.
For players on both sides, it’s a game they wait all year to play in.
“The fans are getting what they want. It’s all we can ask for,” Beaulieu said. “It’s a really big rivalry that everyone loves going to and being part of.”
Legacy’s Charles Julian rushed for more than 100 yards and scored a late touchdown on a 15-yard reception from Devin Williams.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.
Finally a game local game worth watching. It will not be close but the rivalry makes it fun to watch. Rost will try to control the clock, fall behind, force his kid into being perfect in the passing game, and then the wheels fall off. Its still worth the 7 bucks and the hotdogs are pretty good too.
I was at last nights game and legacy killed themselves with penalties and blown coverages. Palo could run the ball with any success and legacy controlled the line of scrimmage. Palo is going to get crushed by Gorman , legacy was the better team last night and they got beat by 70 vs Gorman. It's going to be 68-7 Gorman.
We all know Rost won't dare do what Shadow Ridge did last night and actually give his team a chance to keep it close. Last year even with 3 turnovers and over 100 penalty yards for Gorman, Rost was still conservative and content just trying to keep it respectable rather than go for broke and a win.
Rost, you've built a great program, very respected team that has battled all year, swallow your pride and give your boys a chance to win, go for broke.
The Gorman dynasty can't last forever and with Solomon gone next year and Cunningham Jr (who has shown flashes of brilliance with his runs) still has more fumbles and Ints than TD's so far in his limited appearances I think next year it'll be a lot more fun with actual contest against local schools and not gimme games. But for now, for this coming Friday Rost is completely out matched. Don't try to keep it respectable Rost please i'm begging you actually play to win.
Even though Palo struggled to beat a Legacy team that Gorman beat 70-0 I still look forward to the Palo vs Gorman match up. Both schools have the awesome student section support, school admin and community. I know Palo players are never scared of Gorman and they're going to bring it hard and that's why I love this match up regardless of who wins or who's outmatched it's a guaranteed good time.
Unfortunately GormanHomer hit the nail on the head and Rost won't oblige to make a game of this. A loss by 50 is the same as a loss by 10 you'll go home. Go home with nothing left in the tank.
Palo vs Gorman is always an early Christmas