Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

high school football:

Green Valley tops Foothill for spot in Sunrise semifinals

Green Valley beats Foothill in playoffs

Special to the Sun

Green Valley High wide receiver Markus Varner catches one of his two touchdowns in the Gators’ Sunrise Regional quarterfinal victory against Foothill on November 9, 2012.

Green Valley Football Advances in Playoffs

Green Valley High's Gio Hernandez returns a punt for a touchdown in the Gators' Sunrise Regional quarterfinal victory against Foothill on November 9, 2012. Launch slideshow »
Prep Sports Now

Projecting the rest of the playoffs

Bishop Gorman vs. Palo Verde. Arbor View vs. Centennial. The start of the Sunrise region playoffs. The semifinals of the Division 1A playoffs. It's a packed week of high school football for Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer to break down on this episode of Prep Sports Now.

It took the Green Valley High football team about one quarter Friday to get comfortable playing postseason football.

The Northeast League champion Gators, which start a sophomore quarterback and have several underclassmen at other key positions, trailed visiting Foothill 7-0 in the Sunrise Regional quarterfinals after surrendering touchdown on the first series of the game.

They wouldn’t be scored on again until the fourth quarter, however, recording an easy 43-14 victory in advance to next week’s semifinals against Coronado.

“The kids just had to get going,” Green Valley coach Brian Castro said. “Foothill has a good staff. They put people in the right spot to win. (We) needed to wake up a little bit, but got over (the slow start) in a hurry).

Christian Lopez, the sophomore quarterback, passed for three touchdowns — two Markus Varner and one to Adonis Todd. Quintin Kohorst led Green Valley with six catches for 77 yards.

Green Valley also shined defensively and on special teams. Kicker Conor Perkins had a pair of first-quarter field goals and Gio Hernandez returned a punt about 50 yards for a touchdown.

Green Valley defensive line dominated the line of scrimmages, including Sam McAloon recording four sacks.

“We were in the backfield all night,” Castro said.

Next week, Castro knows his team will have their hands full with visiting Coronado in the semifinals. In late September, Green Valley closed with 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Coronado 33-26.

“That game happened so long ago. Neither team is the same team from the last time we played.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy