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Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas football players Vince Castro, Lahmed Evans and Joshua Mayfield Thursday, July 26, 2012.
Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 | 2:05 a.m.
Prep Sports Now
Dominance of Moapa and Gorman; who's No. 2: Liberty or Arbor View?
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Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer compare the run Moapa Valley is on in the Division 1-A to the one Bishop Gorman has put together this season in the upper decision. Other familiar arguments arise, including a debate on whether Arbor View should be considered as the second-best team in the state. Give us your thoughts in the comments.
Related coverage
There is no change this week in the Sun’s top 10 high school football rankings — neither in the schools in the rankings nor the order they are ranked.
That’s what happens when each team in the rankings wins, which is a rarity that occurred last week.
That won’t be the case this week as No. 7 Green Valley plays at No. 8 Las Vegas High in a game with significant playoff implications.
You can easily assume defending Northeast League champ Canyon Springs is a favorite to repeat, meaning the winner of the Green Valley-Las Vegas game will have an inside track at the No. 2 playoff seed and a first-round home playoff game.
Here are the rest of the rankings, which are put together each week by the Sun’s Ray Brewer.
1. Bishop Gorman (5-1): Bishop Gorman High has surrendered just three points in the last 12 quarters, giving up a field goal in last week’s blowout victory against Cimarron-Memorial. This week, the Gaels will likely hold another opponent to single digits, or scoreless, when they host Bonanza.
2. Liberty (4-1): Liberty erased fourth-quarter deficits in three of its four victories this fall, picking up quality wins against Palo Verde, Canyon Springs and last week against Coronado. They likely won’t be tested again until late November in the playoffs, starting Friday at Del Sol.
3. Arbor View (6-0): There’s a good chance Arbor View will be undefeated and playing Bishop Gorman in the Sunset Regional championship game. This week, they shouldn’t be challenged against Shadow Ridge.
4. Centennial (5-1): Centennial scored 60-plus points last week against Desert Oasis in finally putting together a solid offensive performance. Cimarron-Memorial will provide a bigger challenge this week.
5. Palo Verde (4-3): For as difficult as the Palo Verde schedule was earlier in the season, it’s last three games haven’t been all that challenging. They’ve beat Shadow Ridge and Spring Valley in the last two weeks, and face another struggling program Friday when hosting Sierra Vista.
6. Canyon Springs (3-2): Turnovers and mental mistakes have spelled disaster the past three weeks for Canyon Springs, which had to hang on last week in beating Silverado to open Northeast League play and break a two-game losing skid. This week, they’ll get healthy against Rancho.
7. Green Valley (4-1): Green Valley is considered the future powerhouse school of the Northeast League. The Gators will have to earn that right Friday at perennial power Las Vegas. Expect a tightly played game, unlike last week when the Gators opened league play with an easy victory against Valley.
8. Las Vegas (4-1): With Vince Castro, Josh Mayfield and Andrew Moreland capable of scoring each time they touch the ball, Las Vegas will be tough to beat on most weeks. Just ask Rancho, which the Wildcats defeated last week for the 17th straight time in the ‘Bone Game’ rivalry.
9. Moapa Valley (7-1): Moapa Valley hasn’t been challenged in its last seven games, including blowing out previously undefeated Boulder City last week. This week, they play Virgin Valley in ‘The Hammer’ game.
10. Basic (4-1): Basic and Foothill on Thursday will renew their rivalry in the Battle for Boulder Highway. Does it get any better than this old-school Henderson gridiron game? Not for the kids in west Henderson.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.
South
1 Gorman
2 Liberty
3 Arbor View
4 Centennial
5 Palo Verde
6 Canyon Springs
7 Moapa Valley
8 Green Valley
9 Basic
10 Coronado
Moapa's crushing victory at Boulder City was enough to send them up over the Henderson trio. End of season shaping up for some good top ten match ups with playoff seeding implications. GV vs Canyon, Basic vs Coronado, Arbor vs. Palo, Centennial vs. Gorman. I hate when the season is over but the beginning of the end is the best part. Gorman's only game against a top ten local team before playoffs will be versus Centennial, we shall see then how big the gap is this year compared to last.
State
1 Gorman
2 Liberty
3 Arbor View
4 Centennial
5 Palo Verde
6 Canyon Springs
7 Moapa Valley
8 Green Valley
9 Basic
10 Coronado
*Reed, Reno, Spanish Springs, Truckee
With Fernley's huge upset over Truckee and Reno beating Spanish Springs soundly it further solidifies that this is the year of the roller coaster up north. Not trying to be biased or disrespect the north by not having a single team in the state top ten this week. I could see Reed/Reno/Spanish Springs in toss up games against the #7-10 teams if they played up north, but neutral site I'd pick over them with confidence. Reed has 3 losses on paper but I really only count 2 of them. The good part is that Reed plays Reno and Spanish Springs to end the season and that may clear things up. Or make them more confusing.
The downside to all of this is that when Gorman goes up north for the state semi final and blows up the eventual northern winner by 50+ the north will cry and cry hard about Gorman. While I understand their basis for complaining about Gorman, it's a shame because I think this year the top 3-4 teams from the Sunset alone could all go up north and put a beating on whoever wins the north.
It's not always the case, I miss when the north was relevant and hopefully next year it returns to normal when the north has 2-3 of the best teams in the state and with Gorman's gap being a lot smaller might actually be some closer games and less predictable state outcomes.
Teams will never close the gap with Gorman. The talent is certainly out there, but they don't have the discipline or the will to do so.
Sinatra that statement is almost true but its not on the kids, its on the coaches. A football team reflects the coach an if the coach doesn't think his team can win then how do you think the kids are going to play? I know you guys have watched the Gorman games, there's A big difference between the in state games and out of state games. The difference is not what people think, all the talk about the teams being national powers. The difference is those teams are good HS football teams and they don't care about Gorman recruiting, there field, coaches salaries or none of the hang up's these schools in Vegas have. It's my opinion, outside of the Wr #1, a couple of lineman, and the QB there very average. Gorman is just blessed with a lot of money behind them and A average coach from California, and that combination is going to win in Vegas most of the time.
There are a lot of differences between Gorman and Moapa, the most obvious being that Gorman is a well-funded private school that attracts kids from all over Vegas, while Moapa is a small, isolated public school whose athletes belong to a 600 member student body from the small community...but they have one thing in common...they have both developed PROGRAMS that the communities and alumni associated with these schools heavily support, and not necessarily with money. Any school in Las Vegas could put this together and develop their own PROGRAMS. Moapa doesn't draw from the Las Vegas community, they don't pay their coach a ton of money, and they are doing fine...actually better than fine. Tomorrow night, when Virgin Valley plays at Moapa, the stands will be packed, the band will play, the cheerleaders will cheer, and the football team will come out and play their hardest, not because there will be college coaches there to watch them (although there certainly should be), but because of their love of the game, and the competitive nature of their PROGRAM, which has been instilled in them since they first picked up a football...(it probably doesn't hurt that it is one of the oldest rivalries in the state), but that's beside the point. Vegas schools can get it done as well, but it doesn't happen overnight...
Amen 4UNLV.
I'll take a good program over good team any day.