Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Canyon Springs running back Donnel Pumphrey is lifted into the air by lineman Alonzo Pittman after a touchdown run against Valley Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 at Canyon Springs. Canyon Springs won the game 46-0.
Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 | 2:05 a.m.
Prep Sports Now
Is the short week unfair for playoff teams?
-
You need to upgrade your Flash Player
Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer are pumped up for all the high-stakes games going down Thursday night. But why can't they be played on Friday?
Related coverage
There will likely be a shake-up next week in the Sun’s top-10 high school football rankings.
That’s because Thursday night’s slate of games features three contests pitting ranked teams against each other — No. 3 Arbor View at No 5 Palo Verde, No. 2 Liberty at No. 9 Basic and No. 6 Canyon Springs at No. 7 Green Valley.
The three games can literally be won be either team, serving as a perfect preview to next month’s playoffs. This is the last week of games in the Sunset Region before the postseason begins; the Sunrise Region playoffs start in two weeks.
Here is the rest of the rankings, which is complied weekly by the Sun’s Ray Brewer.
1. Bishop Gorman (7-1): Bishop Gorman is six victories away from winning a fourth straight state championship. They’ll face Desert Oasis Thursday in the regular season finale.
2. Liberty (6-1): Liberty’s 19-game winning streak in the Southeast League will be on the line Thursday when the Patriots play host Basic for sole possession of first place.
3. Arbor View (8-0): The Aggies, which are the lone undefeated team in the Division I, look to complete a perfect regular season Thursday against rival Palo Verde. Coach Dan Barnson’s team knows history isn’t on their side — Arbor View, which opened is 2005, has never beat Palo Verde.
4. Centennial (6-2): Centennial might have lost its game last week, but by scoring 20 points against three-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman, the Bulldogs proved they belong among the city’s elite programs. Despite the loss, they remain at No. 4 in the rankings.
5. Palo Verde (6-3): This Northwest League title might be the most satisfying for the players at Palo Verde High. Despite losing three of their first four games, the Panthers can win yet another league crown Thursday if they beat Arbor View.
6. Canyon Springs (5-2): After beating up on Rancho and Valley in the past two weeks, Canyon Springs will have its hands full Thursday against Green Valley in a game that will likely determine the Northeast League champion.
7. Green Valley (6-1): Raise your hand if you had Green Valley winning the Northeast League title at the beginning of the season? Outside of the school’s 89014 zip code, there weren’t too many on the Gators’ bandwagon. That’s not the case anymore. Green Valley is primed for a lengthy playoff run.
8. Moapa Valley (9-1): The Pirates have won nine straight games and won’t have to leave the their home stadium in Overton until the Division-IA state title game. They open playoffs Thursday by host Pahrump Valley.
9. Basic (6-1): When Basic hosts Liberty Thursday night, it will be playing on Thursday for the third straight week. They’ve beat Foothill and Del Sol the past two weeks.
10. Coronado (5-2): With its win last week against Foothill, Coronado official clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2005. Yes, this is not an error, Coronado will play in the postseason.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.
1 Gorman
2 Liberty
2.5 Arbor View
4 Centennial
5 Palo Verde
6 Canyon Springs
7 Moapa Valley
8 Green Valley
9 Basic
10 Coronado
Moapa made another big statement this weekend, Div IA playoffs are going to be fun. Between Palo vs Arbor View and Canyon vs Green Valley I wish I could be at two places at once this Thurday. After Basic's uninspired first half against Del Sol I was tempted to drop them to #10 and move Coronado up to #9 but then Coronado did the same against Foothill. Next week's Basic/Coronado game will be doubly meaningful as the loser gets the winner of Canyon/GV in first round.
STATE
1 Gorman
2 Liberty
2.5 Arbor View
4 Centennial
5 Palo Verde
6 Canyon Springs
7 Moapa Valley
8 Green Valley
9 Reed
10 Basic
*Coronado, Spanish Springs.
After the absolutely whooping Reed put on a solid Reno team there's too much going for them not to make the rankings. A similar win against another northern front runner Spanish Springs this week and I will likely move them up a bit more.
Tuasdad, the Basic/Coronado loser will play the CS/GV loser in the first round. The matchups will probaby be as follows:
#1 Liberty vs #4 Silverado
#2 Basic/Cor winner vs #3 Las Vegas
#3 Basic/Cor loser vs #2 CS/GV loser
#4 Foothill vs #1 CS/GV winner
In Sunset
#1 BG vs #4 SRidge
#2 Cent vs #3 Durango
#3 Legacy vs #2 Palo/AV loser
#4 CM vs #! Palo/AV winner
No offense to Moapa, but I don't think they could beat any of these teams. Maybe 2 or 3, but at least 12-14 of these teams would beat Moapa. 3A is a pretty big step down from the 4A division. I think that the coaches at Moapa have done a good job up there, but they are playing in a pretty weak division, considering Pahrump made the playoffs. Outside Cheyenne, these other playoff teams never hardly sniffed the playoffs. And this is not the Cheyenne of old. I know DP has made the playoffs before, But they don't have near the size or talent of past either. DP only has about 25 kids on the team. To show the level of competition the Lewis kid at Cheyenne had about 40-50 yds against CS with them playing 2nd and 3rd stringers. Yet he runs for 300 yds and 15 tds a game against 3A comp.
Its good they now have a 3A division considering last year there were only 3 teams in the southern part of the state. Now 3A has a lot more local interest. And teams like Mojave, Faith, and Pahrump now get to experience a playoff game. And it's more meaningful to Moapa, BC, and VV.
Good luck to all teams in the playoffs this week and we will get to see the 3 other league championships decided. Should be a great week of football.
Hey LVfootballfun: What if Las Vegas High beats Canyon Springs? It is a long shot, but crazy things have happened.
lvfootballfan, you have the typical Las Vegas attitude when it comes to Moapa Valley and other small town teams. Ask Silverado, Del Sol, Legacy last year if Moapa can play with the big boys. Ask foothill a few yrs ago when they played Moapa for homecoming how good Moapa football is. I could go on...
No one is saying Moapa could beat the top 5 teams, they can't, they would be overmatched. But they are in the discussion for the 6-10 ranking. If you don't believe that come watch them play or ask Las Vegas area coaches.
thanks lvfootballfun, was just a typo putting winner instead of loser. I've had my brackets filled out for a couple weeks and only real question mark on mine would be if GV can pull off the upset at home against Canyon.
You're saying Moapa couldn't beat more than 2-3 of of which teams? Top 10 Div I teams? That would make sense since they're ranked only about 2-3 teams. But those bottom 3-4 are pretty interchangeable. GV vs Basic vs Coro could all play each other 10 times and split the wins, they're pretty close.
I don't think 12-14 Div I teams could beat Moapa. I think the top ten all could. Games against the 7-10 teams would be very close to call. But outside the top ten who? Vegas, Durango, Silverado etc.. I don't see any of them beating Moapa, even with the numbers advantage.
Remember last year 3A Moapa shut out 4A Silverado, was up 49-27 on 4A Del Sol before pulling their starters at Del Sol's homecoming and only lost to 4A Legacy by 3 points. While those were all under .500 teams they didn't just beat them they whooped them. I know last year and this year or years past aren't necessarily the same or comparable for a lot of teams but in this case I think it shows they've been able to not just compete but whoop up on higher classification teams.
Put Moapa in Div I this year and i'd be willing to bet the farm they would finish 3rd or 4th in every league. Cheyenne maybe 4th or just miss out.
That said, even if they were to win IA state over Cheyenne/Truckee by 1,000 points I wouldn't rank them any higher than 7 or 8 because I don't think they could beat any of the top 6 teams.
But in Moapa's defense, the top 5-6 teams would beat the majority of the bottom 30 teams by at least a handful of touchdowns.
We will never know though that's what makes speculating fun.
Didn't see Ray's comment earlier...with all due respect Brewer there's no way in hell Vegas beats Canyon unless Canyon benches all their starters and punts on first downs.
They were lucky to beat Silverado. All year long I've been calling them out for being grossly over ranked then Green Valley proved me right. Vegas beating Canyon would be the upset of the year and it won't happen. Canyon by 20+
Once again the 4A teams Moapa beat last year weren't in the playoffs meaning not in the top 16. Look at Moapa schedule, best win is over BC. C'mon BC is there best win. Not trying to take anything away from them but no wins against a 4 A team this year, I'm not saying they can't beat a 4A team, just not more than 1 or 2 of the 16 teams that will make the playoffs. So that being said, that would leave them at about 15th in southern Nevada . When there big moment is beating a 4A team last year that couldn't even make the playoffs (which 16 teams do) then why do those 2 victories make them a top team. They lost to Legacy and they finished 6th in their division. I'm just saying, top 3A team doesn't make you a top 10 4A team.
But as Tuasdad said, "we will never know though that's what makes speculating fun".
lvfootballfun I agree 100% with this on you: . "I'm just saying, top 3A team doesn't make you a top 10 4A team"
I haven't been ranking Moapa Valley in my top 10 simply because they're the best top IA team. Simply being best in IA would not mean you're deserving of ranking in top 10. I'm certain there will be years where I wont have any IA team in my top ten and likewise there'll probably eventually be a year when maybe 2 IA teams make the top ten. Ranking them has been a direct result of their performance on the field.
As for the playoff team thing, not all playoff teams are created equal. Last year in the the best from the SE couldn't stay withing two TD's from the 4th in the SE so you throw Moapa in there and they might not make playoffs in on league and get #2 in another.
lvfootballfan, what are your reasons you think Moapa couldn't beat any of the division 1 playoff teams? I agree that people shouldn't automatically rank the best team in the 1A in the top 10, you should vote them in only if they are actually one of the best teams. If you think that Moapa wouldn't beat all four of the proposed #4 seeds (shadow ridge, foothill, Cimarron, Silverado) then you obviously haven't seen them play. They would beat those 4 teams by 3 or 4 touchdowns. All of the proposed #3 seeds (Durango, Vegas, legacy, Coronado or Basic) COULD beat Moapa, but personally I don't think they would. I would personally rank Moapa #8, although I . I like Tuasdad's top 10 just switch green valley ahead of Moapa. Last years Moapa team would be ranked closer to the 12-15 range, but not this years team, they have 4 legitimate college players who are tough.
One of the things I can stand is when people say that Moapa can't beat Vegas schools because of the division they are in. That makes absolutely no sense to me. No one is defending the quality of the 1-A, besides Moapa and Cheyenne everyone is horrible. And I'm not too sure I think Cheyenne is even that good. But Moapa passes the eye test when you watch them play. Also, Lewis hasn't been rushing for 300 yds against 3A teams, he's doing it against the precious old 4A schools!!!
We'll never truly know if Moapa is the 7th best or 14th best, but its sure fun to speculate! I know Moapa would be down to play shadow, foothill, Silverado, Cimarron, legacy, Coronado, basic, Durango green valley in the non-league. Ray, I'm sure you have connections, lets make it happen!!
Tuasdad, with all due respect, Cheyenne is not that good, they wouldnt / shouldnt be ranked in the top 20 of the division 1 teams. Moapa, perhaps, until someone proves otherwise. But with Western putting up 49 against them and Mojave giving them everything they could handle, they dont deserve a top ranking. Sportsarefun is correct, Cheyenne is not that good.
1FootballFan, I agree with you on Cheyenne. I don't believe they are a very strong team. They may have more talent than most 3A teams with a top RB. But would be hard pressed to make 4A playoffs.
Sportsarefun, I don't mean to take away from Moapa. What they have done this season is to be celebrated. And I wish them success through the playoffs. My only point is, and this is just an opinion, of the 4 #4 seeds for the 4A playoffs, Foothill, Silverado, CM, and SR, I don't believe they could handle Silverado's size and RB, or SR with their talent and QB. I do believe they could possibly beat a banged up Foothill, and CM. Not sure they could, but wouldn't be surprised if they could. The 3 #3 seeds LV, Basic/Coro, Legacy, and Durango I believe would handle Moapa because of their size and athleticism. I guess the best way to look at it, is if you had to BET YOUR HOME on who would win, Moapa or any of these 8 teams who would you take? In my opinion, which is just that an opinion only, I would only pick Moapa over Foothill and CM. SR and Moapa would be a toss up. Definitely Silverado over Moapa. Therefore I would place Moapa at #14 or #15 overall in Southern Nevada.
I do think Moapa is the class of their division and of the 24 4A teams in Sou NV, I would put them ahead of 9 to 10 of the 4A teams. The question is how good is Moapa? Their schedule is as follows:Blue Ridge aD3 school in AZ they lost to. Here is a list of teams from Nevada w this yr records.
2012
Pahrump 2-7
Clark 1-8
Faith 5-4
Western 1-8
SunriseMtn 2-7
Chap 4-5
BC 8-1
VV 5-4
DP 5-4
-----
33-48
Most of each teams wins are against each other. We just don't know how good Moapa is yet because of their schedule. Once again I do believe they will win their division. But outside the game in AZ, which both teams were sloppy because of so early in season, Moapa hasn't been tested yet.
I wish them luck and hope they bring the State Championship Trophy back to Southern Nevada. I believe they would have won last year if they hadnt lost their QB. The best comment Tuasdad said and you reiterated was Its sure fun to speculate.
Many of the top 4A schools in vegas have not wanted to schedule Moapa in years past...I think Moapa is pretty much willing to play anyone, anywhere, and would like the opportunity to do so. It's actually amazing to me that this small, isolated school of 600 students, 60 miles away, can even be in this conversation, but because of the success of the program they have developed, they have earned that right. Could they compete with a 3500 student Palo Verde? Not likely, nor should they be expected to...but I do know they would play their hearts out in the effort and would probably not walk away embarrassed. Again, maybe the powers that be could schedule them an upgrade in the competition...
lvfootballfan, we can respectfully disagree, its all good! That's what makes this so fun! And yes I think Moapa would beat all four of the #4 seeds rather easily and could beat all of the #3 seeds in close games. You are right in that Moapa's schedule is SOFT. I'm not saying they have beat anyone who is good. So it is hard to judge them against the better D1 teams, because we have no common opponents to base them on. Just know that the one good team Moapa has played, Blue Ridge is a GOOD team. They are 10-0 in Arizona and ranked 911 in the nation by maxpreps. I know maxpreps rankings aren't an exact science, but here are some notable Nevada schools national rankings.
Gorman- 23
Arbor View- 592
Liberty- 1026
Centennial- 1049
Green Valley- 1153
Palo Verde- 1741
Legacy- 2064
Basic- 2251
Moapa Valley- 2338
Canyon Springs- 2343
Las Vegas- 3818
Durango- 4817
Silverado- 5572
I hope the power that be will schedule Moapa against some of the D1 schools- Legacy, Basic, Vegas, Durango, Silverado, Coronado, Foothill, Cimarron, etc. those types of schools in the non-league. I know the Moapa coaching staff would play anyone at anytime. However, I would be surprised if the D1 schools would want to play Moapa. A lot of the Las Vegas area schools have the attitude that Moapa is below them and it would be a waste of their time to have to play them. It would be awesome if it would happen, but I doubt it would.
sportsarefun, I think you are right in saying that the D1 schools would not want to play Moapa, but I don't think it is because they feel Moapa is below them, I think it is simply because they know how good they are and it would be a huge blow to their team/image if they lost to them, which is very possible. It's one of those things, Moapa has everything to gain and the respective D1 school has everything to lose....
lvfootball....Cheyenne's always been good enough to get 4th seed or just miss out of the playoffs in the toughest league the NW. Even after the realignment and dropping 1/3 of teams the quality of football being played outside of the top ten or contenders for top ten isn't hard to keep up with.
The bottom 3 teams of most leagues aren't that good either, so correct Cheyenne isn't that overall good, take away Myloe and they don't even make it to Truckee. But neither are the teams it would be competing with for last playoff spot. You're talking about Chey-town competing with Del Sol, Rancho, Eldog, Sierra Vista, Foothill, Silverado etc.. to either steal 4th or get 5th and finish one above the bottom and just miss the playoffs, not that hard to do.
In theory Chey-town shouldn't be ranked in top 20 overall but schools 13-20 in Div I are pretty poor.
As for this year, I would be willing to bet the house Moapa beats anyone outside the top ten down south except Durango and Cim-Mem. Cim-Mem and Durango would be a closer matches, not comfortable enough to bet the house on. Games against #6-10 would be a toss up, but that goes for every team in #6-10.
It won't be like this every year for Moapa but it sure is this season...at least I think so.
It won't be like this for Moapa every year, this season they have a good group of juniors and senior. Next year they lose some key players, but they will be solid just not as high scoring and as spectacular. Realistically, they will be in the 15-25 range ranking next season.
I wish Moapa played Cheyenne this season, because Moapa would have held Lewis under 100 yds. The only way that can happen is if they meet in the state championship game, but I don't see that happening.
Cheyenne beat Cimarron this year, so a div 1A team can play with the big boys. Everyone is pointing out the teams at the bottom of 1A , lets look at the bottom teams of Div1. Rancho, Eldorado, Sierra Vista, Bonanza, Spring Valley,Valley, Del Sol,Desert Oasis.
These 8 schools are a combined 9-51. So there are bad school in each. Shadow Ridge, Foothill, And Cimarron will most likely get the 4 seed with losing records.
There are Five to Six teams in Div1A that would have made the playoffs in Div1 , Moapa, Boulder, Desert Pines, Cheyenne, Mojave and Faith.
Moapa could beat most schools in the Valley with exception to the top 7. They and others could possibly take Basic and Coronado.
What separates the top teams is the bigs up front.
The power of the top few teams would be too much. Athletically, they and others could keep up. They cant match up with the O and D lines. The overall size will win out.
Dont sleep on these Div 1A schools. I guarantee you next year Div 1 will stay away from these top div 1A teams. Watch them play, you'll see what I'm talking about.