Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

High School Sports:

Lieutenant governor: Don’t ban Gaels — beat them

Gorman vs. Reed

Jeff Mulvihill Jr. / Special to the Sun

Bishop Gorman coach Tony Sanchez and his team are presented the championship trophy after the state championship game Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, at Damonte Ranch High School in Reno. Gorman defeated Reed High 70-28 for the Gaels’ sixth state title in a row.

Candidate for lieutenant governor Sen. Mark Hutchison, R-Las Vegas, speaks with media after a debate with Assemblywoman Lucy Flores at Vegas PBS studios Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014.

Candidate for lieutenant governor Sen. Mark Hutchison, R-Las Vegas, speaks with media after a debate with Assemblywoman Lucy Flores at Vegas PBS studios Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014.

Bishop Gorman vs. Reed

Bishop Gorman Brandon Gahagan (3) returns the opening kickoff deep into Reed territory during the NIAA State Championship Football game between the Bishop Gorman Gaels and the Reed Raiders at Damonte Ranch High School in Reno, Nevada. Launch slideshow »

Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison spends part of his time as a volunteer coach for the Palo Verde High football team. His son is the varsity quarterback but doesn’t get to throw the ball that much.

“Coach Hutch,” a Republican, has been asked on multiple occasions about the bill proposed for the 2015 Nevada Legislature to ban Bishop Gorman High School football team (and perhaps other hugely successful Gorman teams) from the state playoffs.

Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas and the sponsor of the proposed bill, argues Gorman can recruit players from across the Las Vegas Valley — and beyond — because it is a private Catholic school. He says Gorman’s recruiting ability is unfair to public high school teams in Nevada that must draw their players from a specified district.

Gorman has reached a point where the rest of the state can no longer be competitive against the Gaels, Munford said.

Gorman has won the past six Nevada large school state titles, scoring 70 points in the 2014 state-title game against Sparks’ Reed High. At the end of the season, Gorman was awarded the mythical national championship as the No. 1 high school football team in America.

Munford said he had been overwhelmed by the support the as-yet-unwritten bill had received.

Coach Hutch, however, did not sound like he supported the idea of creating legislation to punish the Gaels for their success. Nevada’s lieutenant governor does not want to ban Gorman; he has other plans.

“What I want to do, I want to beat Gorman,” Hutchison said recently. “That’s what I want to do. I want to have the best football team in the country (Gorman) play Palo Verde. And as a coach, I want to get my athletes ready to the point where we can beat ’em.”

Then he threw down a bold prediction.

“The days of Gorman’s dominance are over,” Coach Hutch said. “We’re going to work our athletes, we are going to prepare them for next season and we are going to beat Gorman.”

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