Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

high school football:

Basic reaches into bag of tricks against Silverado

high school football media day 2015

Christopher DeVargas

Basic high football players Tank McAllister, Sean White, Kendahl Blakely, Jake Walderon, and Saul Arizaga before the 2015 Season.

Click to enlarge photo

Basic High School's Kendahl Blakely looks at the score with concern from the sidelines versus Green Valley in the Henderson Bowl on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2014.

Kendahl Blakely is the anchor of one of the best defenses in the city. Occasionally, Basic will put him in the backfield on offense to use his power as a blocking back.

With only seconds remaining in the third quarter of a six-point game, the Wolves pitched the ball to Blakely and he proceeded to drop back and throw a 27-yard strike to DeShawn Eagles.

“He is our rock solid defensive end, and we have him in there as a blocking back, so we knew they wouldn’t expect him to throw the ball,” Basic coach Jeff Cahill said. “So we gave it a shot.”

The big play set the Wolves up deep in Silverado territory, but the trickery wasn’t over.

Two plays later, quarterback Aeneas McAllister threw the ball to Blakely, and he rumbled into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown to put a stamp on Basic’s 35-21 win over Silverado on Friday.

The win improved the Wolves to 4-1 on the season, and they are in prime position to make a run at the Southeast division title.

While Blakely was busy surprising everyone on the offensive side of the ball, senior middle linebacker Tey’jean Thomas stole the show on defense.

Thomas was a nightmare for Silverado quarterbacks throughout the night, blitzing from everywhere imaginable and nabbing two sacks.

When he dropped into coverage, he was equally effective.

“He is really an energy guy. He is all over the place,” Cahill said. “We blitz him all of the time, and he’s great in coverage, so he can do it all.”

Thomas recovered a fumble and caught two interceptions — the first of which required a diving catch.

“I just dropped to my zone when I noticed it was pass,” Thomas said. “I rode the receiver’s hip and I just picked it off in front of him. I was surprised I caught it because I only got one hand on it.”

The Wolves’ stifling defense held Silverado to only 55 yards in the first half, 162 for the game, and forced five turnovers.

After falling behind 15-7, Basic outscored the Skyhawks 28-6 in the game’s final 30 minutes.

This was largely due to the 180-degree turn of McAllister’s play at quarterback.

In the first half, McAllister completed 6-of-12 passes for 78 yards and two interceptions. He came out in the second half and threw for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the Wolves to a victory.

“He just needed to settle down a little bit,” Cahill said. “That last pass he threw to seal the game was just an awesome pass.”

McAllister found senior Deondre Ishman over the middle for a 48-yard touchdown with only four minutes remaining to put the game out of reach.

The lone bright spot for Silverado was senior receiver Devion Clayton.

The 6-foot-3 wide out caught six passes for 96 yards, including a spectacular catch over a defender for a 31-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Clayton also returned a kickoff 88 yards for a score, and accounted for more than half of the Skyhawks' total offense.

“(Clayton) made a great play,” Cahill said. “He is a great player, but other than that I think we really did a great job on defense.”

The win is a big one for Basic.

After starting the year 3-0, a loss to Arbor View last week had some people questioning if the Wolves would really be a playoff contender in the Southeast.

“This is Basic’s year in football,” Thomas said. “This shows that we are for real and we shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

The Wolves will have another chance to prove themselves next week when they face division rival Green Valley.

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.

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