Saturday, October 02, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE: Palo Verde pounds Centennial

Panthers rumble to seventh consecutive win in Northwest Division play, 64-0

By SAM LEEPER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Palo Verde's Sam King (3) runs past Centennial's Mike Downing in the second quarter of the Panthers' 64-0 victory over Centennial in a Northwest Division game Friday night. Palo Verde scored on eight consecutive possessions and finished with 413 yards rushing. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

In Palo Verde's first game as the area's top-ranked high school football team, coach Darwin Rost urged his Panthers to play physically against Centennial.

Palo Verde (5-0, 1-0) dominated from the opening whistle Friday night in winning its seventh consecutive Northwest Division contest, a string that dates to the final game in 2002.

The Panthers scored touchdowns on eight consecutive possessions and finished with 413 yards rushing in a 64-0 rout of the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-1) in the division opener for both teams.

Palo Verde's offense scored 62 points on 52 plays, and 14 players had rushing attempts.

"We talked to the kids all week about playing physical," said Rost, whose team limited the Bulldogs to 168 yards, including 25 in the opening half as Palo Verde opened a 37-0 halftime lead. "Our whole motto this week was to play physical. We set the tone from the first hit on the kickoff and things rolled from there."

On the third play of the game, Palo Verde's Jarrell Harrison intercepted an Aaron Prado pass, and the Panthers began their first scoring drive from the Bulldogs 24. Harrison finished the five-play drive with a 3-yard scoring run, giving the Panthers a 7-0 lead less then three minutes into the game.

"I was real happy for Jarrell," Rost said. "He had his work cut out for him last week against Eldorado. It was nice for him to step up and make that big play."

Harrison, who played only a half, added a 41-yard scoring run and a 34-yard TD pass to Drew McDaniel. Marc Evans had a pair of 3-yard touchdowns.

Centennial's best drive of the night came on its last possession. Led by the running of Alex Price, the Bulldogs marched to the Panthers 5. But Prado's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Carlo Ramirez.

Price led the Bulldogs with 97 yards on 15 carries, including 94 yards in the fourth quarter.

Harrison had 95 yards on eight carries for Palo Verde, Steve Council added 77 yards rushing, and Evans ran for 58 yards.

• Coronado 13, Green Valley 10 -- At Coronado, Scott McLeod connected with Matt Poleski on a 5-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute to play as the Cougars (3-2, 1-0 Southeast) overcame a 10-0 halftime deficit to defeat the 10th-ranked Gators (4-2, 0-1).

Coronado trailed 10-0 with less than three minutes left, but a partially blocked punt gave the Cougars the ball on the Green Valley 20-yard line with 2:04 to play.

Two plays later, running back Coronado's Chris Desjardins took a pitch and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Eric Nimmer.

The Cougars then recovered an onside kick on the Gators 48. On the next play, McLeod connected with Brett Hamrick, who took the ball to the Gators 1. After a false-start penalty, McLeod hit Poleski for the game winner with 45 seconds to go.

Green Valley had one final chance. The Gators marched to the Cougars 15, but Conan Molinaro missed a 37-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.

Molinaro made a 27-yard field goal in the first quarter, and Brett Johnson caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Robert Reynolds in the second quarter.

-- James Soller

• Western 13, Durango 7 -- At Durango, Stephon Sanford scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter, and Anthony Whitney ran back the opening kickoff of the second half 96 yards for a touchdown to lead the Warriors (2-4, 1-0 Southwest) over the Trailblazers.

Durango (0-5, 0-1) running back Alex Bravo scored on 13-yard run at the end of the third quarter. But the Trailblazers could not complete the comeback, failing to get past the 50-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Neither team did much on offense. Western gained only 187 yards, and Durango was held to 135 total yards.

The Trailblazers' Louis Kimble carried 31 times for 140 yards.

Sanford rushed for 66 yards on 17 carries to lead the Warriors.

-- Michael Willhite

• Cheyenne 35, Mojave 14 -- At Mojave, Torrie Coleman ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns to lead the third-ranked Desert Shields past the Rattlers in the Northwest Division opener for both teams.

Cheyenne (4-0, 1-0) scored on its opening possession with a 31-yard pass from Quentin Carter to Bryan Kennard.

Mojave (1-5, 0-1) was driving late in the first quarter with a chance to tie the score, but a fumble gave the Desert Shields the ball at their own 9-yard line.

Two plays later, Coleman took the ball 87 yards to score as time expired in the first quarter.

Cheyenne blocked two punts in the second quarter and recovered both at the Mojave 2-yard line. Carter scored from 1 yard out after the first recovery, and Coleman scored from the 2-yard line on the second opportunity.

The blocks helped the Desert Shields outscore the Rattlers 21-0 in the second quarter. Shamirio Jones scored on a 53-yard pass from Carter in between the two short runs. Carter was 5-for-6 passing for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback D.J. Tilche ran for both Mojave touchdowns. He finished with 113 yards passing and 47 yards rushing. Rashaun Greer caught four passes for 60 yards.

-- Adam Hill

• Sierra Vista 55, Clark 6 -- At Sierra Vista, Steven Hill ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns as the Lions (5-1, 1-0 Southwest) routed the Chargers (0-5, 0-1).

Hill scored on runs of 13 and 9 yards as seventh-ranked Sierra Vista raced to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

A 76-yard touchdown run by Clark's O'Brian Vera was nullified by a holding penalty. Vera lost a fumble two plays later, and the Chargers didn't cross midfield again until the fourth quarter.

The Lions' Jake Whittaker hit a wide-open Stacy Martin for a 27-yard touchdown, and Phillip Lee returned an interception 25 yards for score for a 34-0 halftime lead.

Whittaker finished 11-for-12 for 145 yards passing.

Sierra Vista added two scores in the third quarter -- on Jeff Long's 38-yard run and his 4-yard fumble return just 16 seconds later -- to go ahead 48-0.

Clark avoided a shutout with Chris Ashley's 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

-- Christian Wloszczyna

• Bishop Gorman 43, Bonanza 7 -- At Bonanza, DeMarco Murray rushed 14 times for 232 yards and three touchdowns to lead the sixth-ranked Gaels past the Bengals.

Gorman (3-1, 1-0 Southwest) established its dominance early, with Murray scoring on an 80-yard run up the middle on the game's first play. He added 32- and 35-yard TD runs later in the half to help his team build a 36-0 halftime lead.

J.P. Huber completed 9 of 14 passes for 113 yards and three touchdowns for the Gaels, who finished with 499 total yards.

Bonanza (2-4, 0-1) was unable to answer as the Gorman defense allowed only 113 yards and forced four turnovers.

David Fry, Martrell Fantroy and Ryan Reynolds each had second-quarter touchdown receptions for the Gaels, and teammate Conor Foley nailed a 36-yard field goal to end the first half.

Brian Ladeira scored Bonanza's only touchdown when he capped a 48-yard drive with a 13-yard TD reception from Brett Parry late in the third quarter.

-- Jeff Wollard

• Las Vegas 47, Chaparral 18 -- At Chaparral, the fifth-ranked Wildcats (5-1, 1-0 Northeast) played dominating defense and took advantage of great field position to defeat the Cowboys (1-5, 0-1).

Las Vegas didn't allow a Chaparral first down until the third quarter and held the Cowboys to 94 total yards, most of which came in the fourth quarter.

Wildcats defensive lineman Mark Taylor blocked a punt that set up a touchdown and intercepted a screen pass that he returned 22 yards for a first-quarter score.

Las Vegas' Eric Jordan ran for 106 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries, all in the first half.

Jordan's first score, a 20-yard run, gave the Wildcats a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Jordan added 48- and 32-yard TD runs in the second quarter, giving Las Vegas a 47-0 lead.

Jamal Lomax had TD runs of 4 and 66 yards for the Wildcats, who scored all of their points in the first half.

Chaparral's Brandon Lomax carried the ball 16 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

-- Jim Godfrey

• Silverado 38, Basic 7 -- At Basic, quarterback Tyyler McNeace ran for two touchdowns and passed for three more, leading the Skyhawks (4-1, 1-0 in Southeast) past the Wolves (0-5, 0-1).

McNeace was 9-for-17 passing for 164 yards and had nine carries for 28 yards. He threw two TD passes to Kyle Rath.

Silverado had a 230-49 edge in total yardage in the first half as it built a 13-0 lead. McNeace had a 6-yard run, and he tossed a screen pass to Travis Terry (11 carries, 73 yards), who raced 59 yards for a score with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

Silverado's Jeramy Pate added a 35-yard scoring run.

-- John Cranton

• Eldorado 43, Rancho 0 -- At Eldorado, Marcus Newson rushed for 184 yards on 11 carries, including touchdown runs of 70 and 23 yards, to lead the eighth-ranked Sundevils (4-2, 1-0 Northeast) past the Rams (1-5, 0-1).

Eldorado jumped to a 27-0 lead in the first quarter. Along with Newson's two touchdown runs, Brandon Godfrey connected on two TD passes in the quarter, a 16-yarder to Andy Bacchetta and a 9-yarder to Dionn Whittaker.

Godfrey finished 6-for-13 passing for 116 yards.

Justin Ellison added touchdown runs of 13 and 12 yards in the third quarter.

Brian Saari hit a 21-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for the final margin.

-- Arnold Knightly

• Foothill 74, Liberty 0 -- At Liberty, the second-ranked Falcons (6-0) scored on every possession in the first three quarters and routed the Patriots (2-4).

Foothill sophomore running back D'Angelo Jones scored four first-quarter touchdown, on runs of 62, 27, 39 and 28 yards. He finished with 201 yards, all in the first half, and also completed a 27-yard pass to receiver Zacarias Espejo.

The Falcons added first-quarter touchdowns by Arthur Mayville on a 4-yard quarterback keeper and a 50-yard pass from Mayville to receiver Brandon Baker.

Backup quarterback James Silvas added two short touchdown runs.

The Patriots' offense was held to 31 total yards, minus-13 in the second half.

-- Jeff Hoskin

• Canyon Springs 34, Del Sol 14 -- At Del Sol, Wendell Thomas ran for three second-half touchdowns as the Pioneers (3-2) defeated the Dragons (1-5).

Thomas ran for 116 yards, including TD runs of 57 yards, 1 yard and 45 yards.

Canyon Springs' Pier Chaney added 144 yards on 13 carries and also returned a punt 90 yards for a score, and teammate Antonio Coleman ran for 106 yards on six carries.

Chris Dunfield led Del Sol with 120 yards rushing, including a 5-yard TD that put the Dragons up 8-0 in the first quarter. Canyon Springs responded with 34 consecutive points before the Dragons' Brandan Makridis hit Irwin Dustin with a 22-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.

-- Jeff Butler

• Faith Lutheran 54, Spring Valley 7 -- At Faith Lutheran, John Nixon and Joshua Williams each ran for two touchdowns to lead the Crusaders (3-2) over the Grizzlies (0-5).

James Barrett added field goals of 24 and 45 yards for Faith Lutheran.

Adam Aguilar passed for 115 yards to lead Spring Valley.

-- Kathy Burchick

• Moapa Valley 35, Boulder City 7 -- At Overton, Jeff Bowler threw three touchdown passes, including two to Michael Davis, as the Pirates defeated the Eagles.

Moapa Valley's Zach Davis caught a 50-yard touchdown pass, and Drue Solomon ran for a 31-yard score.

Mitch Barlow caught an 11-yard pass for Boulder City's only touchdown.

• Virgin Valley 24, Pahrump Valley 12 -- At Mesquite, Tyler Thurston ran for one score and passed for another to help the Mustangs defeat the Trojans.

Thurston completed 7 of 13 passes for 115 yards, including a 7-yard TD toss to Cass Oberman in the second quarter. Thurston also scored on an 18-yard run.

Pahrump's T.R. Plummer passed for 177 yards and two TDs.