Saturday, September 04, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SEASON-OPENING SHUTOUT: Bulldogs drop Cougars

Centennial gets big defensive play en route to rout

By TIM GUESMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Centennial quarterback Aaron Prado scrambles for a first down as Coronado's Henry Hakim pursues during Friday's game at Centennial. Prado finished with 102 yards on eight carries, and the Bulldogs rolled to a 24-0 victory. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

Centennial's first offensive play of the season didn't go very well, as running back Robert Campbell fumbled the ball away to Coronado linebacker Roberto Ruiz.

But on the next play, linebacker Alex Toney made everything better for the Bulldogs.

Toney scooped up a Cougars fumble and raced 65 yards for a touchdown, and 10th-ranked Centennial dominated from there in a 24-0 home victory over No. 9 Coronado.

"I just looked up and saw the ball and the end zone, and I was off to the races," said Toney, whose fumble return came midway through the first quarter.

Up to that point, Coronado's offense had outgained Centennial 47-0. But after Toney's return, the Bulldogs racked up 370 yards and held the Cougars to 73 the rest of the contest.

"We started poorly," Centennial coach Joel Bertsch said. "But like I told the kids, bad things will happen to teams in every game. It's how you respond that is important."

Toney added a 7-yard rushing touchdown with 10:40 left in the second quarter to make it 14-0. Quarterback Aaron Prado had the key play on the drive, as his 45-yard scamper down the right sideline pushed Centennial to the Coronado 17.

"That play was actually supposed to go left," said Prado, who led the Bulldogs with 102 yards on eight carries. "I saw things open up on the right side and just took off. Some of our plays are designed for me to run (a specific way), but on some of them, I just see things open up and I run it."

A 29-yard Prado run in the second quarter put the ball on the Coronado 8. On the next play, the other half of Centennial's quarterback tandem, Jared Noa, hit Campbell with a touchdown pass to make it 21-0 just before halftime.

Campbell recovered from his early fumble to finish with 53 rushing yards and 72 receiving yards.

Christopher Desjardins led Coronado (1-1) with 95 yards on 19 carries.

• Sierra Vista 27, Valley 24 -- At Sierra Vista, Jeff Long caught a deflected 58-yard touchdown pass from Jake Whittaker with 32 seconds left as the No. 8 Lions (2-0) stunned the Vikings (0-1).

On third-and-10, Whittaker fired a pass downfield that was tipped by a Valley defender. Long was not the intended target, but caught the ball at the 50 and outraced two Vikings down the sideline for the dramatic score.

"It was supposed to be a hook-and-ladder play, but the ball got tipped," Long said.

Moments earlier, Valley had taken a 24-20 lead on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Matt Christman to Chuck Jackson.

Long caught three passes for 93 yards. He also ran for a score. Whittaker was 6 of 15 passing for 167 yards.

Valley's Randy Perez kicked a 21-yard field goal in the third quarter to break a 14-14 tie. Sierra Vista's Kyle Cresto responded with the aid of a stiff breeze, hitting field goals of 42 and 38 yards to put the Lions up 20-17 with 8:23 left in the fourth.

The Vikings took a 14-0 lead on a 4-yard pass from Christman to Jarrell Hawkins and a 1-yard run by Major Gray. Sierra Vista tied it with two second-quarter scores, a 1-yard plunge by Whittaker and a 4-yard run by Long.

-- John Cranton

• Las Vegas 26, Snow Canyon (Utah) 6 -- At Las Vegas, the top-ranked Wildcats scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to survive a scare from the visiting Warriors.

Eric Jordan ran for 192 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns for Las Vegas (2-0).

Michael Williams recovered a fumble for the Wildcats at the Snow Canyon 24-yard line, and Jordan capped the ensuing drive with a 6-yard touchdown to put Las Vegas up 14-6 with 7:47 remaining.

Snow Canyon then turned it over on downs at midfield. Las Vegas' Ryan Seabolt then connected with Christian Vidal on a 50-yard scoring strike on the next play to extend the lead to 20-6 with 6:07 left.

Seabold and Vidal connected on a 25-yard TD pass in the first quarter to open the scoring. Kyle Coop scored the only points of the second quarter on a 5-yard run for Snow Canyon (2-1). A missed extra point gave Las Vegas a 7-6 halftime advantage.

Jordan added a 49-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes to play to cap the scoring.

Seabolt completed 8 of 14 passes for 142 yards.

The Las Vegas defense sacked Warriors quarterback Landon Smith seven times and held Snow Canyon to 59 rushing yards on 40 attempts.

Smith passed for 130 yards for the Warriors.

-- Adam Hill

• Silverado 28, Mojave 19 -- At Mojave, Silverado's Tyler McNeace threw two touchdowns to Aaron Bagsby and ran for two more to lead the Skyhawks over the Rattlers

Bagsby made a juggling 9-yard catch on fourth-and-goal with 4:45 remaining to seal the victory for Silverado.

He also caught a 15-yard TD pass in the first quarter. McNeace had TD runs of 1 and 5 yards.

Mojave's D.J. Tilche, who completed 14 of 28 passes for 166 yards, drove the Rattlers to Silverado's 15-yard line in the final minutes but was unable to get the ball into the end zone.

Mojave's Alphonso Greer caught six passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, and he also scored on an 80-yard kickoff return.

Silverado fullback Jesse Benites ran 19 times for 130 yards to fuel the Skyhawks' option offense.

-- Michael Willhite

• Eldorado 27, Western 6 -- At Western, the seventh-ranked Sundevils used a solid running game and an aggressive defense to wear down the Warriors.

The Sundevils (1-1) were led by Marcus Newson, who rushed for 151 yards on 24 carries. Eldorado outran Western (0-2), 244-82. In addition, Western quarterback Julian Sample was sacked five times, twice by Leo Wells.

Eldorado scored first on a blocked punt, with Steven Shark recovering in the end zone. Later in the first quarter, quarterback Brandon Godfrey hit Edward Jackson on a 32-yard scoring strike to put the Sundevils up, 14-0.

Western, which gained only 179 total yards, got its only points on a 59-yard scoring pass from Sample to Christopher Fowler.

Newson scored on a 2-yard run late in the second quarter, and Justin Ellison added a 33-yard run in the fourth for Eldorado.

Stephon Sanford led the Warriors with eight carries for 51 yards.

-- Sam Leeper

• Green Valley 20, Bonanza 12 -- At Bonanza, Jarius Howard scored on a 4-yard run in the first quarter to give the Gators a lead they never relinquished in a win over the Bengals.

Green Valley's defense was stifling, blocking two Bonanza punts in the first quarter and forcing three fumbles. Both blocked punts led to Gators touchdowns, with the Howard run followed by a 10-yard scoring pass from quarterback Robert Reynolds to Gabriel Garcia.

The Gators also scored on a 25-yard Jeffrey Garcia run in the third.

Howard had 15 carries for 107 yards, and Reynolds completed 7 of 12 passes for 80 yards.

The Bengals scored on a 6-yard run by Nigel Moore in the second quarter and a 12-yard pass from Brett Parry to Troy Bloom in the fourth. Parry completed 8 of 14 passes for 106 yards.

The game was marred by penalties, the most damaging against the Bengals. A 65-yard touchdown run by Bonanza's Drew Bernhardy in the third quarter was brought back because of an illegal shift.

-- Jeff Hoskin

• Shadow Ridge 68, Rancho 0 -- At Shadow Ridge, Ricky Snodgrass ran for 257 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries to lead the Mustangs (1-0) past the Rams (0-2).

The Mustangs dominated both sides of the ball, gaining 618 total yards and allowing only 39.

Mustangs quarterback Chris Berkeley helped the balanced offensive attack, connecting on 12 of 15 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Berkeley also intercepted a pass that set up a touchdown.

The Rams took the opening drive inside the Mustangs 5-yard line, where Shadow Ridge's defense held to cause the turnover on downs. Two plays later, Snodgrass ran 90 yards for his first touchdown.

Troy Cummings caught six passes for 108 yards and a touchdown for Shadow Ridge, and Beau Backman added three catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Terrence McGill caught a pass for 21 yards and added a touchdown-saving interception for the Rams.

-- Jim Godfrey

• Chaparral 27, Durango 17-- At Durango, Brandon Lomax broke loose for three touchdowns in the final six minutes to lift the Cowboys over the Trailblazers.

Lomax scored scored on runs of 4, 2 and 38 yards. He finished with 122 yards on 25 carries.

Chaparral (1-1) also scored on a 46-yard interception return by defensive end Justin Barnhill.

Durango (0-1) turned the ball over seven times inside the 50 and got turned away on a key fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter.

Alex Bravo led Durango with 35 carries for 241 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown.

-- Jeff Butler

• Canyon Springs 32, Spring Valley 6 -- At Spring Valley, the Pioneers shrugged off early sloppy play and routed the Grizzlies in the first-ever game for either school.

Canyon Springs was led by the Dominique Davis, who had 174 yards on just 14 carries. Davis scored on a 60-yard run in the second quarter and a 67-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Canyon Springs played stingy defense, limiting the Grizzlies to 146 yards of total offense and only 62 yards rushing.

The Pioneers scored early in the first quarter on a 1-yard run by quarterback Andy Sadler. Spring Valley (0-1) tied the game at 6 in the second on a 2-yard run by quarterback Adam Aguilar, but Davis' 60-yarder made it 12-6.

Canyon Springs broke the game open in the fourth quarter on a wacky running play. Fullback Antonio Coleman fumbled the ball, which was then kicked around by several players before Michael Hearring fell on it in the end zone, giving Canyon Springs a 26-6 lead.

Perry Martin led Spring Valley with four catches for 84 yards.

-- James Soller

• Liberty 31, Clark 22 -- At Clark, Blake Niggemeier scored on a 43-yard interception return and had a 5-yard TD run to help the Patriots (1-1) beat the Chargers (0-1) for their first football victory.

The second-year school got off to a solid start after not winning any games in the 2003 season.

The game was tied at 20 after a 60-yard punt return by Clark's Brian Lebron in the third quarter. A safety put the Chargers up 22-20 early in the fourth quarter, but Liberty scored the final 11 points of the game to win it.

Kathy Burchick

• Faith Lutheran 26, Dayton 20 -- At Dayton, Josh Washington had three receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns as the Crusaders edged the Dust Devils.

Washington also had two interceptions for Faith Lutheran.

Quarterback Cameron Done completed 10 of 18 for 189 yards for Faith Lutheran.

• Moapa Valley 23, Kanab (Utah) 20 -- At Kanab, Zach Davis made three long field goals as the Pirates defeated Kanab.

Davis hit two 47-yard field goals and another from 49 as the Pirates rallied from a 14-point deficit.

Moapa Valley quarterback Jeff Bowler finished 13 of 19 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

• Virgin Valley 40, Del Sol 7 -- At Virgin Valley, Brock Francis scored on runs of 59 and 44 yards, finishing with 140 yards on eight carries as the Bulldogs defeated the Dragons.

Kyle Smith had a 44-yard scoring run and a 30-yard scoring catch. He rushed three times for 77.

Chris Dunfield, who led Del Sol (0-2) with 54 yards rushing on 20 carries, threw a 23-yard TD pass to Ryan Klorman in the second quarter.