Las Vegas High School lineman Billy Winn goes through agility drills Thursday during the opening day of football practice at the school. Photo by Samantha Clemens.

Las Vegas High has become as close to a football dynasty as there is in Southern Nevada.

The Wildcats have played in the Sunrise Regional title game six consecutive seasons and have advanced to the state championship game in four of the last five years, winning the title last year and in 2001.

But with a huge chunk of the team's experience lost to graduation, including several seniors who played in three state title games, coach Chris Faircloth said it was like starting over as practice officially began Thursday.

"They were in three state games, that senior group," Faircloth said. "There were only 19 of them, but they were good football players. These kids here, we're back to scratch. We don't even talk about state championships or anything that we've done in the past. This is just a brand new season."

The team is not devoid of experience. The Wildcats return eight starters; four on offense and four on defense. And quarterback O'Ryan Bradley, who is back for his third year as a starter, said the seniors will help guide the younger players.

"We've got a lot of seniors, and a lot of them have got experience, so that's good," Bradley said. "Hopefully we can lead the juniors again like our seniors did us last year."

Bradley passed for 1,528 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior, and should be more comfortable running the spread offense installed last season.

"He looks real good," Faircloth said. "He's made a dramatic leap throwing the ball since last year."

That could be key for the Wildcats as they try to replace graduated running back Jamal Lomax, who rushed for 2,186 yards and 31 TDs last season in earning Class 4A state Player of the Year honors.

Lomax and Eric Jordan, who was the starter the previous two seasons, combined to rush for 8,172 yards and 107 touchdowns over the last three years. But there is no experienced back on the roster this season.

"We've had some very good running backs go through our program the last 10, 12 years," Faircloth said. "Right now we're looking at a bunch of youngsters to fill that role."

Bradley said even a 6 a.m. first practice Thursday couldn't dampen spirits as the team tries to build on the foundation of its offseason work.

"We do it in summer weight training long before this," Bradley said. "We're just building on now. It feels good to be out on the field finally."