Ask Arbor View

We've heard from enough adults in the campaign to ban Bishop Gorman High School from Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association championships. Principals, coaches and administrators from a few Nevada public schools have complained that Bishop Gorman - a private, Catholic campus - is too dominant in too many sports.

So when the NIAA Board of Control meets June 25 in Las Vegas, its members should take testimony from Nevada student-athletes. Do they want to exclude Bishop Gorman from region, league and state playoffs? Do they want to avoid playing the Gaels because they're afraid of losing?

And the NIAA should start with the young men of Arbor View High School's baseball team.

On Wednesday, in a Class 4A Sunset Region tournament game, the Aggies shocked the Gaels, 9-8, on Gorman's home field. The Gaels were ranked fifth nationally by USA Today. They've won six straight state titles. And they were leading 6-2 going into the sixth inning of the seven-inning game.

But Arbor View - no slouch with only four losses through Wednesday - fought back and held on for the victory. "It's kind of unreal right now," Arbor View pitcher Zach Quintana told the Review-Journal. "It hasn't set in. I knew we had the talent, definitely, to beat them. It hasn't set in that we did it."

That doesn't sound like a teenager who went through the motions expecting defeat. That sounds like someone who was up for the challenge of facing one of the best high school baseball teams in the country.

Wednesday's loss did not end the Gaels' season; the tournament has a double-elimination format. The title was decided Saturday. But regardless of how it played out, Arbor View's players enjoyed a moment Wednesday they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

If the NIAA follows through and relegates the Gaels to outsider status - letting Bishop Gorman play regular-season games against other Nevada high schools but barring them from the postseason - Wednesday's wild upset will not be possible in future seasons.

Let's find out what the kids think. Ask Arbor View's baseball team if Bishop Gorman should get the boot.