Sloan Canyon football dominates in 3rd season led by ex-UNLV players

Former UNLV offensive lineman Nate Oishi and some of his Rebels teammates could put together a handbook on what it takes to build a high school football program.

Oishi and his coaching staff did that at Lake Mead Academy, which culminated in winning the Class 2A state title in 2023.

Now they’re doing it at Sloan Canyon, a small charter school in Henderson that opened in August 2019.

You wouldn’t know that Sloan Canyon is in its third season playing football. The Pirates, in Oishi’s second season leading the program, are one of the surprises of the season by dominating 4A and some 5A opponents.

“I don’t like looking ahead myself,” Oishi said. “I like taking it one day at a time. In the preseason, people would ask me how we think we’ll be this year, and I’ll be like, ‘If we don’t win on a Tuesday, it doesn’t matter.’”

Sloan Canyon has done plenty of winning this season. The Pirates are 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Review-Journal’s 4A rankings and No. 1 in the NIAA’s HRM 4A rankings that will determine who makes the Southern Region playoffs.

The Pirates (6-0, 3-0 4A Lake League) will play at No. 2 Sierra Vista (5-2, 3-0) at 6 p.m. Friday in what is likely their final test against a 4A opponent before the playoffs.

‘Always working hard’

Sloan Canyon has outscored opponents 270-54 and is averaging 409.8 yards per game, and its offensive line hasn’t given up a sack. The Pirates have victories over 5A opponents Foothill and Losee.

It’s a drastic change for a program that in 2023 went winless against varsity (0-4) and junior varsity (0-4) programs in its inaugural season and finished 5-4 as an independent last year.

“We’re not satisfied with it. We could always reach another standard,” senior offensive lineman Vili Tupou said. “I’m not surprised. We’ve been putting in the work since the offseason. We were always working hard after our last game (last year).”

Oishi has many of his former UNLV teammates on his staff — led by defensive coordinator Mike Hughes Jr., who spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and offensive coordinator JD Alexander, the son of UNLV wide receivers coach Del Alexander.

The three came together in 2021 at Lake Mead Academy when Oishi got the job there. Other former UNLV standouts, such as program all-time leading rusher Charles Williams, Gabe McCoy, Sid Acosta, Justin Polu and Darren Palmer, are also assistants at Sloan Canyon.

“I feel like they set the standard for how together we should be,” Tupou said. “Them playing together, it shows how much chemistry they had and how much they have right now. It shows us how much chemistry we can have if we play together as good as they do.”

Oishi, Hughes and Alexander learned a lot “on the fly” at Lake Mead, including how to call plays, teaching the basics of football and how to paint the field and put up portable lights.

Then, after the 2023 season and getting Lake Mead from 3-6 in Year 1 to the state title in Year 3, an opportunity opened at Sloan Canyon. Monalito Soifua, then the school’s athletic director, and Oishi knew each other with their ties to Hawaii, and Soifua talked to Oishi about the opening.

“It was a good challenge. … We wanted to try it at a new school, similar challenge, but now in a 5A/4A classification, playing against bigger schools,” Oishi said.

Oishi came over in January 2024, and it didn’t take much convincing for his former teammates to follow him to Sloan Canyon.

“It was pretty easy,” said Hughes, a special education teacher at Sloan Canyon. “I’ve worked in (CCSD) as a special ed teacher, and being able to be on campus here and coach at the same time, it was a win-win. And also getting to coach with your brothers that you played with in college and grew up with, it was pretty easy.”

‘Get after each other’

Just like at Lake Mead, there was some teaching that needed to happen — from learning certain workout warmups and effective running techniques before learning a route or play.

Sloan Canyon went 5-4 last year playing 4A, 3A and 2A schools. Oishi said a goal for 2024 was to “learn how to win and learn how to lose.”

“Year 1 is always laying the floor for the house. … The Year 1 accomplishment was after this year, we had 60 kids — only a few seniors and a few juniors — freshmen and sophomores playing varsity football,” Oishi said. “We want them to have confidence that they can compete, and we want them to perfect our base plays and know things we could build in the offseason.”

The offseason started after Sloan Canyon’s final game in 2024. The Pirates had almost 50 returning players and hit the ground running in preparation for 2025.

“I’m still tired from the offseason. … We get after each other,” Hughes said. When you get after each other over and over again and push each other, it makes the games easier.”

‘Dominate every day’

Sophomore defensive lineman Simote Tupou, the younger brother of Vili Tupou, had 16 sacks as a freshman and is committed to Arizona. Simote Tupou leads a defense that has 20 sacks, 10 interceptions and five forced fumbles.

“We’re not really surprised because that’s the standard we set every day,” Simote Tupou said. “Just come dominate every day and that’s going to be the result. … We really started building our chemistry last year and really showing how much we put over the offseason this year.”

Things have been clicking just as effectively on offense. Junior quarterback Cade Hoshino has 24 touchdown passes, throwing mainly to wide receivers Brandon Quaglio (114.8 receiving yards per game and 15 touchdowns) and Christian Rhodes (103.3 yards and eight touchdowns).

“Our goal is to score every time we have (the ball), no matter what or who we’re playing,” said Quaglio, who, along with twins Christian and Gavin Rhodes, played at Lake Mead in 2023. “I really love that. We’re trying to create a legacy here and set the standard for years.”

Two of Sloan Canyon’s biggest moments this season came against 5A opponents. The Pirates made a statement with a 35-14 home win over Foothill, a top 10 5A program, on Aug. 29.

“I was preaching to our guys, go change your life,” Alexander said. “Every time you have an opportunity on Friday, you can change your life … those guys went out there and they played lights out. That was pretty special.”

Then came another test against Losee on Sept. 5. Oishi said Losee had played the pistol offense all year and switched up to the Wing-T offense. Sloan Canyon trailed 27-7 and rallied for a 33-27 overtime win.

“Coming back to the sideline, seeing everybody locked in and bonding over it,” Hughes said. “That’s special. I’ll remember that day, that game, probably the rest of my coaching career.”

The team has galvanized the community around the K-12 charter school with about 800 high school kids and a seating capacity that’s a fraction of other high schools. The school has rented two sets of portable bleachers to place on the home end zone of the field that’s nestled in on the northeast part of campus.

There is still a standing-room-only crowd on the field that stands south of the visitors’ sideline and all around the south end zone under the goal post. Grade school kids stand on a short wall to greet players as they walk down stairs to the field.

Oishi said having a “one day at a time” approach has helped Sloan Canyon get to this position. That mindset could help the Pirates get to Allegiant Stadium to face off against the Northern 4A champion, where they won’t have to worry about having enough space for their supporters.

“Them getting this championship, I feel like it goes to show for them in life, I put my best foot forward every single day, I keep clocking it, I’m going to get what I want,” Hughes said.

“I feel like the championship should represent something. It shouldn’t necessarily be exactly like the object that you’re going for. It’s more about what you have to do to get there and what that means to you.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.