Friday football recap: Las Vegas High stays perfect, rankings watch

Las Vegas High’s football team was in a battle against Canyon Springs on Friday night. The Wildcats were down 7-6 and were looking to keep their perfect record intact.

Even though it wasn’t Las Vegas’ smoothest game, quarterback Tanner Vibabul and its veteran defense willed the Wildcats to the win.

Vibabul threw a touchdown pass in the third quarter, Las Vegas’ defense stood tall the rest of the way and the Wildcats, No. 5 in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, held on for a 14-7 home win over Canyon Springs.

“Our defense stepped up big time,” Las Vegas coach Jose Cerriteno said. “We got put in some bad spots because of the (three) turnovers we had, really bad field position. Nonetheless, the kids stepped up defensively and got the stops we needed. Got some big fourth down stops and the kids kept battling.”

Las Vegas (7-0, 2-0 5A Mountain League) survived the scare to remain the lone undefeated 5A Southern Region team. Vibabul added a 51-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter after Canyon Springs scored in the first quarter.

The win should keep Las Vegas in the top four in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s HRM rankings.

The NIAA released its first rankings last Monday. The rankings will determine which 5A and 4A Southern Region teams will make the playoffs, and the top four 5A Southern teams would go into the four-team Open Division state tournament.

Bishop Gorman, Liberty, Las Vegas and Shadow Ridge, respectively, were ranked as the top four 5A Southern teams.

Las Vegas was a surprise team in the top four, ranked at No. 3. The Wildcats have the third-most Harbin Points (10.295) and fourth-most NIAA rubric points (128.333), despite being ranked 10th in the state by MaxPreps.

“Yeah, to be honest, we were super surprised,” Cerriteno said of his reaction to seeing his team ranked No. 3. “We’re not trying to get caught up in that because there’s so much season left.”

Shadow Ridge edged Centennial 18-12 on Friday. Before the first rankings, it was suspected that Shadow Ridge (6-1, 2-0 5A Desert League) would be in the top four.

“It’s constantly on our minds, at least mine, (but) we don’t address it with the kids,” Shadow Ridge coach Travis Foster said Friday of the rankings. “The four spot is the four spot. This was a game we wanted to win (against Centennial) with it being a neighborhood thing, it being an old black-and-blue league game. It means a lot to our kids.

“We’ll see what happens the rest of the season. It’s out of our control. We got to win the games that we can win and the numbers will be what the numbers are at the end of the season.”

Rankings watch

Let’s try to predict where there might be some movement, if any, in the HRM rankings.

There will likely be no changes in the top four with all teams winning. There may not be that much movement through spots 5 through 12, which would make up the 5A Southern Region playoffs.

Arbor View, ranked No. 6 with an HRM score of 5, might not pass No. 5 Desert Oasis (4.6667 HRM) since the Diamondbacks have an edge in Harbin Points (9.015 to 6.667) and NIAA rubric points (130.833 to 122.917) and the Aggies beat the one-win Legacy Longhorns on Friday night.

Although Desert Pines, Centennial, Coronado and Palo Verde — currently in the top 12 — lost Friday, they likely will keep their spots since No. 13 Faith Lutheran also lost and other teams just outside the top 12, such as Canyon Springs, Basic, Legacy and Losee, also lost Friday night.

While No. 14 Mojave won, its victory was against winless Losee, so a significant move up the rankings is unlikely.

There will likely be some movement in the 4A rankings. The top five teams — Sloan Canyon, Sierra Vista, Silverado, Spring Valley and Mater East — should stay the same.

In the back half of the top eight, No. 9 SLAM! Nevada (8.3333 HMR) defeated No. 7 Bonanza (7.6667) 13-7 behind key rushing touchdowns from AJ Edwards and a 21-yard run from Greg Cortez late, so the Bulls should move in.

No. 6 Valley (7.6667) lost to No. 4 Spring Valley 29-6. No. 10 Durango (9.3333) rolled Western 44-7, which could move up the Trailblazers. No. 8 Clark (8.3333) shut out Cimarron-Memorial 51-0.

Friday football highlights

Gorman rolls: Bishop Gorman made its return to local play after wrapping up the nonleague portion of its schedule last Saturday with a win over nationally ranked Santa Margarita. The Gaels showed no sign of a hangover as they romped to a 58-0 win over Palo Verde.

Kaina Watson had seven catches for 150 yards and three touchdowns. Hawaii commit Maika Eugenio completed 10 of 15 passes for 265 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. Noah Cole had 104 rushing yards and a touchdown on three carries.

Rivalry wins: Arbor View continued its dominance in the “Battle of the Bulls” rivalry with Legacy, as the Aggies rolled to a 55-12 win. Utah commit Thaddeus Thatcher completed 17 of 19 passes for 348 yards and five touchdowns, and Kamareion Bell and Nylen Johnson added rushing touchdowns for the Aggies (5-2, 2-0 5A Mountain League).

In the “Battle for Boulder Highway,” Foothill defeated Basic 68-27. Foothill quarterback Ryder Dobbs threw eight touchdown passes, and Braxton Bonnett had touchdown catches of 75, 66, 80, 7 and 5 yards.

Other sports

Boys and girls soccer and girls volleyball teams across Southern Nevada have not had their usual schedules the past two weeks with the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays putting a pause on sports on some days. But there is less than a month to go in the regular season for each sport.

Here’s a breakdown of where things stand with the playoffs less than a month away.

* Girls soccer: Coronado (14-1, 9-1 5A Southern League) and Faith Lutheran (12-1, 8-1) are in a class of their own in the 5A Southern League. The two teams play at Coronado at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Centennial (6-4-1, 6-4), Arbor View (5-4-1, 5-4-1) and Bishop Gorman (10-5-1, 5-4-1) are in good position to make the six-team state tournament in the eight-team classification made up of just Southern teams. The last playoff spot will come down between Liberty (3-7-2, 2-6-2) and Shadow Ridge (2-7-2, 1-7-2).

In 4A, Green Valley (Desert), Canyon Springs (Lake), Sierra Vista (Mountain) and Palo Verde (Sky) lead their respective leagues. But there’s a whole host of other contenders such as Tech, Eldorado, Doral Academy, Cimarron-Memorial and Legacy, among others, that could contend in the 16-team Southern Region tournament that begins Oct. 25.

* Boys soccer: Coronado has taken a lot of the fun out of the 5A state title race. The Cougars (14-0, 5-0 5A Desert) have won 44 straight matches. Las Vegas High (8-3-1, 4-1-1) and Liberty (6-4-1, 3-2) are behind Coronado in the Desert, and are contenders to get to the state tournament.

Things in the Mountain are much closer. Palo Verde (6-2-3, 3-1-1) leads Faith Lutheran (8-4-4, 2-1-2). But there’s no breathing room with Bishop Gorman (6-5-2, 2-1-1), Canyon Springs (8-5, 2-2) and Arbor View (7-8, 2-3) all jockeying for the league’s four playoff spots.

In 4A, SLAM! Nevada (Desert), Desert Pines (Lake), Tech (Mountain) and Legacy (Sky) lead their respective leagues.

* Girls volleyball: Bishop Gorman (24-8, 4-0 5A Desert) is the heavy favorite to win a third straight 5A title and has lost just one set to a Nevada team. Coronado (19-7, 3-1), which lost to Gorman in both of the last two title games, might be the only team that could challenge the Gaels.

Arbor View (17-6, 4-0 5A Mountain) might have something to say about that, as it is the lone local team to win a set off the Gaels. Things behind the Aggies in the Mountain are tight with Shadow Ridge (20-12, 2-2), Faith Lutheran (12-12, 2-2), Palo Verde (9-11, 1-3) and Centennial (19-12, 1-3).

In 4A, Sky Pointe (Desert), Green Valley (Lake), Sierra Vista (Mountain), Coral Academy (Sky) and Las Vegas High (Sun) lead their respective leagues.

Up next

Las Vegas at Desert Pines (3-3, 1-1 5A Mountain) at 6 p.m. Friday is one of the top games of the coming week. The Jaguars will try to bounce back after a tight 19-18 loss to Green Valley.

Liberty (6-1, 2-0 5A Lake League) hosts Desert Oasis (4-2, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in another game of note. Desert Oasis has league wins over Coronado and Faith Lutheran, and could jump into the top four of the HRM rankings with a win.

Things could get cleaner in Lake play when Foothill (5-2, 1-1) plays at Coronado (2-5, 1-1), and Basic (2-5, 0-2) hosts Faith Lutheran (1-6, 0-2). Both games are 7 p.m. Friday.

Centennial (3-3, 0-2) hosts Palo Verde (3-4, 1-1) in a key 5A Desert matchup. Palo Verde was No. 12, the last team in the 5A Southern Region playoffs, in the first HRM rankings.

Arbor View will get a step up in competition in Mountain League play, hosting Green Valley (3-3, 1-1) at 6 p.m. Friday.

Other key games include Mater East (4-2, 2-0 4A Mountain) hosting Silverado (5-1, 2-0) in the top 4A game, and Pahrump Valley (4-2, 1-1 3A Southern) playing at Moapa Valley (4-3, 2-0) in a key 3A matchup. Both games are at 7 p.m.

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