Nevada high school football teams get key wins ahead of playoffs

The first nine weeks of the high school football season across Southern Nevada had seen picture-perfect weather.

Then came Week 10 on Friday night. A powerful thunderstorm brought rain across the city and forced nearly all prep football action to be delayed due to lightning.

Most 6 p.m. games were delayed by nearly two hours, and nearly all of the games, including a handful of 7 o’clock games, started at 8 or later. Some games finished after 11 p.m.

“It had an effect, but not to the point where it’s a reason to not play well out of the gate,” Arbor View coach Sam Norris said. “The reason it has an effect is because, as athletes, we’re used to routine. We’re used to consistency.”

Arbor View’s 6 p.m. game against Green Valley was delayed by nearly an hour. The Aggies went on to win 42-17 behind Utah commit Thaddeus Thatcher’s two passing touchdowns and rushing score.

“When routine is broken up, and things like that happen, you’ve got to reel the kids in and get them to understand, ‘Hey, we’ve got to stick to some kind of consistency as much as possible and overcome whatever adversity we get,’” Norris added.

There was no delay in the big moments once the games started. Here’s a breakdown of Friday’s action:

Vibabul keeps Wildcats perfect

Las Vegas High (8-0, 3-0 5A Mountain League) is still the lone undefeated 5A Southern Region team. The Wildcats held off Desert Pines 35-22 on the road.

There was no stopping Las Vegas quarterback Tanner Vibabul. The senior threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns, all on fourth-down plays. His 6-yard TD run late in the third quarter gave the Wildcats a 28-22 lead they wouldn’t give up.

“Our quarterback, he’s a really, really good player,” Las Vegas coach Jose Cerriteno said. “Any time we have the ball in his hands, we feel like we’re going to have a chance. That’s just the kids showing up and showing resilience, and us just being very, very fortunate that we have a quarterback of that kind of caliber.”

The game, scheduled for 6 p.m., started at 8:25 due to lighting delays and ended around 11:10.

“Our trainer did a really good job of just constantly relaying information to us,”Cerriteno said of the impact of the delay. “At one point we just kind of told the kids to just relax, hang out. We gave them a little bit of their own time. And then about 30 minutes prior to the official time, we started refocusing and getting prepared for this game.”

Centennial survives on late stop

You can always count on Centennial’s football team to be in a close game. The Bulldogs were in one Friday, and pulled out the victory in a key game with 5A playoff implications.

Centennial led Palo Verde 26-10 in the second half. While Palo Verde rallied to get within a score late, Centennial came up with a stop on a potential Palo Verde game-tying 2-point conversion attempt after a touchdown and held on for a 26-24 home win.

Brogan Church had 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground for Centennial (4-3, 1-2 5A Desert League). The game was delayed by nearly 90 minutes. Palo Verde (3-5, 1-2) running back Rio Pascal scored on a 6-yard run to cut the deficit to two points, but was stuffed by Centennial’s defensive line at the goal line on the 2-point attempt.

The win should lock Centennial, No. 10 in the NIAA’s 5A rankings, into the 5A Southern Region playoffs. The Bulldogs had lost its first two league games to Bishop Gorman and Shadow Ridge.

“We can’t start high and go low,” Centennial coach DJ Campbell said. “Going into the playoffs, we’ve got to keep going. We can’t let our foot off the gas.”

Foothill’s incredible 5 minutes

Foothill trailed Coronado 42-21 and was five minutes away from suffering a blowout loss. That didn’t happen. The Falcons instead rallied late and stole a 43-42 win at Coronado.

Backup quarterback Ayden Waier came up big for Foothill in the final five minutes. He threw three touchdown passes in that span, and his 10-yard scoring pass to Braxton Bonnett cut the deficit to 42-41 with under a minute left. That set up Nixon Gasperosky for a successful 2-point conversion run that gave the Falcons the lead and the win.

The Falcons (6-2, 2-1 5A Lake) are No. 7 in the NIAA’s 5A rankings with an HRM score of 7. They could creep their way toward the cutline of the Open Division and be one of the top seeds in the 5A Southern Region playoffs if they win out and get more Harbin and rubric points, and move up MaxPreps’ state rankings.

Other football highlights

* Much-needed win: Faith Lutheran got a much-needed 34-6 road win at Basic in one of the few games that was not delayed by weather. The Crusaders are just on the outside looking in at making the playoffs. They are ranked No. 13 in the NIAA’s 5A rankings, with teams No. 5 through No. 12 qualifying for the 5A Southern Region playoffs.

Faith Lutheran (2-6, 1-2 5A Lake) had forced five turnovers on defense. Washington commit Gavin Day had an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown, Joel Sandoval had a 20-yard fumble recovery for a score and Justin Robbins rushed for over 100 yards and three TDs.

* Silverado outlasts Mater East: In a key 4A Mountain League matchup, Silverado outlasted Mater East 53-42. Skyhawks quarterback Dillon Elliott threw four touchdowns and 256 yards, and rushed for 124 yards and two scores to lead Silverado (6-1, 3-0 4A Mountain) past Mater East (4-3, 2-1). Silverado racked up 601 total yards of offense and is a serious contender in 4A.

* Two-way impact: King Kahalewai had two touchdown catches and three interceptions on defense to lead Spring Valley to a 50-0 win over Del Sol. The Grizzlies (5-2, 3-1 4A Lake) have a big game against Sierra Vista at 6 p.m. Friday. Spring Valley is No. 4 (4.3333 HRM score) in the NIAA’s 4A HRM rankings and Sierra Vista (6-3, 4-1) is No. 2 (2 HRM score).

* 4A Desert title showdown: Clark (5-2, 3-0 4A Desert) has won four straight games, and SLAM! Nevada (4-4, 3-0) has won three straight, which should make Friday’s game at 7 p.m. at Basic exciting with first place in the league on the line and playoff seeding implications. In Clark’s 49-0 win over Western on Friday, Washington commit Andres Pollard returned two punts for touchdowns and added a rushing TD, and Felix Romero accounted for four touchdowns. SLAM! Nevada shut out Cimarron-Memorial 51-0 behind AJ Edwards’ 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Rankings watch

The top three 5A teams — Bishop Gorman, Liberty and Shadow Ridge — all won and will hold their spots. The question comes in at No. 4 for the Open Division state tournament, after Desert Oasis was shut out 45-0 at Liberty.

Desert Oasis (4.6667) will likely fall out of the top four and No. 5 Las Vegas (5.3333) should jump up. The Wildcats will pick up more Harbin and rubric points — for their win over a 5A team in Desert Pines — which will boost their HRM score, and Desert Oasis’ MaxPreps ranking will drop.

Arbor View, at No. 6 with an HRM score of 6, will gain more Harbin and rubric points by beating a 5A opponent in Green Valley and could move to No. 5 and jump Desert Oasis. It’s looking like Arbor View’s chances to make the Open Division state will come down to its regular-season finale against Las Vegas, which will have at least eight wins and give the Aggies a chance to get a lot of Harbin and rubric points to boost their HRM score.

There shouldn’t be much movement with the other teams ranked No. 7 through No. 11. One change could come at No. 12, though, with Palo Verde (12 HRM score) losing to Centennial and No. 13 Faith Lutheran (13 HRM score) defeating Basic.

In 4A, there likely won’t be any movement in the top seven. No. 8 Bonanza lost to Durango 28-21, but the Bengals have an HRM score of 7.6667. No. 9 Valley (9.3333 HRM score) did not play. No. 10 Durango (10.3333) and No. 11 Eldorado (10.3333) have fewer Harbin and rubric points compared to Bonanza, and likely won’t erase much of the difference to move up.

Up next

Arbor View (6-2, 3-0 5A Mountain) is in must-win mode as it tries to make the Open Division. The Aggies play at Desert Pines (3-4, 1-2) at 6 p.m. Friday.

Desert Oasis (4-3, 2-1 5A Lake) will look to get back on track, playing at Foothill at 6 p.m. Friday. Faith Lutheran and Coronado face off at 7 p.m. Friday in a key 5A Lake League battle with playoff implications. The Cougars are No. 11 in the HRM rankings.

Spring Valley plays at Sierra Vista at 6 p.m. Friday, and Clark faces SLAM! Nevada at 7 p.m. Friday at Basic in key 4A games that could present possible challengers to Sloan Canyon.

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