Aggies look to ‘corral’ Bulldogs’ attack

Some area football teams already have concluded their seasons, and others are playing games this week with little riding on the outcome.

But Thursday night at Arbor View, there will be plenty on the line.

The third-ranked Aggies host fourth-ranked Centennial with the Northwest League title up for grabs.

"This is our championship game right here," said Arbor View senior defensive end Gage Motl, who leads the Aggies with seven sacks. "This is it, so we're really excited."

For the second consecutive year, the teams enter the final week of the regular season with identical records and a league title on the line. Last season, the Aggies earned a 21-16 road win to give the Bulldogs their first loss.

This season, both enter 7-1 and 3-0 in the Northwest.

"It's fun to end the season with an important game," Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said. "Instead of kind of coasting maybe into the playoffs, there's no coasting. It's full go, and I know they're doing the same thing."

Arbor View lineman Keenen King said the Aggies would like to start a string of league titles.

"We want to have a program here, not just a high school team, but a program," King said. "Something that keeps going and going, nonstop. This game is going to be crazy. We want to win the division title more than anybody, but we've got to work for it, too. You can't just want it."

Both teams are assured a home game in the first round of the Sunset Region playoffs next week. But earning the top seed could help extend a team's season, especially since it almost surely means being on the opposite side of the bracket from Bishop Gorman, ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today.

"You go out and get a game like this, it can carry you deep into the playoffs," Centennial coach Leon Evans said. "It gets the kids believing, and we restart our season goals."

Both teams are keying on Centennial junior quarterback Jamaal Evans, the coach's son.

Jamaal Evans has been one of the area's top dual-threat players, passing for 1,440 yards and 16 TDs, and rushing for a team-best 511 yards and 11 scores.

He's been especially important for Centennial since 2014 all-state running back Rhamondre Stevenson went down with a broken right foot against Liberty on Sept. 18.

"(We have to) contain the quarterback," Motl said. "Evans is pretty shifty, he's pretty good. So kudos to him, but we've just got to corral him."

Leon Evans also thinks the play of his quarterback will be key.

"That's the one position I worry about tomorrow," Leon Evans said. "He's done well all season, but tomorrow that stage is going to be real big. I hope he grows up fast and does a good job."

Stevenson announced on Twitter that he would be returning for this game, but Leon Evans said Wednesday that he still wasn't sure whether his senior running back would be able to play. The coach said Stevenson just got the boot off his injured foot last week.

But whether Stevenson plays or not, just the threat of having the bruising 230-pound back in the game has changed Arbor View's preparation.

"Even if he's not (going to play), we have to think that he is," Barnson said. "So we kind of have to prepare for what it was like when he was there and now what it's like when he's not there, which kind of adds more pages to what we have to cover."

Both teams expect a championship atmosphere when the neighboring schools meet. Centennial and Arbor View are separated by about 5 miles.

"I know everyone's coming: all the recruiters, all the sports writers, everybody's coming," King said. "My family, everybody's family's coming. This is going to be a crazy game. It's going to be packed."

And Barnson knows the intensity will be there for both teams.

"This is a whole different deal," he said. "This is fast. It's going to be physical all the way from play one to play 150. They're going to sell out, and we have to sell out just as much."

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at 702-380-4587 or dseiters@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.