Palo Verde rallies with 55-straight to steamroll Faith Lutheran

Six days to grieve for the loss of defensive coordinator Dave Castro hardly seemed like enough time for Tyrone Blake and his Palo Verde teammates.

Twelve minutes into Friday night’s game against Faith Lutheran, the No. 4 Panthers looked like a different team than they’ve been all season as Joe Portaro and the Crusaders’ spread offense fired the ball at will en route to 21 quick points. But it took only a few plays for Blake and fellow senior Daniel Godkin to get the Panthers back on track and flip the momentum and honor their fallen coach with a 76-21 home victory.

Blake and Godkin picked off key interceptions from Portaro in a five-minute span to stunt the Faith Lutheran offense and the Panthers bulldozed their way to 55-straight points.

“In the first quarter, we still had a lot of emotion for our coach because we wanted this game for him,” Blake said.

Castro died last Saturday morning of cardiac arrest, leaving an enormous void in one of the city’s consistenly-solid programs. The longtime Southern Nevada coach built a stout defense at Palo Verde and his players had a difficult time preparing without him this week.

“This week was the hardest because it’s the first time this group of seniors has been without coach Castro,” Blake said.

Buoyed by Blake and Godkin’s defensive plays, Palo Verde’s offense began wearing down the smaller Crusaders (1-7, 1-6 Northwest). Led by Brandon Wright’s 201 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries, the Panthers (8-1, 6-1) rushed for 529 yards.

Chappell Thomas also ran for three scores on his way to 167 yards on 13 carries.

Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost, who succinctly described the past week as “hard,” credited Blake’s interception as the turning point in the game.

“We just needed to make plays,” Rost said. “We were there. After the first quarter, we made plays.”

Blake also shined on offense and special teams, as he ran, passed and returned a punt for touchdowns. The Panthers scored again on defense when Doug Stultz fell on a Portaro fumble in the end zone.

Returning after a six-week layoff, Portaro performed admirably for the Crusaders. He completed 18 of 44 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns.

Don Pearson enjoyed a strong game as well for Faith Lutheran, catching nine passes for 161 yards. He leaped to catch a 10-yard touchdown in the back corner of the end zone for his first score and broke a short, middle-screen pass 40 yards for his second.