Nevada high school football title games set for Allegiant Stadium

There are just 12 high schools in Nevada that are still playing football.

After a four-month-long battle that started in sweltering 100-degree heat, there is just one week of high school football left. And for many teams, their seasons will end under the bright lights of Allegiant Stadium.

Friday night and Saturday’s state semifinal action has set the stage for the state title games. Allegiant Stadium will host a quadrupleheader of state title games on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

Headlining the games at Allegiant Stadium is the inaugural Open Division state championship between No. 1 Bishop Gorman (10-1) and No. 3 Arbor View (9-2) at 7 p.m. on Nov. 25 in a rematch of last year’s 5A Division I state title game won by Gorman 69-7.

The other state title games at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 25 are:

* Class 2A: Pershing County vs. Needles, 9 a.m.

* Class 4A: McQueen vs. Sloan Canyon, 12:20 p.m.

* Class 5A: Spanish Springs vs. Faith Lutheran, 3:40 p.m.

The state title action begins Saturday, Nov. 22, with the 3A and 1A state title games. Bishop Gorman will host an all-Southern 1A title game between Pahranagat Valley and Tonopah at 2 p.m. At UNR’s Mackay Stadium on Saturday, Moapa Valley will face Churchill County at 10 a.m. for the 3A title.

“Anytime you make it to the 16th week, from the scrimmage to the last week, it’s always special,” first-year Faith Lutheran coach Jay Staggs said. “We’ll have our last Saturday session. We’ll have our last Monday practice and we earned it. We know it’s coming. There’s an ability there to cherish that as you get ready to go. … It’s a big deal.”

Back to Allegiant

Arbor View reached its first football state title game last year, and earned its spot back at Allegiant following a 41-28 road win at No. 2 Liberty in an Open Division state semifinal in a battle of the two top public school programs in the state over the last decade.

“That’s the goal from the get-go (is to go to Allegiant),” first-year Arbor View coach Sam Norris said. “Our goal every year is to compete to be the king of Nevada. That’s our goal football-wise. We’re here to build young men into great husbands and fathers, but in regards to football, our goal every single year is to be in Allegiant and compete for a state championship.”

Bishop Gorman rolled Foothill 56-6 in the other Open Division state semifinal. Gorman and Arbor View have not lost to a Nevada opponent this year. The Aggies’ only two losses to local competition the last two years have been to the Gaels.

“Our guys put themselves in a position to do that,” Norris said. “Now we’ve got to go prepare and we’ve got to get after it.”

Faith Lutheran’s run to its third straight title game was a little more unexpected. The Crusaders, who entered the playoffs at 3-7, erased a 28-0 second-half deficit and rallied to stun Centennial 31-28 to win the Class 5A Southern Region title.

“They stayed in it,” Staggs said. “They represented the name on the front of their chest greater than any team I have ever been a part of in my life. They were all faith tonight. It’s great.”

Faith Lutheran now gets a crack at Northern champion Spanish Springs (12-0), which crushed Bishop Manogue 48-7 in the 5A Northern Region title game. The Crusaders had lost to Manogue in each of the last two 5A Division II title games, at Allegiant Stadium in 2023 and a heartbreaker in Reno last year when they allowed 21 points in 21 seconds.

Sloan Canyon’s coaching staff is familiar with Allegiant Stadium. Coach Nate Oishi and his staff, made up of his former UNLV football teammates, won the 2A state title with Lake Mead Academy in 2023 at the Raiders’ stadium.

Now, Oishi and his football brothers have Sloan Canyon (12-0), in its third season playing football, at Allegiant Stadium to play Northern champion McQueen for the 4A title.

“That game is the most important game because it’s the next,” Oishi said. “I don’t want to think about Allegiant too much. Allegiant doesn’t matter unless we win practice on Monday. But I’m proud. It’s going to be an amazing experience for the kids. They earned it.”

Realignment update

Here we go again. The gift of Nevada high school football realignment keeps on giving.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association will hold a special Board of Control Meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Centennial, where changes could be made to the football alignment and the HRM system that could impact how leagues and the playoffs look over the next two seasons.

This was the first year the NIAA used an HRM score to determine which teams made the Open Division and 5A and 4A Southern Region playoffs. The NIAA combined where teams stood in MaxPreps’ state rankings and who had the most Harbin and NIAA rubric points to combine into an HRM score.

Things appeared to be going smoothly until the final rankings were initially released on Oct. 26. Shadow Ridge was in the No. 4 spot to play in the Open Division. Then the NIAA made a revision after MaxPreps made an update to its rankings, but the NIAA wasn’t aware of that, which impacted several teams’ HRM score.

Las Vegas was moved into the No. 4 spot later that day after the revision. Then, 24 hours after the initial revision, another change was made after Foothill did not report a game that was ruled a forfeit win, which impacted several teams’ HRM scores. Foothill was moved into the final spot in the Open Division.

The meeting will be streamed on the NIAA’s YouTube page and a packet of the agenda is on the NIAA’s site. A realignment and playoff proposal in the packet would make the Open Division an actual league with 10 teams, all Southern, with nine league games and six teams making the playoffs.

The meeting agenda includes discussion and possible changes to the HRM system, a possible seeding committee, the proposal from the 5A/4A Southern principals and discussion on venues for the state basketball tournaments in February.

Other state semifinals

* 3A: Moapa Valley (8-4) trailed Elko 21-3 in the second quarter, but the Pirates forced four turnovers, including two pick-sixes, to rally for a 43-27 win in a state semifinal Saturday in Elko. Moapa Valley will play Churchill County, the North’s No. 2 seed, at 10 a.m. at UNR’s Mackay Stadium for the 3A state title. Churchill County (11-1) defeated Virgin Valley 31-19 in the other semifinal Saturday at Virgin Valley. Virgin Valley, the South’s No. 1 seed, finished 8-4.

Briggs Hickman had two rushing touchdowns and a pick-six for Moapa Valley, the South’s No. 2 seed. Elko, the North’s No. 1 seed, finishes 9-2.

* 2A: Needles (9-2), the South’s No. 1 seed, led 12-0 at halftime and held on to defeat the No. 2 seed from the North, Battle Mountain, 18-12 in a 2A state semifinal Saturday at Needles. Needles will play the North’s No. 1 seed, Pershing County, at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, at Allegiant Stadium for the 2A state title. Pershing County (11-1) defeated the South’s No. 2 seed Lincoln County (7-3) in the other state semifinal 42-36 Saturday at Pershing County.

* 1A: Tonopah (12-0) and Pahranagat Valley (11-1) will meet for a second straight year for the 1A title. Pahranagat Valley, the South’s No. 2 seed, rolled Mineral County 60-34 in a state semifinal Friday in Hawthorne, and Tonopah, the South’s No. 1 seed, crushed Carlin 59-6 in the other semifinal in Tonopah.

Dustin Otteson rushed for 324 yards and five touchdowns, and added a touchdown pass on Tonopah’s win over Carlin, the North’s No. 2 seed. Braxten Tsosie had 160 rushing yards and three touchdowns and Jesse Stewart added 143 yards on the ground and three rushing scores in Pahranagat Valley’s road win at Mineral County, the North’s No. 1 seed.

Pahrnagat Valley defeated Tonopah 28-6 in Allegiant last year to win its state-record 24th football state title. Tonopah won the regular-season meeting against Pahranagat Valley 26-16 on Sept. 26.

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