Chargers post hollow victory

Clark took the field for its regular-season finale Friday night at Cheyenne knowing a victory alone would not be enough to secure one of four playoff berths in the Division I-A Sunset League.

The Chargers did all they could in a 28-13 victory, but they didn’t get the help they needed and will miss the postseason.

“The bottom line is we knew that we had to take care of what was in front of us. You can’t control anything else,” Clark coach Don Willis said. “We let ourselves get in this situation, so we just wanted to come out and take care of our business. I’m proud of them for doing that.”

Clark (5-4, 4-3) finished in a five-way tie for second place in the division, along with Cheyenne (4-5, 4-3), Sierra Vista, Spring Valley and Mojave. Faith Lutheran grabbed the top seed with a 5-2 mark in league.

When all the tiebreakers were decided, Sierra Vista earned the No. 2 seed, with Cheyenne and Spring Valley also qualifying for the playoffs. Clark and Mojave were left on the outside looking in.

Cheyenne coach David Cochran tried to make sure his team stayed focused on earning its way to the playoffs with a victory. It wasn’t an easy task.

“We tried not to look at all those other things as far as the scenarios. We just wanted to try to get a win, and we didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the other games,” he said. “Of course, the kids were kind of feeding into all that stuff, but personally I didn’t pay attention to any of it.”

In the end, the tiebreakers worked out for the Desert Shields.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “Even getting in on a loss, it’s always good to get another shot.”

Both offenses struggled to find a rhythm early. Clark struck first when a second-quarter drive was kept alive on a roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-down pass that fell incomplete. Milan Dixon raced 27 yards on the next play to open the scoring. The Chargers added to the lead just before halftime when Kareem Warren scrambled all over the backfield on a third-and-goal play before finding Marquice Stuart alone in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

After Cheyenne quarterback Anthony McConnico cut the lead in half with a 50-yard TD on a read option play in the third quarter, Warren again made a great play to push the lead back to 21-7. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he avoided several defenders in the backfield and rolled right before lofting a pass to Marlon Kinnard for a 6-yard touchdown.

Warren completed all seven of his pass attempts for 82 yards and two scores.

The Desert Shields put the game out of reach on an 85-yard fumble return by Aquantay Morris.

“I thought we were physical tonight,” Wilson said. “That’s been a bit of our downfall this year. The teams that have beat us have out-physicaled us. I thought we were more physical tonight.”

■ Las Vegas 49, Silverado 16 — At Silverado, Trevor Swenson completed 18 of 29 passes for 259 yards and four touchdowns to help the ninth-ranked Wildcats.

Kode Mwirigi, who had seven receptions for 75 yards and two TDs, scored on a 28-yard pass from Swenson for the Wildcats (5-3, 3-0 Northeast). Elijah Hicks carried 11 times for 138 yards and two TDs.

Vernon Jackson led Silverado (3-5, 1-2) with 193 yards on 42 carries.

— Jeff Wollard

■ Canyon Springs 52, Valley 0 — At Valley, Canyon Springs quarterback Bradley Alexander threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Pioneers (5-3, 2-1 Northeast) ended a two-game skid.

Tre’von Dean tossed a 50-yard touchdown pass for the Pioneers, who posted their second shutout.

Jason Johnson-Keppo carried 11 times for 49 yards for Valley (0-8, 0-4).

— Jordan Aguilar

■ Green Valley 47, Eldorado 38 — At Eldorado, the Gators used their hurry-up offense to rack up 518 yards, 322 on the ground, to beat Eldorado.

Christian Lopez threw for three touchdowns and ran for one, compiling 261 total yards. Albert Lake rushed 21 times for 155 yards, and his 46-yard TD reception with 3:35 to play iced the game for No. 4 Green Valley (7-1, 3-0 Southeast).

Joshua Brown accounted for 239 total yards for the Sundevils (3-5, 0-4), including an 81-yard kickoff return for a score.

— Mike James

■ Centennial 50, Desert Oasis 0 — At Desert Oasis, Juan Rodriguez threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown as the Bulldogs crushed the Diamondbacks.

Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for the Bulldogs (8-0, 3-0 Northwest), while Ivan Ochoa-Serrano caught three passes for 53 yards, including a 21-yard score.

Angelo Craig returned a kickoff 47 yards for the Diamondbacks (1-7, 0-4).

— Robert Horne

■ Shadow Ridge 40, Durango 7 — At Durango, Dominick Wilson rushed 18 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Mustangs (3-5, 1-2 Southwest).

Jonathan Schofield found Zayvion Wilson for a 22-yard touchdown pass with :22 remaining in the game to break up the shutout for the Trailblazers (1-7, 0-4).

— Adam Berchin

■ Moapa Valley 40, Chaparral 12 — At Chaparral, Kaleb Bodily rushed for three touchdowns as the Pirates captured the Division I-A Sunrise title, their seventh straight league championship.

Bodily had 21 carries for 151 yards for Moapa Valley (9-0, 6-0 Division I-A Sunrise), with all three of his touchdowns coming on 2-yard runs.

R.J. Hubert ran back the second-half kickoff 78 yards to the end zone to push the Pirate advantage to 27-6.

— Tim Guesman

■ Desert Pines 54, Sunrise Mountain 0 — At Sunrise Mountain, Isaiah Morris rushed for 267 yards and three touchdowns in the first half for Desert Pines (8-1, 4-1 Division I-A Sunrise), which clinched second place in the division.

The Jaguars outgained the Miners 379-6 on the ground. Desert Pines recorded six sacks, and Jautae Collins recorded a second-quarter safety.

Damon Heard passed for 101 yards for Sunrise Mountain (1-8, 0-6).

— Jesse Granger

■ Mojave 65, Western 0 — At Mojave, Ty Flanagan rushed for 106 yards with touchdown runs on all three of his carries to lead the Rattlers.

Mojave (6-3, 4-3 Division I-A Sunset) scored on Kylan Green’s 57-yard punt return n the first quarter, and Davion Fletcher’s 76-yard kickoff return.

Anthony Shelby caught two passes for 30 yards for Western (0-9, 0-7), which was held to 10 rushing yards.

— Jesse Vineyard

■ Del Sol 65, Rancho 26 — At Rancho, Taaric Flowers had nine carries for 329 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Dragons (5-4), who finished with 616 yards on the ground.

Robert Howard rushed 24 times for 308 yards and two TDs for Rancho (0-9), and Nathan Guido added 103 yards.

The teams combined for 1,065 rushing yards and zero passing yards.

— Ashton Ferguson

■ Agassi Prep 57, Laughlin 0 — At Canyon Springs, Kobe Williams rushed for 126 yards and three scores, while Stephan Laushal rushed for 106 yards for the Stars (6-2, 5-1 Division III Southern).

Robert Osuna rushed for 99 yards for Laughlin (0-8, 0-6).

— Ron Harris

■ Virgin Valley 27, Boulder City 21 — At Boulder City, Junior Paongo rushed for one score and returned a fumble for another to lead the Bulldogs by the Eagles.

Tony Urias tossed two touchdown passes for Virgin Valley (4-5, 2-4 Sunrise League), which needed to win by at least 13 points to make the playoffs.

Trenton Carmell’s 17-yard TD run and a 2-point conversion run with 1:10 to play trimmed the lead to 27-21 and enabled the Eagles (4-5, 2-4) to qualify for the postseason.

■ Pahrump Valley 39, Sierra Vista 27 — At Pahrump, the Trojans (4-5, 3-4 Sunset League) took the lead with just more than three minutes to play and tacked on a late score to stun the Mountain Lions.

Sierra Vista (6-3, 4-3) fell into a five-way tie for second place in the Sunset but won the tiebreaker and is the league’s No. 2 seed for the Division I-A playoffs.

■ Spring Mountain 42, Sandy Valley 0 — At Spring Mountain, Sydney Shackerford ran for two touchdowns and caught a TD pass to lead the Golden Eagles (6-2, 5-1 Division IV Southern).

Shackerford scored on runs of 73 and 25 yards in the first half before hauling in one of Edward London’s two touchdown passes. London also hooked up with Cory Franks on a touchdown pass as the Golden Eagles raced to a 30-0 halftime lead.

Cory Duncan and Jarron Belvin added TD runs for Spring Mountain (6-2, 4-2).

■ Beatty 30, Indian Springs 6 — At Beatty, Luis Flores and Brandon Cross returned interceptions for a touchdowns to help the Hornets (6-2, 4-2 Division IV Southern) defeat the Thunderbirds (0-7, 0-5).