Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

High School Football:

High school football top 10: Coronado falls in triple OT, moves up one spot in rankings

2014 High School Football

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

From left, Coronado High School football players Tanner Gorski, Jordan Rude and Justin Belknap July 21, 2014.

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Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer relive Bishop Gorman prevailing over St. John Bosco in a battle between the two top-ranked teams in the nation before getting to the rest of an eventful week. Does Arbor View still have a case to be ranked above Liberty? Did Faith Lutheran really get into the end zone on its game-winning Hail Mary? Who would win: Coronado or Centennial? They debate all these topics and more.

Coronado football coach Brad Talich doesn’t believe in moral victories.

There was one winner last Saturday in the Cougars’ triple overtime game at Arbor View — third-ranked Arbor View in one of the best games of the season.

Earlier in the season, when Coronado led No. 2 Liberty for parts of the game and lost by one point after missing a field goal, Talich used a similar mindset when analyzing the performance. Sure, they stayed close with four-time Sunrise champ Liberty, but it wasn’t enough. It was still a loss.

This Arbor View loss has a consolation prize — moving up one spot to No. 5 in the Sun’s weekly’s top-10 ranking. After giving Arbor View all it could handle, it’s safe to say Talich has built his program into one of the Las Vegas area’s best.

In 2012, during his first year, he led Coronado to the state semifinals for the best season in school history. Before he got the job, most Coronado seasons included missing the playoffs and few league wins.

Now, after gaining confidence by staying close to Liberty and Arbor View, players feel the sky is the limit for rest of the season.

“We are just getting better game by game, so we prepare for conference play. We want to be best in November,” Talich said. “All year we have felt real good with where we stand. It’s just we need those wins over Arbor View, over LIberty to break that barrier. They are big kids, but they’ll fight. A lot of fight here.”

Here’s the rest of the rankings:

1. Bishop Gorman (6-0): Not only is five-time defending state championship BIshop Gorman No. 1 in the Sun’s rankings, the Gaels are also the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Up next: Thursday vs. Shadow Ridge

2. Liberty (4-1): Defense wins championships. Liberty’s defense, as witnessed last week in a 19-2 win against Palo Verde, is pretty special. Up next: Thursday vs. Liberty

3.Arbor View (4-0): After surviving a scare against Coronado, Arbor View won’t be challenged until the last regular season game when it faces Centennial. Up next: Thursday vs. Desert Oasis

4. Centennial (4-0): Centennial also won’t be challenged the rest of the way until it meets Arbor View. Don’t you love realignment? Up next: Thursday at Bonanza

5. Coronado (2-2): Coronado is a few bounces away from being undefeated. Up next: Thursday vs. Las Vegas

6. Green Valley (3-1): Green Valley is going for four straight wins in the Henderson Bowl against Basic. It’s starting to feel like the mid-to-late 1990s. Up next: Thursday at Basic in Henderson Bowl

7. Palo Verde (2-2): With the exception of Gorman, no program in Las Vegas has played a tougher schedule. Palo Verde will be ready next week when league play begins. Thursday vs. Cimarron-Memorial

8. Canyon Springs (3-1): Canyon Springs comes closer than most teams to beating Liberty. It gets another crack at the champs this week. Up next: Thursday at Liberty

9. Moapa Valley (5-0): Moapa Valley has got valuable work for its reserves over the past few weeks. Up next: Thursday at Del Sol

10. Las Vegas (2-2): Las Vegas desperately needs to stop its two-game losing streak before league play begins next week. Up next: Thursday vs. Coronado

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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