Arbor View expecting dominance once again

By Case Keefer (contact)

Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The list of current high school football dynasties in Southern Nevada’s Division 1 classification is usually limited to Bishop Gorman and Liberty High.

Closer evaluation divulges that Arbor View may have a strong case of its own for inclusion into the choice group. And the Aggies could mortally wound cynics’ claims to the contrary by winning the Sunset Northwest Division again this season.

“Every year, we get better and better,” senior defensive end Gage Motl said. “We’re just going to come back and do what people did before us. We’re going to come out on top.”

Arbor View enters 2015 off of the best season in its program’s relatively fledgling 10-year history. The Aggies reached the Sunset Region championship with a perfect 11-0 record before eventual national champions Bishop Gorman eliminated them.

It was the fourth time in the last five seasons that the six-time defending state champion Gaels ended the Aggies season. Against teams other than Gorman in the last five years, Arbor View has gone 48-6.

Since realignment separated Arbor View and Gorman into different divisions, the Aggies have won two of three Northwest titles. But getting the third might prove Arbor View’s toughest challenge yet.

More key contributors come back for Centennial, which ranks one spot ahead of Arbor View in the Sun’s preseason top 10 poll. The teams’ annual season-ending showdown on Oct. 29 at Arbor View stands out as one of the most important games of the season.

The schools, which are separated by six miles, will not only settle who gets rights to eat at the local Raising Cane’s restaurant but likely decide the division title.

“We all think a little bit about the future,” Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said, “but we’ve got to go one game at a time.”

Barnson is perhaps the area’s most vocal proponent of that tried cliché, but this year, it’s actually believable. Arbor View opens the season Friday at Desert Pines, which boasts one of Southern Nevada’s most stacked rosters a year after losing in overtime of the Division 1A state championship.

The Aggies return only eight starters from last season, seemingly putting them at a disadvantage against an experienced team like the Jaguars. Both the featured running backs from Arbor View’s double-wing attack are among the departed.

Most of the offensive line graduated too, and it will be up to 6-foot-6, 300-pound senior tackle Keenen King to lead the new-look unit. The Aggies have one major luxury in getting back 6-foot-4, 215-pound senior tight end and linebacker Bishop Jones, who missed all of last season with an ACL tear.

“It’s my turn to take reins of the team, my senior year,” Jones said.

Jones counts UNLV among his scholarship offers and leads a defense that could be specifically stingy versus the pass. Motl could emerge as one the city’s best pass-rushers, but Noah Noce and Alex Sims might not even need the help.

The two starting cornerbacks are both college prospects. Noce and Sims will double as receivers on offense, but Arbor View traditionally doesn’t throw the ball often.

Seniors Morris Jackson and Curtis Jones are included the group vying for carries. As long as a running back or two breaks out to enable the Aggies to rush as effectively as past years, they might officially secure a spot next to Southern Nevada’s most esteemed programs.

“We have a pure brotherhood from the seniors down,” Jones said. “We have each other’s backs, and we’re going to go into every game like that — ready to battle anybody.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.