Sierra Vista football players Jordan Lampkin and Daniel Godfrey before the 2015 Season.
Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 | 2 a.m.
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Sierra Vista ended last regular season included in the infamous jumble of five Division 1A Sunset teams that finished 4-3 in division play.
Tiebreakers landed the Mountain Lions in the most fortunate position, with the region’s No. 2 seed in the postseason, but could have just as easily leveled them out of the playoffs like Clark and Mojave. Coach John Foss hopes his team remembers the volatility of the situation heading into this season.
“We just try to get the kids to try to be as perfect as possible realizing there’s so little room for error and the games are so close,” Foss said. “We’ve got to try to have our opponents make the mistakes rather than us.”
Sierra Vista made its fewest mistakes in nearly a decade last year. In Foss’ second season, Sierra Vista posted its first winning record in eight years and advanced to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
The Mountain Lions made the berth worthwhile, nabbing a 30-7 victory over Chaparral in the first round behind a three-interception performance from cornerback Javion Hunt and a three-headed rushing attack. Hunt is back to lead the defense, but the top two running backs graduated.
Senior Daniel Godfrey, the third part of the rushing triumvirate as a fullback last season, must emerge as capable of shouldering a larger load.
“The weight room has been my definite big thing,” Godfrey said. “It’s really my athleticism getting through the holes that’s really going to work for the team this year.”
Sierra Vista returns junior Oscar Aliaga at quarterback to help take some of the pressure off of Godfrey. Senior Colby Ceniza will also bolster the unit at wingback.
The Mountain Lions’ offense went out guns a blazing last year, losing 46-26 to Moapa Valley in the state quarterfinals. It was the most points Moapa Valley gave up to any team other than Desert Pines.
Sierra Vista opens this season Friday at Moapa Valley, where it plans to showcase an expanded emphasis on defense.
“It’s a smash mouth defense,” senior defensive end Jordan Lampkin said. “We pride ourselves on defense.”
The Mountain Lions will need every bit of tenacity with the Sunset shaping up as competitive as last year. Foss expects a bunch of close games, and sees the key to the season being an ability to pull them out.
Sierra Vista doesn’t want to rely on tiebreakers.
“In this league, there are a lot of outstanding teams just because of the parity we had last year,” Foss said. “Of course, we would like to see ourselves in the mix.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
