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March 28, 2024

high school football:

Bishop Gorman football repeats as national champions

Bishop Gorman Defeats Liberty State Champs

L.E. Baskow

Bishop Gorman players celebrate their win over Liberty in their Division 1 State Football Championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, December 5, 2015.

Bishop Gorman Beats Liberty

Bishop Gorman head coach Kenneth Sanchez is drenched with iced water by his players after defeating Liberty 62-21 in their Division 1 State Football Championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, December 5, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Another undefeated season. A seventh straight Nevada state championship. And today, three weeks after the Bishop Gorman High football season ended, a second straight mythical national championship.

The Gaels today were voted as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team in USA Today’s Super 25 and the Scout.com Top 50, giving the Gorman back-to-back national championships. The title, of course, is considered mythical because of the nature of high school sports — top teams are from different states and usually don’t compete against each other.

But Gorman beat a who’s who of national opponents again this season, facing little resistance in five of the six game against out-of-area competition. Centennial Corona of California was undefeated entering last week but lost to De La Salle in the CIF championship game to seal the championship for Gorman.

“There’s nothing mythical about it when you do it two years in a row and go 12-0 against out-of-state teams,” Gorman coach Kenny Sanchez said.

Gorman wasn’t supposed to be in this position, at least according to its skeptics. After last season, coach Tony Sanchez left for the UNLV job and some expected a drop-off with Kenny Sanchez — Tony’s younger brother — leading the charge.

Turns out the Gaels were even more dominant this season. Last season, they had a few close calls, winning a game in overtime and another on a two-point conversion at the end of regulation.

This year, Gorman outscored opponents 757-165 in a second straight undefeated season. They won every game by at least three touchdowns.

“We are from Las Vegas, Nevada. Everyone in this state should be excited for what we’ve done,” Sanchez said. “Everyone had a part in it. For a Nevada high school team to be the two-time national champions, that is awesome for everyone (locally).”

Don’t expect the Gaels to go away soon.

Next season, they return two Gatorade Players of the Year in 2014 winner Tate Martell at quarterback and 2015 recipient Biaggio Ali-Walsh at running back. The Gaels already have three players from its class of 2017 committed to major colleges, and the number could reach 10 before it’s all said and done.

“I haven’t even thought about next year,” Sanchez joked. “We have a really talented team coming back, but it seems people say we have our best team every other year. We have some work to do.”

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

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