Members of the Basic High football team pose for a photo at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day July 20, 2016 at the South Point. They include, from left, Richard Schmidt, De’Shawn Eagles, Aaron Mcallister, and Jacob Fulton.
Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016 | 2:41 p.m.
Prep Sports Now
Football: There is no close second
Las Vegas Sun sports editors Ray Brewer and Case Keefer ring in the start of football season by discussing some of the valley's top storylines and teams, like Bishop Gorman, Liberty, Arbor View and Desert Pines.
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Basic High will have neither the strongest nor the fastest football team in the valley this season.
It just might have the quickest moving. The Wolves anticipate overwhelming opponents with their pace.
“As soon as the play is over, get back on the ball and go again,” senior lineman Richard Schmidt described the game plan. “Teams usually can’t keep up with that.”
Basic rode the uptempo style to a divisional championship last year. The Wolves finished 10-2 overall after winning the Southeast division for its most successful season in six years.
Doubling down on the speed approach for another year seemed sensible.
“If you look at our schedule last year, a lot of the games we won were in the fourth quarter,” Basic coach Jeff Cahill said. “We really push our kids and get them prepared for that kind of a pace. We feel like a lot of times teams are bigger than us, but we feel like if we hang in there until the fourth quarter, we’re going to have the edge.”
Basic went 3-1 in single-possession games last season. Fielding an experienced team may have also contributed to pulling out close contests.
The Wolves won’t have that quality to lean on in 2016, as they return only three starters.
“It’s going to be kind of hard but we’ve all grown up together since freshman year so we still know each other really well,” Schmindt said. “And throughout these practices over summer, we’ve been coming together as a team so we’re going to want to play for each other a lot more.”
The good news is, senior quarterback Aaron McAllister won’t come in completely green. He filled in on occasion for older brother Aeneas McAllister last season.
Although the siblings may have looked alike, the offense was far from identical when they switched in and out.
“(Aeneas) was more of a running threat, athletic guy,” Cahill said. “Aaron is a better passer, more of a dropback guy, old-school quarterback. And we feel like we have some of the best weapons in town on the outside.”
Deshawn Eagles, Frank Harris and Jordan Gallegos will all get the ball frequently as wide receivers in Basic’s spread offense. Gallegos, a junior, should also lead a defense depleted from graduations as a safety.
“He’s really the only one who played a decent amount of time on defense last year,” Cahill said.
It’s no surprise that Cahill listed the defense coming together as the key factor for the season. In front of Gallegos, he expects big seasons out of defensive end Jacob Fulton and middle linebacker Toby Horneck.
There’s less uncertainty on offense. Everyone knows the plan.
“Score a lot of points, and make opponents tap out,” Aaron McAllister summarized.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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