Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

New Las Vegas High football coach eyes return to program’s dominating ways

Wildcats

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New Las Vegas High football coach Erick Capetillo (center) is seen with the state championship trophy after the Wildcats won the 2005 state championship. Capetillo is pictured with Cris Basch #9, and Josh Winfield #3. He was hired this week as the Wildcats’ new head coach.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016 | 3:16 p.m.

It was hours before Erick Capetillo and a few of his middle school football teammates had a playoff game of their own, but they were more concerned with another game — Las Vegas High’s state championship game.

The players gathered around the radio to listen to the high school game, picturing a day when it would be their turn to play for the Wildcats.

“We were all zoned for Vegas. It was like, ‘Let’s go. We can make this happen. We can win state,’” Capetillo said.

And in 2005, the boys’ senior season, they did just that: After losing in the championship game the previous two seasons, the Wildcats beat Hug High, 23-0.

More than a decade later, Capetillo plans to bring another championship to the eastside school. He was hired this week as the Wildcats’ head coach.

Each of the previous three coaches — Kris Cinkovich, who took it from a run-of-the-mill program to Nevada power in the early 2000s, Chris Faircloth and James Thurman — helped mold his football identity.

He remembers meeting Cinkovich, now the offensive coordinator at Idaho, while in middle school and joining the Cat Buddy program. The program pairs incoming students from feeder schools with current players, and at its peak had more than 100 members. Thurman, who stepped down last month, gave him his first coaching job as the junior varsity team’s defensive coordinator.

“This is a dream job,” said Capetillo, 28, who coached the varsity offensive line the past two seasons. “I look at how it was before and how coach Cink structured things. Vegas High School football was booming. You saw the process. You saw why we did things.”

The Las Vegas dynasty has slowly eroded. While they still win convincingly in the “Bone Game” rivalry against Rancho, and are playoff qualifiers each season, the days of championships and long playoff runs have ended.

Liberty has won seven straight Sunrise Regional championship to take the Wildcats’ spot as the region’s top team. Statewide, beating Bishop Gorman, the eight-time champions, seems impossible. Las Vegas hasn’t played for the Sunrise championship since it lost in 2010 to Liberty to start the Patriots streak of titles.

In 2005, though, it was a different story.

Las Vegas, led by the likes of running back Jamal Lomax, NFL player Billy Winn, Xavier Cleveland, quarterback O’Ryan Bradley and others, the Wildcats beat DeMarco Murray-led Gorman.

“We’ll get back to that,” Capetillo said. “We’ll get back to our roots. One of the best things about getting the job is you have a lot of alumni cheering you on. They keep messaging me. They know what Vegas football used to be and want to bring it back.”

His staff will consist of many former players, reaffirming one of the school’s mantras — ‘Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat.’

Josh Winfield, who coached in college and was part of the 2005 state championship team, is an assistant. Chad Poole, one of the program’s best defenders during its rise to prominence, returns as defensive coordinator. Veteran running backs coach Jimmy Brimmer also returns.

“We’ll get back to playing four full quarters of football” Capetillo said.

While it won’t happen overnight, Capetillo looks forward to when another generation of player is equally concerned about the outcome of a meaningful Las Vegas game. His way of thinking is simple: If they can return to the dominating ways, neighborhood children will take an interest.

“Now all we have to do is win,” he said.

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

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