Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Arbor View football cherishes spot in Thanksgiving weekend tilt against Gorman

Las Vegas Sun's HS Football Top 10

Christopher DeVargas

Members of the Arbor View 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, Greg Rogers, Mike Sims, Ryan Hurley, Andrew Wagner, and Hayden Bollinger.

Prep Sports Now

Crowns to go around

Las Vegas Sun sports editors Ray Brewer and Case Keefer congratulate Desert Pines for its Class 3A state championship crown, and dive into how the upper level's title will be won with the state semifinals on tap for Saturday.

Everyone he’s talked to this week seems to have an opinion for Arbor View High football coach Dan Barnson on how to defeat seven-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman on Saturday in the state semifinals.

Many of the strategies involve taking risks or switching up what’s previously worked to reach this stage of the season. That’s where Barnson draws the line. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Arbor View.

“There are so many people telling me that to beat Gorman we have to pull out (all the tricks),” Barnson said. “You have to always onside kick, and your defense has to do this and that. I 100 percent disagree. They are a great team. To beat them you have to be great. You have to run your stuff.”

When the Aggies and Gorman played in last year’s Sunset Regional championship game, Arbor View lost by just 18 points. It’s one of the rare times in Gorman’s seven-year dominance that they didn’t win by a lopsided margin.

Arbor View’s misdirection rushing attack potentially leads to time-consuming drives, which is the best way to keep Gorman’s high-scoring offense — it averages 50 points per game —off the field.

“I would love to know if there was something we did (to slow down Gorman)," Barnson jokingly said. “We played good and were able to keep it somewhat close.”

This is the third consecutive season the teams have met in the Sunset Regional championship game. It doubles this fall as the state semifinals, giving Arbor View its first appearance in program history over Thanksgiving weekend. The game usually draws one of the largest crowds of the year, including players and coaches from other schools whose season already ended.

Getting to practice on Thanksgiving is far from a burden — it’s a reward.

“We love the fact that we are the only game in the city,” Barnson said. “This is something I’ve always had as a goal for the program.”

Barnson launched the Arbor View program in 2006 when the school opened. In the initial years, it missed the playoffs and played second fiddle to the likes of Palo Verde and Centennial in the Northwest League. The last three seasons, though, Arbor View has become the one of the best programs in town.

The Aggies have a 31-4 record since 2014, including an 11-1 mark in 2014 when their lone loss was to Gorman.

Gorman enters with a winning streak of more than 50 games. It’s ranked No. 1 nationally and likely two wins away from a third straight national championship. You could easily argue that if Arbor View didn’t have to play Gorman it would have at least one state championship to its credit.

“Our kids aren’t stupid. They know they are really, really good. They are lining up against the No. 1 team in the country,” Barnson 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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