Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

ray brewer:

Championship game about more than winning title for Bishop Gorman High School players

Gorman and St Thomas

L.E. Baskow

Bishop Gorman players and fans salute the crowd following an overtime win versus St. Thomas Aquinas in a game to help in controlling a possible three-time national championship on Friday, Sept. 30, 2016.

Bishop Gorman Downs Arbor View FB

Bishop Gorman head coach Kenny Sanchez stands for the National Anthem with his team as they ready for their state semi-final game at Arbor View on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016. Launch slideshow »
Prep Sports Now

Quick-strike state championship preview

Las Vegas Sun sports editors Ray Brewer and Case Keefer discuss Bishop Gorman and Liberty playing for the state championship for a second consecutive year, and attempt to set a point spread on the game.

From the outside looking in, it’s easy to pinpoint the importance of the Bishop Gorman High football team’s Saturday game.

The Gaels play Liberty at 12:10 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium for their eighth straight state championship and ninth title in 10 seasons. A victory would likely secure a third consecutive mythical national title. But, as the players explain, there is more.

For them, continuing the 53-game winning streak they’ve pieced together dating back to 2013 or adding another championship banner to many already hanging in the school gym comes with another reward: Playing one last game together. The friendships forged through long hours of training in the offseason and traveling the nation to beat a who’s who of national opponents have created an unbreakable bond.

All that’s left is winning one last game.

“I am just so proud. Not only of me, all of us,” said Farrell Hester, Gorman’s senior linebacker. “We built a great relationship, a great brotherhood. I love every one of those guys. I would take a bullet for all of them. I consider them family. That is what we develop here.”

Hester is part of the program’s talented 2017 graduating class — so talented, eight players were starters or regular contributors as sophomores in 2014 when Gorman won its first national title. The group includes four players who were picked to play in the U.S. Army All-American game, including three who are verbally committed to Ohio State, a four-star defensive back who is dressing for his fourth state championship game.

For many programs, it’s rare to have a sophomore playing regularly on the varsity team. Few programs have eight sophomores on the roster, let alone in the starting lineup. Even fewer win a state championship with a roster of underclassman contributors. Not Gorman. It won a national championship with its sophomores and hasn’t looked back.

It’s arguably the best group of players in Nevada history — well, if only it beats Liberty.

“This is pretty amazing. It may never happen again,” Gorman coach Kenny Sanchez said. “You never say you want to bring up this many sophomores. We thought they were mature enough to play varsity and help us out. They were athletic enough to contribute. The last thing we wanted to do was pull up a kid if they are going to sit the bench.”

The pass rush of Ohio State commit Haskell Garrett, who has 53 tackles and 7.5 sacks this season, and at 6-foot-2, 260-pounds physically overwhelms most opponents, and the aggressive play in the secondary of top recruits Bubba Bolden and Alex Perry will be pivotal against Liberty. The Patriots’ junior quarterback Kenyon Oblad has passed for 3,616 yards and 37 touchdowns this season, and receivers Ethan Dedeaux and Darion Acohido each have more than 1,000 receiving yards. Dedeaux caught three touchdowns against Gorman in last season’s championship game.

They’ve helped Liberty crack the national top-25 rankings this season, including picking up a victory in Texas at Austin Westlake. That win may have indirectly helped Gorman win the national championship because a victory against a quality opponent in Liberty to close the season caps off one of the nation’s toughest schedules.

“Oblad has gotten a lot better,” Sanchez said. “Last year, I thought he was better than his freshman year. This year, he is really good. He looks like a Division I football player. They still have Dedeaux and that Acohido kid is a stud. They have gotten progressively better.”

The players mostly haven’t fallen into the trap of examining their legacy or becoming content with what’s accomplished. They know they have one more game to win before their work is done. But when they are celebrating yet another title at Sam Boyd Stadium late Saturday afternoon — taking photos, exchanging hugs and crying tears of joy — it will finally set in.

Yes, Gorman will have won another championship. But more important, the high school football run of a lifetime is over.

“I can’t believe it’s coming to an end,” Garrett said. “It’s an honor. It’s a privilege to be here. We are very humbled about it. Just happy to be part of it.”

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

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