Five new coaches to make debuts

It's inevitable for the opening night of every prep football season to be accompanied by nerves and butterflies.

This year, though, the players won't be the only ones with knots in their stomaches.

Five area Southern 4A squads have new coaches. And for each, tonight represents the opportunity to get their new team off on the right foot.

"They'll be some butterflies on the coaching staff, but they'll be more excited butterflies than nervous butterflies," said Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost, whose club opens at home against Rancho.

For Rost and Mojave coach Mike Gutowski, tonight will mark the varsity debut of their programs. The two schools, which opened in the fall of 1996, have participated only on the freshman and junior varsity levels to this point.

"It's been a couple of years since we've been doing varsity, so we're excited to play a varsity schedule and to open up with Rancho," said Rost, formerly a head coach at Durango and Eldorado.

Gutowski, whose club opens at 3A opponent Pahrump, came to Mojave from Clark High School, where he helped the Chargers to a state title in 1993.

Bishop Gorman, the only private school in 4A, also will play its first contest under a new coach. Roger Whalen, a former Gaels assistant, returned to Nevada from California this year to fill a position he had his eyes on for some time.

"I'm happy to be here, but I've been so busy I haven't had time to reflect on what (tonight's) game will mean to me," said Whalen, whose team opens at Basic. "I do know we didn't get to scrimmage anybody else, so we're real excited about getting to hit someone other than ourselves."

Like Whalen, Clark's John Massey re-assumes coaching duties at his former school when the Chargers open at defending Sunrise Division champion Valley. Massey coached Clark in the early 1980s.

The other new coach in town -- Chaparral's Ben Johnson -- inherits a squad that could make some noise in the Sunrise Division race. The Cowboys will have a tough test to start, opening at home against Cimarron-Memorial, the No. 2 ranked team in the Sun prep poll.

"You want to play a good team right off the bat," said Johnson, who came to Chaparral after leading the eight-man Indian Springs squad into the 1A state final the past two years. "It's a wonderful game to start with."

Chaparral's game against Cimarron may be drawing the most attention tonight, but it won't be the only contest in Las Vegas featuring two ranked opponents. Cheyenne (No. 5) will travel to Eldorado (No. 10) for week one's other highly anticipated battle.

In other action, No. 7 Las Vegas will travel to Bonanza, Durango will host Silverado and Western will visit Green Valley.

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