Bishop Gorman put scare in No. 2 Cheyenne

Bishop Gorman nearly turned the 1998 prep football season on its head on Friday night.

The Gaels had host Cheyenne, ranked No. 2 in the latest Top 10 state poll, on the ropes late in the fourth quarter of their Sunset Division battle.

But the Desert Shields, who trailed by 21 points late in the third quarter and by 14 with 10 minutes to play, kept their heads and dominated down the stretch, pulling out a critical 42-28 victory.

"It got a little scary," admitted Cheyenne coach George Perry, whose club is the only remaining undefeated 4A squad in Southern Nevada. "They just didn't panic."

The hosts dug a huge hole for themselves early on, fumbling three times to help the visitors build a 28-7 lead in the third quarter.

Even after a Deon Ned touchdown run pulled Cheyenne (4-0, 2-0 Sunset) within 14 points, Perry's charges had just 10 minutes to keep their league mark unblemished.

"We know we can score, so we didn't panic," said Perry, whose 1995 Desert Shields rallied from an identical 28-14 score with 10 minutes to play against Green Valley for the zone championship. "We have a lot of weapons on offense."

Those weapons finally started firing successfully late in the fourth quarter, with Ned and quarterback Lawrence Turner running for scores and Larry Graves scoring another touchdown on a long pass from Chris Hall.

Hall finished off the 28-0 scoring run with a 50-yard interception return with time winding down.

With the win, Cheyenne kept pace with rival Cimarron-Memorial (3-1, 2-0) atop the Sunset standings. The No. 5 Spartans picked up an easy 39-0 win over Clark at home.

Rattlers taste defeat

Mojave, the only other unbeaten team heading into week four, suffered its first-ever varsity loss Friday, falling 32-27 to visiting Boulder City.

The Rattlers had opened its first season of varsity play with consecutive wins over Pahrump, the Meadows and Canada's Delta High. But coach Mike Gutowski's squad was unable to rally for a game-tying score in the fourth quarter against the Eagles.

"(Losing) is a lesson that they hadn't learned at this level," Gutowski said. "The first three weeks, they got to see what kind of class these other teams have, and they reacted with class when they lost (Friday night)."

Trailing 26-20 with 6:30 to play, the hosts were driving in Boulder City territory when a miscue on a pitch play essentially sealed their fate. Eagles' linebacker Justin Trone scooped up the loose ball and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown to put his team up by 12.

Mojave cut into the lead with four minutes remaining but couldn't prevent the visitors from running out the clock.

"I told the kids that starting with Boulder City, this was going to be the meat of our schedule," said Gutowski, whose squad plays Cheyenne this week. "The kids were disappointed, but I told them anybody can get beat at any given time."

* ELSEWHERE: Eldorado, Green Valley and Chaparral emerged from week four in a three-way tie atop the Sunrise Division standings. All three clubs posted convincing wins Friday night, with the Sundevils hammering Basic, 32-7, the Gators routing Rancho, 31-7, and the Cowboys pounding Silverado, 48-8. ... Western opened up its Sunset Division slate with a solid 22-6 win over visiting Bonanza. ... Defending 3A state runner-up Virgin Valley slipped past Palo Verde, 30-22, in overtime. ... Peninsula (Calif.) became the third California-based school to defeat a Las Vegas squad this fall, posting a 21-6 win over Durango.

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