‘Bear’ glad to be back in his neck of the woods

By Andy Samuelson

Monday, Aug. 18, 2008 | 11:15 p.m.

For a football player forced to do extra bear crawls for being a bit tardy on the first day of full contract drills, Las Vegas High senior Alanzi Langstaff certainly had a big smile on his face.

Then again, the 6-foot-4, 285-pound Langstaff, who easily fits his “Bear” nickname, could have been doing laps around the track Monday night at LVHS and he would have been grinning from ear to ear — he was finally back on a football field.

“It feels good to get back out there, I’m just happy that I get to play this year,” said the standout defensive tackle, who played just one half of football last season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Las Vegas’ first game.

“I look at it as a blessing that it happened when it did last year, because it allowed me to get ready for my final go-round,” continued Langstaff, who sported a bulky black knee brace under his bright red shorts during the Wildcats’ second session of the first day that Las Vegas Valley schools were able to practice wearing full pads.

If everything goes as planned this season for LVHS, not only will the tradition-rich program possibly be in position for another state title, but Langstaff will probably have the pick of several interested Division I programs.

“Almost all the Pac 10 schools are looking at me, but right now I would say that Arizona State is kind of in the lead,” Langstaff said.

Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth sounded almost as excited as Langstaff did about his return (minus that whole showing up on time thing, of course), but admitted it will take a couple of games for the college coaches to feel comfortable about his comeback from serious injury.

“When you only play one game your junior year and you only make it to halftime, people need to see you play,” Faircloth said. “A half of football doesn’t get you a college scholarship, especially after blowing out your knee.

“I would say he’s never looked better though. He’s down about 50 pounds from where he started last season. He’s still a work in progress, but he’s coming along.”

So too are two fresh new faces for Las Vegas High as senior quarterback Emir Lopez transferred from Sierra Vista and senior running back/defensive back Reggie Bullock moved from Western.

“We should be able to prove a lot, not just us three, but the whole team,” said Langstaff of himself and the other two newcomers, who each tallied a dozen touchdowns last year.

“We got a tough schedule, but we have big expectations of going far this year.”

Faircloth said he won’t hesitate to remind the Wildcats — who finished 9-5 last year with a season-ending loss to McQueen (Reno) in the state semifinals — forget the work ethic needed to fulfill the potential of going deep into the postseason.

“We definitely expressed our displeasure with how the season ended. It’s not like it just happened on the last week of November either,” Faircloth said.

“The problem was there were several individual members of the senior class that didn’t put in the time that they needed to put in on the off-season, and that kind of stuff always catches up to you. And it caught up with us.”

But on Monday the only catching up took place between Langstaff and the game he loves.

“I played Pop Warner against him and he would always sack me, so it’s nice to have him on the same team finally,” Lopez said.

“He dedicated himself to taking care of his injury in the off-season and I know he’s just going to have a huge year for us. He makes our defense so much better, and the presence he has on the field is just amazing.”

Langstaff said he was more amazed by his actual physical presence back on Frank Nails Field.

“When they were first stretching everything back together I nearly cried,” Langstaff admitted. “I was really hoping that my career wasn’t over. So to be out here again today, is just awesome.”