Prep football preview: Palo Verde at Del Sol

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | 12:09 p.m.

This won't be your ordinary mid-September high school football game.

Perennial power Palo Verde, winners of six of the last seven Sunset Regional titles, travels to Del Sol on Sept. 12 for a non-conference game that could be a preview of the state semifinals in November.

Del Sol, which has reached the Sunrise Regional title game the past two years, has a team many feel will get over the hump this year in the postseason. The schools — Palo Verde from Summerlin and Del Sol on the border of Henderson — are favorites to win their respective region, meaning a rematch in the state semifinals.

"Until you beat one of those guys, like Palo Verde or Las Vegas, you can't put yourself with those elite teams," Del Sol coach Preston Goroff said. "We want to see where we are at against one of those teams."

While winning or losing a game out of league this early won't make or break the season for either team, both coaches feel the result will answer questions as to the quality of their team — even for Palo Verde, which opens league play in the Northwest Division the following week against Cheyenne.

The Panthers (2-0) could easily rest their top players for Cheyenne. The two schools are expected to battle for the league title as next week's game could determine the champion and who receives home field advantage throughout the Sunset playoffs.

"This game (against Del Sol) will be a good game for us to determine where we are at going into the Cheyenne game," Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. "Del Sol is a lot like Cheyenne in that they will come and hit you. This will be a good game for us to get ready for league play."

Del Sol (2-0) plays Rancho on Sept. 17 before opening Southeast Division play Sept. 26 with Liberty. Goroff considers the tilt with Palo Verde a measuring stick — not just for his program, but for the Henderson-based Southeast Division that hasn't won a state title since 1960.

"We will always be looked at as the division that hasn't done much in the postseason," Goroff said.

The teams mirror each other in philosophy — control the clock with a multi-back ground attack, play suffocating defense and be more physical than the opposition.

Del Sol limited Chaparral to 11 plays in the second half last week in a 28-0 victory, while Palo Verde only passed three times in blowing out Sierra Vista.

"It's going to be about beating the guy in front of you for 48 minutes," Goroff said.

Del Sol tailback Earnest Hall, who rushed for 119 yards on 19 carries against Chaparral, is looking forward to the challenge of competing against a Palo Verde squad that has outscored opponents 91-6 in two games.

"They are a great team," Hall said. "But we aren't playing Palo Verde. We are playing Del Sol. It's Del Sol verses Del Sol. It's all about not beating ourselves."

Del Sol senior linebacker Derek Eamon, a transfer from Coronado and one of the area's top defenders, might make his Dragons debut, Goroff said. Eamon hasn't played this year nursing an injured ankle.

Eamon would help contain Palo Verde's potent rushing attack. Last week, in a 35-6 victory against Sierra Vista, the Panthers rushed for 292 yards on 38 carries. Torin Harris, who verbally committed to Southern California this summer, scored four touchdowns.

"It will come down to taking care of the ball because both of us are going to want to go on long drives," Rost said.

Sports Editor Ray Brewer can be reached at [email protected] or 990-2662.