Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 | 5:27 p.m.
High School Football
Home News Sports Editor Ray Brewer sits with Alex to recap last weeks Del Sol Palo Verde game and preview this weeks Cheyenne Palo Verde league opener and gives his high school football picks for this week.
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Cheyenne football coach Charles Anthony has a 35-10 record with the Desert Shields.
Against Northwest Division foe Palo Verde, however, the coach has only posted one win in six contests. Cheyenne was victorious 22-14 in the 2006 regular season, but the Panthers avenged the loss later that year in the Sunset Regional title game with a 37-0 win.
Anthony hopes to reverse the trend on 7 p.m. Friday at Palo Verde when the schools face off to open league play. Cheyenne is ranked No. 1 in the Home News top 10 rankings, while Palo Verde (3-0) is No. 2.
Cheyenne (3-0) relies on a core group of third-year varsity players but it has had limited success stopping Palo Verde's potent double-wing offense.
"The key is trying to contain them," Anthony said. "You won't stop (the double wing), you just have to contain it and score some points along the way."
Cheyenne has outscored opponents 158-18 in three games, and Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said his team will have their hands full.
"It will take 11 guys to stop them," Rost said. "The kids are excited. They like challenges like this. It's nice to play against a good Cheyenne team we have respect for."
The game will feature several talented players for both teams.
Cheyenne linebacker Damien Proby has Division I offers from Northwestern, Arizona State and others while running back Terence Brison scored three touchdowns last week against Canyon Springs.
"They have speed, experience and size," Rost said. "Those are three pretty good things to have."
Palo Verde is led by arguably the area's top player in defensive back Torin Harris, who has verbally committed to USC. Linebacker Liloa Nobriga and running backs Sidney Hodge and Chaz Thomas are other quality performers who give the Panthers an edge.
Palo Verde has won 16 of its last 17 games with the lone setback being a last-second loss to Bishop Gorman in last year's state semifinals.
A victory against Cheyenne would put the Panthers in the driver's seat to win the Northwest — the first step in their ultimate goal of capturing the state title.
"We go into every year thinking we'll be the state champions," Thomas said.
Sports Editor Ray Brewer can be reached at [email protected]
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