Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Centennial hopes improved defense is enough for playoff push

Prep Football Teams 2010

Sam Morris

Centennial High School football players Taj Cole, Adam Ferman and Willie White.

Coach Leon Evans

Centennial High coach Leon Evans talks about the 2010 high school football season.

Prep Sports Now

Previewing the new football season

Las Vegas Sun reporters Case Keefer and Ray Brewer discuss the upcoming high school football season. They will let you know whether or not anyone can dethrone defending state champion Bishop Gorman, release their state title sleepers teams and give a quick breakdown of the area's 30-plus schools.

Expanded coverage

Centennial coach Leon Evans had high expectations for his players when he took over the program earlier this year.

As far as offseason preparation goes, the Bulldogs surpassed every one of them.

“The thing I’ve been impressed with is the commitment level of these kids,” Evans said. “They are here every day and they work hard. They give no excuses and they understand the challenges that come with this division and the kind of work you have to put in.”

Centennial seemingly fields promising teams every year, but hasn’t been able to break through to the playoffs in the uber-competitive Northwest Division.

That will be Evans’ challenge in his first year on the job.

“In this division, you’ve got to be able to stop the run,” Evans said. “We’ve got to get hats on the ball and I think we’re going to be able to do that.”

Senior middle linebacker Willie White is certainly a good starting point. He is one of the best in the valley and was among the state’s tackling leaders last season.

On the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs won’t break away from the Northwest division’s tradition of running the football.

Evans said Centennial had three marquee running backs who would split carries this season. They are senior Taj Cole, junior Jacobi Owens and sophomore Coby Newton.

“Those three guys will carry the load for us offensively,” Evans said. “All three of them are quality running backs.”

Although Evans wants to focus on moving the ball by ground, it must be comforting to know the passing game will be an option.

The Bulldogs return senior quarterback Cody Clark, who was able to gain some experience last season.

“He has great mechanics,” Evans said.

Centennial fielded outstanding junior varsity and freshman squads once again last season. The problem in the past has been translating that success to the varsity team.

Evans hopes to fix that by using a hard-nosed approach.

“We need to be physical and push people around,” Evans said. “We’ve got to be prepared. In this division, you’ve got to come to play every Friday night.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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