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March 28, 2024

high school football:

Friday Night roundup: Las Vegas, Rancho battling for bragging rights in ‘Bone Game’ rivalry

BONE

Justin M. Bowen

Sir Herkimer’s Bone” currently resides at Las Vegas High School. The winner of the Las Vegas vs. Rancho game gets to keep the infamous Herk’s Bone.

Updated Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012 | 1:05 a.m.

Scores around the valley
  • Arbor View 34, Durango 3 (Thursday night)
  • Canyon Springs 29, Silverado 21
  • Green Valley 49, Valley 0
  • Las Vegas 45, Rancho 0 — The “Bone Game”
  • Basic 53, Eldorado 0
  • Liberty 35, Coronado 29
  • Desert Pines 41, Virgin Valley 28
  • Chaparral 40, Sunrise Mountain 10
  • Bishop Gorman 54, Cimarron-Memorial 3
  • Legacy 20, Bonanza 7
  • Moapa Valley 45, Boulder City 6
  • Palo Verde 41, Spring Valley 0
  • Shadow Ridge 55, Sierra Vista 24
  • Centennial 65, Desert Oasis 22
  • Mojave at Cheyenne
  • Faith Lutheran 50, Pahrump Valley 0
  • Clark 27, Western 13
  • Foothill 51, Del Sol 47
  • Prep Sports Now

    Lifting weights, talking trash and introducing yourself

    Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer dish on all things Las Vegas high school football again this week. Among the debates, other than the usual picks segment, are whether it's acceptable for an NFL player to introduce his high school alma mater instead of his college.

    The players on the Rancho High football team aren’t concerned with how many straight games they’ve lost in the “Bone Game” rivalry to Las Vegas.

    When the teams kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night at Las Vegas in the Northeast League opener for both teams, Rancho coach Perryn Hale has made sure his players aren’t entering the prestigious rivalry game with a losing mindset. Sure, Rancho has lost its last 16 meetings to Las Vegas and enter this year’s game with a losing record at 0-3 overall in surrendering more than 50 points per game.

    But, come kickoff, you can easily argue that the emotions of playing in one of Nevada’s longest-standing rivalry games make the teams equal.

    Hale, who became the Rams coach last spring, has stressed to his players since their first team meeting the importance of this game. If they win, regardless what happens the rest of the fall, the season will be a success.

    When taking inventory of his team’s equipment, Hale stumbled upon an empty glass box in the corner of a storage closet. After a little research, he learned the box is used to store the bone when Rancho is victorious in the rivalry game.

    He cleaned the box, and made sure his players understood its significance and what they are playing for. The empty box sits in the locker room and frequently is brought onto the practice field for motivation.

    “It’s one thing to talk about beating Las Vegas,” Hale said in August. “But by keeping the box in the back of the equipment room, the kids forget about what they are playing for. It makes them hungry to fill that box back up again.”

    This isn’t the lone game of significance on the night.

    Moapa Valley travels to Boulder City in a battle of the Division I-A’s top teams — both are undefeated in conference play, and the winner will have a leg-up on capturing the league title and home field advantage in the for the playoffs.

    In the Division I, Liberty hosts Coronado in the Southeast opener, Bishop Gorman travels to Cimarron-Memorial and Palo Verde is at Spring Valley.

    High school football results from around Southern Nevada:

    Canyon Springs snaps losing streak with sloppy win over Silverado

    Kickoff return for TD to open game from Ryan Smith sparks Gorman past Cimarron

    Legacy beats Bonanza behind another big night from Charles Julian

    Rushing game helps Chaparral storm past Sunrise Mountain

    Liberty beats Coronado in memorable rivalry matchup

    Foothill prevails in shootout to open Southeast league play against Del Sol

    Palo Verde blanks Spring Valley for third straight win

    Moapa Valley crushes previously unbeaten Boulder City

    Faith Lutheran wins homecoming game against Pahrump

    Green Valley continues hot streak with 49-0 win against Valley

    Malik Davis stars as Desert Pines downs Virgin Valley

    Centennial has its way with Desert Oasis, 65-22

    Clark grabs first victory of the season at Western

    Bakari Smith accounts for six TDs to help Shadow Ridge down Sierra Vista

    Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.

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