Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

high school football:

Alpha’s late TD gives Chaparral victory in Cleat Game

2013 Prep Football

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Chaparral High football players (from left) Damien Gutherie, Jerome Williamson and Mark Jones before the 2013 season.

Nothing's better than a rivalry game that gets decided in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

Justin Alpha scored the game-winning touchdown with 37 seconds left to give the Chaparral Cowboys a 20-14 victory over the Eldorado Sundevils in the Cleat Game.

“It was a humdinger,” Chaparral coach Bill Froman said. “That was one of the best bus rides back I’ve had in my three years at Chap.”

The ending was made more dramatic because Alpha’s go-ahead scamper came on 4th-and-8.

The Cowboys opted to run a counter play instead of passing, and thanks to some tremendous blocking led by senior captain Damien Guthrie, Alpha was able to get enough room to reach pay dirt.

“It opened up like the red sea,” Froman said. “Our senior line blew that thing wide open. I could have run that in.”

The Sun Devils made things interesting, however, as they got close enough to throw a few Hail Mary passes into the end zone.

None connected, giving the Cowboys (1-1) another victory in the storied rivalry which was out in full effect Saturday.

“We had just as many people as they did in the stands for a road game,” Froman said. “Our band is battling their band. It was clean and no dirtiness.

“It was quite a good game.”

Seitu Wyche added a 25-yard touchdown run for Chaparral.

Richard Nelson had a good game defensively for the Cowboys. He had four sacks and five tackles for loss. Nelson also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score.

Richard Hernandez added 15 tackles in the winning effort.

Paul Delos Santos can be reached at 990-2416 or mail to [email protected]. Follow Paul on Twitter at twitter.com/pauliedelos.

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