Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

high school football:

Sunrise Mountain posts first shutout in school history

High School Football Media Day 2015 Steve Marcus

Steve Marcus

Sunrise Mountain Miners pose during the Las Vegas Sun’s High School Football media day (make up) Monday, July 27, 2015. From left, front row: Dalwin Spates (8), Rayshawn Johnson (3) and Claude Moore III. Back row: Ja’twion Farmer (16), Stephen Wright Jr. (6), Travis Carpenter (13) and Solomon King (14). STEVE MARCUS

It’s been a year of firsts for the Sunrise Mountain Miners.

Friday night they had two more, as the Miners pitched the first shutout in school history to move to 5-2 on the year, and clinch the school’s first ever playoff berth.

Just a year ago, Sunrise Mountain lost to Del Sol 42-12. Friday night Sunrise flipped the script on the Dragons, running them out of the stadium with a final score of 41-0.

It’s the third straight win for the Miners, and coach Chris Sawyers says being the favorite hasn’t been easy for a team with so little experience winning games.

“To be honest it’s been the biggest challenge by far,” Sawyers said. “It’s not easy when you’ve never done these things before. To have these kids practice with the mentality as a favorite, we didn’t do it very well at first. We didn’t know how to win.”

Quarterback Stevie Wright was the offensive star yet again for the Miners, completing 9-of-17 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown, and running for another 73 yards and a score.

Claude Moore carried the ball 19 times and gouged the Dragons’ defense for 124 yards and three scores on the ground.

“Claude has grown more than anyone in the program from last year to this year,” Sawyers said. “He had moments last year where he wasn’t the most focused individual, but he had an unbelievable summer and he’s a completely different kid.”

Sunrise Mountain now owns second place in the Sunrise division and will likely stay in that slot with its season finale against Desert Pines next week.

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.

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