Members of the Sunrise Mountain High football team pose for a photo at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day July 20, 2016 at the South Point. They include, from left, Ja’Twion Farmer, Daltyn Pytrysson, Stephen Wright Jr., Dalwin Spates, and Earl Garrett.
Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016 | 2 a.m.
Prep Sports Now
Football: There is no close second
Las Vegas Sun sports editors Ray Brewer and Case Keefer ring in the start of football season by discussing some of the valley's top storylines and teams, like Bishop Gorman, Liberty, Arbor View and Desert Pines.
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No team in the valley was a bigger surprise last season than the Sunrise Mountain Miners. They won six games and reached the playoffs first the first time in school history.
The school opened in 2009, and had won just three games before the 2015 campaign. Now, players are out to show they weren’t a one-hit wonder.
“It was nice to make the playoffs for sure,” coach Chris Sawyers said. “That’s not our ultimate goal. Our goal is to go deep in the playoffs and have a chance at this whole thing.”
Sunrise Mountain will be one of the most experienced teams in all of the 3A division, returning nine starters on offense and eight on defense.
“It’s enormous,” Sawyers said. “Our kids are in the same system for the second year in a row and I think they feel comfortable and it will be invaluable for us.”
Leading the way for the Miners will be senior quarterback Stephen Wright Jr. who threw for 1,104 yards and 11 touchdowns, and added 531 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.
“On offense we are getting better as a group and if one person is slacking we all get on them to keep up the intensity,” Wright said.
He will be joined in the backfield by senior running back Claude Moore, who led the team with 912 rushing yards and seven touchdowns as a junior.
The Miners will be stacked on offense, and are led on the defensive side by perhaps one of the best 3A defenders in the city — Dalwin Spates.
As a sophomore Spates anchored Sunrise Mountain’s defense at middle linebacker, and helped bring a winning culture with him from the Miners’ freshman squad.
“I had never had a losing season,” Spates said. “We are a new breed at our school.”
Sunrise Mountain will face some new challenges this year, as they transition to the Sunset League.
They will join Pahrump Valley and Western — both of whom the Minors beat in non-league play last season — along with Desert Pines, Cheyenne and Mojave.
“Over the years we’ve played these teams and I’m excited about it,” Sawyers said. “It’s an interesting new setup the way they have it. Our division is tough and that will make us battle tested for later.”
While toping Desert Pines, who is overflowing with Division I college offers, will be a tough task, Sunrise Mountain is up for the challenge.
“I always tell our kids that everybody is watching their film,” Sawyers said. “If our kids really want to stand out to somebody then you need to go out there and put it on one of those college kids then you become a stand out.”
After their first playoff appearance the Minors biggest challenge will be going from the hunters to the hunted.
“It’s kind of a good thing,” Wright said. “It feels like we are a target now so it makes us work harder in the gym, in school and on the field.”
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