Members of the Las Vegas 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, Archie McArthur, Robert Kaempfer, Elijah Hicks, and Cruz Littlefield.
Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016 | 4:53 p.m.
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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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Las Vegas High’s defense has one thing in common with the Wildcats’ opponents this year: they know how hard it is to tackle junior running back Elijah Hicks.
Arguably the top skill-position player in the Sunrise Northeast League, Hicks can make any defense, even his own, look foolish if they’re not prepared. And combined with fellow junior running back Diquan Brown, the Wildcats’ offense helps their defense improve their technique in practice every day.
“They just make us better,” said senior linebacker Archie McArthur. “Our running back is super shifty so we have to break down, because if we don’t we’re going to get exposed.”
Expectations are high this year for Vegas, which enters the season at No. 8 in the Sun’s preseason top 10 poll. The Wildcats are the heavy favorites to win the Sunrise Northeast and perhaps make some noise in the playoffs, and part of that is a result of years spent growing together.
“When we started as freshmen four years ago, we were a lot of close-knit kids who hung out with each other, and we still hang out with each other so that family bond that we’ve had has grown exponentially,” said senior linebacker Cruz Littlefield.
In some cases the connections go even further back, as coach James Thurman and his staff have followed the youth teams that eventually produce Vegas’ players.
“We’ve known them since they were pups, most of them played for our feeder program,” Thurman said. “Every year is great and every year is special, but this will be a really special year.”
Thurman said the Wildcats want to take advantage of their speed by stretching out defenses and forcing them to make one-on-one plays. Between Hicks and Brown out of the backfield and receivers like Cody Kludasch and Eric Williams, Thurman is confident they have the appropriate weapons to get it done.
On defense, they’re relying on a solid back seven to swarm behind a fast defensive line. Thurman said he expects more players than usual to play both ways this season, because with so much potentially on the line they’re not going to hold anything back.
“We’re going to go to battle with what we’ve got,” Thurman said.
The results should be pretty good, especially since tackling Hicks is now the opponents’ problem.
Taylor Bern can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.
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