Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Legacy makes statement with win against Centennial

2016 High School Football

Christopher DeVargas

Members of the Legacy 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, Jamal Britt, A.J. Culpepper, and Marcellus McCoy.

If anyone around the Las Vegas Valley was questioning if the undefeated Legacy Longhorns were for real, they answered them Friday night.

Sam Turner ran for 305 yards and two touchdowns as the Longhorns beat Centennial 27-20 in one of the biggest statement games of the season.

“Hands down this is by far my biggest win as a coach at Legacy,” said third-year coach John Isola. “In the last two years we haven’t had any quality wins. We were close in a lot but we didn’t hold them out. “

At 5-0 Legacy is now off to its best start since 2009 and has back-to-back wins over Palo Verde and Centennial — teams it hadn’t beaten since that season.

“This is a big one because Centennial is our rival, truth be told,” Isola said. “Centennial has knocked us out of the playoffs the last three years and we had a couple players leave our program to play for them.”

Roberto Valenzuela completed 8-of-13 for 157 yards and two touchdowns and ran another score in on the ground.

Legacy trailed 7-6 at the half, but Valenzuela hit a J’Vontay Hill for a 30-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to take the lead, and the Longhorns never looked back.

“We are a fourth-quarter team this year,” Isola said. “We needed to run some clock so we just kept feeding (Turner) the ball.”

Turner has eclipsed 100 yards rushing in every game this season.

“He’s been a workhorse,” Isola said. “I trust him to have the ball in crucial situations and hold onto the ball.”

The Longhorns will take their undefeated record to Faith Lutheran next Friday, but tonight they can enjoy one of the biggest wins in school history.

“This win is huge. For us and for me, and what I’ve been doing in the last years to make it an elite program, it has finally paid off,” Isola said. “Ultimately what I want to do is make Legacy a respected program and this is a big step toward that.”

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