Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Chaparral comes from behind to beat Bonanza

LVSUN HSFB Media Day 2018

Christopher DeVargas

Members of the Chaparral High football team pose for a photo at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day Tuesday July 31, 2018 at the Red Rock Resort and Casino. They include, from left, Tomas Benitez, Joe Tauiliili and Jesus Casamayor.

The Chaparral High football team scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and top Bonanza 26-21 Friday night at Chaparral.

The Cowboys jumped out to an early 13-0 lead with rushing and passing touchdowns by quarterback Iopu Tauli'ili. The junior signal caller scored on a quarterback sneak to open the scoring, then found Jesus Casamayor for a 33-yard touchdown toss to extend Chaparral’s lead.

“Following the second touchdown we got called for a big celebration penalty,” Chaparral coach Don Willis said. “The kids got excited and ran out of the box after the score, and that penalty took the air out of us after they got a big return on the following kickoff.”

Bonanza stormed back with three-straight touchdowns to take a 21-13 lead with two scores from running back Kyle Allison.

From that point it was all Chaparral, as the Cowboys scored 13 unanswered points to win the game. Tauli'ili ran in his second touchdown of the game and converted the two-point conversion on the ground, and the defense closed the game out with a safety.

“I liked that we faced some adversity,” Willis said. “We got out to an early lead, but they responded well and we had to regroup. Our kids showed that they were going to fight back. We took care of business and got the job done.”

The Cowboys were playing their first game of the season and are now 1-0 while Bonanza drops to 1-2 with the loss.

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