Liberty High School players celebrate their 30-24 overtime victory over Bishop Gorman in the Desert Region championship at Liberty in Henderson Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. Liberty’s Garrett Vea (66) holds up the trophy.
Published Friday, Nov. 22, 2019 | 3:36 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019 | 12:11 a.m.
There will be a new high school football state champion in Nevada. The Gorman dynasty is over.
Zyrus Fiaseu's 6-yard touchdown run in overtime put the final touches on Liberty's 30-24 victory against 10-time defending state champion Gorman in the Desert Region championship game to cue a celebration years in the making.
Liberty, after seeing its season end at the hands of Gorman year after year, finally dethroned the champs.
Fiaseu's touchdown gave Liberty its first lead of the game, and the Patriots became the first Nevada team to defeat Gorman since Palo Verde in 2008.
Liberty advances to next week's state semifinals in Reno. The Northern Region opponent will be determined on Monday.
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It’s the high school football game we’ve been waiting for — and seem to be every season. Can 10-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman finally be dethroned?
The Gaels will be challenged by Liberty tonight in the Desert Region championship game, facing off against the program many feel has the credentials to knock off the champs.
Liberty, also a national program, gets its chance against Gorman each November. Some years, it’s a lopsided defeat, like the 84-8 drubbing four years ago in the state championship game; others years it’s closer, like Gorman’s 42-28 win last year.
Regardless, after another season of running-clock victories against Las Vegas opponents, Gorman is expected to receive a challenge. Although Liberty went 0-5 against national opponents this season, they found a quarterback in junior Daniel Britt, who gives the Patriots a dual threat.
Britt has been nothing short of brilliant, completing 105 of 133 passes for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception.
Of course, none of that matters if Liberty can’t contain Gorman quarterback Micah Bowens, a Penn State commit. Bowens has passed for 1,957 yards and 21 touchdowns with just two interceptions, adding 551 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. In last year’s meeting with Liberty, Bowens broke the game open the first half with a length-of-the field touchdown run.
While this is the game of the night, it’s certainly not the story of the week.
That, unfortunately, belongs to Canyon Springs, which was supposed to play Desert Pines tonight in the Mountain Regional semifinals. However, the Clark Country School District announced Monday that Canyon Springs had to forfeit its season for using an ineligible player, meaning its quarterfinal win against Arbor View would be reversed.
Arbor View — yes, the losing team last week — plays at Desert Pines in a rematch of last year’s semifinals. That game was a classic, with Arbor View erasing a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to advance.
The game receiving the least amount of attention could be the one that is the closest. Centennial hosts Palo Verde in the other Mountain semifinal game, a rematch of their regular season matchup that wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter.
After tonight, there will be just four teams left with a game to play in the large-school classification. Being one of those teams comes with a reward — practicing on Thanksgiving.
We’ll have updates for all three games. Send information on Twitter using #sunstandout.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
