Silverado High School football player Donavyn Pellot poses during practice at the school in Henderson Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Donavyn Pellot never sought to be in the conversation as Nevada’s best high school football player. That wasn’t his intention this season with the defending state champion Silverado Skyhawks, or in grade school when he joined the neighborhood youth football team. Pellot simply wanted to keep playing with his friends.
Ten of his current teammates at Silverado were on the field that day in second grade when Pellott became a Bearcat. And they’ve stuck together to make history at Silverado, which is two wins from a second-straight state championship. The Skyhawks, who host Coronado on November 11 in the 4A state semifinals, have outscored their nine opponents by a combined 501-23 score during the regular season.
Pellot was a standout basketball player in elementary school but ditched the sport because of the bond he built with his new friends. A decade later, he’s playing with some of the same teammates and putting the finishing touches on a storied prep career in which he has emerged as the best player in the 25-year history of Silverado High.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound safety and wide receiver—listed as an “athlete” by recruiting services—has been so impressive, he received more than 10 scholarship offers before committing to UCLA.
“When I met him, his dad told me he was a basketball player,” says Roy Mendez, an assistant at Silverado who coached the Bearcats youth team. “The kid’s talent was undeniable. He had such a natural ability. He was amazing and could do everything.”
That’s still the scouting report on Pellot, who has scored in a variety of ways this season.
Take October 21 against Desert Oasis for example. Pellot scored rushing and receiving touchdowns on offense and returned an interception for a touchdown on defense. A week earlier, he again scored rushing and receiving touchdowns and complemented those with a punt-return score.
He scored five early touchdowns in a game against Sierra Vista in September—three rushing, one receiving and one on a punt return—to force a running clock early in the third quarter.
The strong play follows his breakthrough season in 2021, when he had 1,229 all-purpose yards and 17 touchdowns on offense, and 66 tackles and two interceptions on defense. That transformed him from a relative unknown—due to the canceled 2020 season during the height of the pandemic—into a top recruit.
Asked to name his favorite play from his high school career, Pellot can’t. There have been too many to pinpoint anything specific.
“I have never been really surprised [after a great game] because I am confident in my ability,” he says. “I kind of play everywhere—running back, receiver, safety. I don’t care where they put me on the field; I will impact the game.”
Pellot is considered a three-star recruit on the 247 Sports grading system of five stars and pencils in as a likely linebacker at UCLA. His ranking likely would have been higher, but Silverado plays in class 4A, in which the Skyhawks don’t compete against the likes of national power Bishop Gorman, and therefore, against other top recruits.
Silverado did play a pair of class 5A teams during its nonleague season, and it didn’t slow the Skyhawks down. Pellot logged more than 100 rushing and receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns while starring defensively in a shutout win over Centennial High in September.
Hauling in passes from Brandon Tunnell—the only quarterback with whom he’s ever played—is second-nature at this point. Dating back to grade school, Tunnell estimates, the pair has connected for at least 80 touchdowns.
“He pretty much has always been the best player,” Tunnell says. “It’s really hard knowing that our high school careers are almost over. But I’m happy that it’s happened like this, and I wouldn’t want it with any other teammates.”
Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza also struggles to pick a single-best Pellot play, before concluding that a kickoff return against Coronado last month takes top billing. He’s still in awe describing it, explaining that the Cougars “had three guys that pinned him in, and he somehow got around them all. He was moving at a different speed, and once he gets in the open field, it’s like a strike—no one is catching him.”
Pellot doesn’t take winning for granted, because it didn’t always come easily. The youth football team he initially joined lost all of it games in that initial season, but unlike other kids who show his level of ability, he never considered moving to a more successful program.
“We were having fun and had a great family atmosphere,” Mendez says. “We didn’t win, but we had the more fun than any other team.”
Now, Silverado is having fun while winning. Pellot and his friends haven’t lost a varsity game in two seasons and are hands-down favorites to repeat as state champs.
“It’s not about me. I’m one player on a great team,” Pellot says. “My motivation is being able to come out here every day and work hard with my friends. These are the guys I grew up with. We’re going to make the most of it.”
