Las Vegas High School head football coach Erick Capetillo poses with Sir Herkimer’s Bone at the school Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. The Bone Game, a rivalry football game between Rancho High and Las Vegas High School, started in 1957.
Friday, Sept. 16, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Erick Capetillo arrives at Las Vegas High School for work each morning, opens his office in the weight room and sees the school football program’s most valuable possession: Sir Herkimer’s Bone.
“What a beautiful way to start the day,” he says.
The “Bone Game” between Rancho and Las Vegas has been played since 1958, when the cow bone that’s awarded to the winning team was introduced to heated showdown between the then-neighboring schools in downtown Las Vegas.
The tradition continues at 6 p.m. today at Rancho in what could be considered the most significant meeting in the annual rivalry because there’s finally a game to play.
The 2020 version was shelved — along with the season — during pandemic closures, and the 2021 version got canceled three days before kickoff because of a COVID exposure in one of the programs.
“The first question when I talk to alumni is always, ‘Is the bone home?,’” said Capetillo, a former Las Vegas player. “There much pride in telling them, ‘Yes.’ This is the most important night of the year for us.”
It’s a night Las Vegas has controled since 1996. The Wildcats have won 24 consecutive games in the series. That means the bone has been somewhere on the Las Vegas High campus— now prominently displayed in Capetillo’s office — for 26 years.
Rancho hasn’t had the symbolic trophy since long before its campus was renovated in 2006, so there’s no telling where it would be displayed. But, “don’t worry, we’ll find the space,” Rancho coach Leon Evans enthusiastically said. “There’s a lot of people over here waiting for the bone to come back.”
The cow bone originally came from the downtown butcher shop of Sir Herkimer, whose son was a Rancho player in the late 1950s. Member of Rancho’s Letterman’s Club acquired the bone and boiled it for a day, which caused one end of the bone to break.
They glued it back together and painted it silver to hide the deformity. It’s now painted bronze, and will easily be spotted in a security box on the Las Vegas sideline come kick off.
It’s the oldest tradition in Nevada high school football, and “we’re proud that our kids get to be part of game every year,” Capetillo said.
Well, almost every year.
Rancho senior linebacker Brian Rodriguez, who played in the 2019 game as a freshman, will be the only player on either team who has experienced the rivalry on the field.
Rodriguez wasn’t certain what to expect when entering the stadium three years ago, and then he looked into the stands. On one side, there were Las Vegas fans in red and black; on the other Rancho supporters in green, yellow and white.
For a teenager a few weeks into being a high school student, it was a lot to take in.
“It is a different atmosphere. Way more people,” he said. “Once the game starts, it’s the passion you are playing with. It’s a big game and every play is intense because you are out there wanting to get that (bone) and giving it your all.”
Evans’ history in the rivalry started in elementary school when he was the water boy for his brother’s teams at Rancho. Kids in his Las Vegas neighborhood grew up dreaming of getting to play in the game, where they knew winning would give them a lifetime worth of bragging rights over teenagers who lived a few blocks away and competed against each other in every sport.
Some of the men will return tonight to root for a new generation; the game’s crowd is always full with alumni. For them and others, it’s more than a game — it’s a community event.
Interest is so high, officials expect a sellout with fans peeking through the chain-link fence to catch a glimpse of the game that bridges Las Vegas of yesteryear to today.
“This is our history here at Rancho,” Evans said. “It’s a history few schools in the state can come close to matching.”
Evans went on to play for Rancho, where his team in 1987 beat Las Vegas during his junior season. The Rams lost the following year but had the “consolation prize” of winning the state championship.
Rancho won 13 of 15 games in the series from 1981 to 1995, when Las Vegas started to dominate— not only have they won, the results have been lopsided. Still, the game remains important for both sides, especially at Las Vegas because the current team doesn’t want to be associated with the streak ending on its watch.
The series also survived Las Vegas High moving out of downtown for its campus on east Sahara Avenue as downtown Las Vegas didn’t have enough students to support two high schools.
Yet, the series remains strong.
That’s why Capetillo and Evans are optimistic that a two-year COVID break won’t negatively affect the enormity of this night of high school football. They grew up waiting for their turn to experience the night, and the hiatus has only intensified the love affair with their programs and the rivalry.
This is the state championship game, Rose Bowl and Super Bowl all in one. This more than downtown Las Vegas football — this is Nevada high school football.
And come Monday, Capetillo surely hopes his office decor looks the same.
