Round Mountain relishing football revival

It had been so long since the Round Mountain football team held a 46-0 halftime lead on anyone, the Knights didn’t know how to react.

So when coach Jim Swigart began to yank his starters during the third quarter of his team’s 54-0 win over Sandy Valley on Sept. 26, players weren’t ready to leave.

Some snuck back out for another series, after which Swigart had to pull off their shoulder pads.

“They love football, they’re having fun, and that’s what it’s all about,” Swigart said.

Coming off an 0-9 season, Round Mountain is having fun for a change.

The Knights are 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the Class 1A Southern League — their best start since opening 6-0 in 2003. They’ll hope to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Southern League playoffs when they visit Indian Springs (3-3, 1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.

“It’s a big difference,” Round Mountain running back Clint Wilson said when asked to compare this season to last year. “It took a lot of dedication and hard work.”

Wilson has rushed for 495 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 11.5 yards per carry. The senior leads a prolific ground game that also features Joaquin Ramirez (343 yards, two TDs) and Cody Burgraff (220 yards, six TDs).

“There are some real weapons with those three,” Swigart said.

Burgraff, a senior quarterback, has thrown for 637 yards and 11 touchdowns with only four interceptions.

Swigart and Wilson agreed that Burgraff began to turn the corner running Round Mountain’s multiple-set offense when the team attended a passing camp at Palo Verde this past summer.

“Since he went to that camp, he’s made a lot of progress” with footwork and his throwing motion, Wilson said.

It’s helped the Knights average more than 40 points per game after averaging less than 14 last year. They’ve had to punt only 13 times all season.

“We’ve been surprised, although we were close last year,” Swigart said. “Even though we went 0-9 last season, we were so close. The kids just made a commitment that they were going to lift weights and do everything they could in the offseason.”

Round Mountain lost four games last year by 10 or fewer points.

This season, the Knights have won three by 50 or more.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Wilson, who acknowledged he shares Swigart’s surprise in the rapid turnaround.

Burgraff’s favorite target, 6-foot-1-inch junior receiver Will Sweeney, has caught 10 passes for 224 yards and six scores.

Defensively, Round Mountain is led by Ramirez, a junior inside linebacker who has 51.5 tackles and three sacks.

Swigart said Ramirez has matured considerably since last season, when he had a tendency to pile up unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties.

“He’s learned and grown up a lot since last year,” Swigart said of Ramirez. “He didn’t care who he’d hit — their team, our team, cheerleaders. Sideline to sideline, somebody was going to get hit.”

Also doing hitting for the Knights are defensive back Wilson (34.5 tackles, four interceptions) and senior outside linebacker James Browning (16.5 tackles, 5.5 sacks).

Swigart said Friday’s meeting with Indian Springs is something of a statement game for Round Mountain, which has beat the Thunderbirds only once in the past decade.

“It’s a big game, probably one of the biggest we’ve had in a long time,” he said. “It will make a difference of going in as the No. 3 or 4 seed. You always want to move up as high as you can.”

It’s been a magical ride for the Knights, who went 9-27 from 2004-07.

But work still has to be done, Swigart said, to establish Round Mountain alongside the likes of perennial 1A Southern League powers Pahranagat Valley and Tonopah.

“Are we at the level of Carlin or Tonopah or Pahranagat Valley yet?” Swigart asked. “I’m not sure. We have to reach down inside ourselves and come to that level.”