Nevada Preps: Silverado’s defense having historic season

Lost in the weekly barrage of points Silverado’s offense puts up is the great defense the Skyhawks are playing.

As in historically great.

Silverado has allowed 23 points all season with just this Friday’s game at Desert Oasis remaining before the playoffs begin. At this point, that would be the fewest points given up by a Nevada defense since Reno’s Bishop Manogue allowed 12 in 1979.

Overall, for now at least, Silverado is ninth in the state history in fewest points allowed, and it’s telling that outside Manogue’s phenomenal season, the other schools ahead of the Skyhawks played in the 1930s and 1940s when offenses didn’t throw the ball all over the field and Reno was the state’s marquee city.

Truly a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust era.

Silverado (8-0, 4-0 Class 4A Desert League) has shut out four of its past five opponents, and the defense wasn’t scored on at all during that time. Cimarron-Memorial had a safety in the Sept. 30 meeting.

The Skyhawks opened the season allowing a touchdown in each of their first three games, but since then they carry a 22-quarter streak of not allowing an offensive score.

Silverado beat Sunrise Mountain 63-0 on Friday.

This isn’t the ’30s and ’40s, and Las Vegas is the state’s population center with a valley filled with high-powered offenses.

Not that it’s completely surprising given this is a veteran defense. Linebacker Chris Federico was the division defensive player of the year last season, and safety Donavyn Pellot has lived up to high expectations.

“But probably the biggest difference this year is the front four,” Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza said. “It’s a lot faster front four than we usually put on the field.”

Taking a trip

Las Vegas High coach Erick Capetillo had football reasons in mind when taking his team to Reno to play Manogue on Friday, but that wasn’t the only factor.

He also saw the social advantage of exposing his players to traveling to another city, staying in a hotel and then flying back.

“I think it’s great because a lot of them haven’t traveled, never flew on a plane before, never went to Reno,” Capetillo said. “Some of them don’t leave the east side of Las Vegas too often. It’s all part of the learning experience. It’s all part of what we’re trying to build into our program through the season.”

Las Vegas lost to Class 5A Manogue 55-14.

Sneaking back

Basic began the season 5-0 before losing 24-10 to rival and Class 5A Green Valley and 14-0 to Las Vegas, seemingly taking the Wolves out of the discussion as a team capable of going deep in the 4A playoffs.

But after beating Del Sol 55-6 and then Durango 27-25, the Wolves (7-2, 2-1 Mountain League) are showing signs of being a tough matchup once the postseason arrives.

“We’ve played very well in spurts,” Wolves coach Jeff Cahill said. “We’re trying to put it together for a full game. If we can get that done, we’re going to be dangerous in the playoffs.”

Up next

The regular season ends Friday for classes 3A and above, and a 5A matchup between Desert Pines (7-1, 3-0 Mountain League) and Liberty (5-3, 3-0) is one to keep an especially close eye on. The winner takes the top seed and will be opposite of Bishop Gorman (8-1, 4-0 Desert League) in the playoff bracket.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.