FIELDER’S CHOICES: Schedule-makers finally have it right, but not correct

Sunrise Region teams have been practicing since Aug. 13.

Trust me. I have the sunburn to prove it.

And yet here we are in the last few days of September and finally the right side of town starts league play.

I get that there aren’t as many teams on one side of town as the other (even though that makes as much sense to me as quantum physics) and that the Sunrise champion goes straight to the state title game this year, but something’s still not right.

The left side town is in its fourth week of league play, yet 0-3 teams like Chaparral and Eldorado are in a seven-way tie for first in the their league.

Thankfully that changes tonight (except for Silverado and Rancho, who won’t play a league game until October … meh).

What also needs to change tonight is my success rate. Going 6-2 last week wasn’t great.

The Dragons are coming off a big win against Las Vegas (one that almost got away late), and have been fabulous, considering they lost almost everyone from last year’s team.

Dezerick Reed’s numbers aren’t ridiculous, but he’s been successful running the ball with 394 yards and five touchdowns for Del Sol.
Foothill is probably somewhere between the team that got beat by 49 by Palo Verde two weeks ago and the one that beat Rancho by 37 last week.

Expect both of these teams to be playing the second week of November. Del Sol by 6.

The Julio Mora show keeps on a-going at Durango. Mora has 644 yards and nine TDs in four games and has helped the Trailblazers to two more wins than they had all of last year.

You want big numbers? Try Spring Valley’s Brandon Lopez, who has seven rushes for 203 yards and three TDs and 10 catches for 210 yards and two touchdowns.

He’s averaging better than 24 yards every time he touches the ball. Might want to let him touch it more often. Spring Valley by 8.

Sometimes it’s how good you are. And sometimes it’s how good your opponents are.

Coronado is 2-0, but those came against Valley and Eldorado, who are a combined 0-6.

Basic has a weapon in Quinn Richardson, who has a grand total of 18 yards rushing this year but has four of the team’s 10 touchdowns.

Give it to Quinn. Let him get in. Basic by 5.

Rancho has been outscored 65-0 this month. And it probably wouldn’t look good to lose to a Class 3A team.

After all, a lot of 4A people seem to think 3A is far beneath them … at least the parents who showed up at the NIAA board meeting last week thought so.

Moapa hasn’t looked like the team that won last year’s state title, but this could be a big step in Kelan Weiss’ development as a quarterback.

The Pirates won’t see league play in their round-robin league until Oct. 16. This one will make them wish they were starting league play Saturday. Moapa Valley by 4.

 

Centennial saved its season with consecutive wins against Faith Lutheran and Shadow Ridge.

The problem is neither of those was really convincing. Sure, Chris Henderson had a couple of good games, but the competition level wasn’t A-plus.

If Centennial can win this one, it’ll likely take a five-game winning streak into its final three games — against Del Sol, Legacy and Palo Verde.

Former Centennial player Brandon Wright (remember him, Bulldogs?) burned Cimarron last week when Palo Verde beat the Spartans.

If Cimarron gets through this one, and next week against Legacy, it’s smooth sailing until the playoffs. Full steam ahead. Cimarron by 7.

Can’t figure either of these teams out, either.

Green Valley accomplished the near-impossible last week, falling behind by 14 points against Chaparral. The Gators came back to win by 25, but Liberty beat Chap by 54 the week before.

Liberty is doing it with defense so far, holding Canyon Springs to 13 points last week.

If you go by common opponents (Canyon Springs and Chaparral), Liberty is exactly 29 points better than Green Valley.
Liberty by 29? Um. No. Liberty by 9, though.

Because of injuries, the Crusaders were on quarterback No. 3 in week No. 3 and completed only one of their 15 passes.

Sophomore running back Clarence Prophet has Mojave on a one-game winning streak after beating Pahrump. (OK, maybe a half-game winning streak.)

A Prophet against the Crusaders? Not going there.

If Faith Lutheran were healthy, this would be a win. It still might be. Faith Lutheran by 1.

Don’t look now, but the school on the waterway has three wins, including walloping Tonopah last week.

Corey Cook is on his way to a possible 2,000-yard season with 801 rushing yards and 11 TDs.

The Wolverines are coming off a 38-point throttling of Beatty and have their own star-to-be in Jay Sutorius.

If you’re looking for great defense, there will be some on Friday. It just won’t be here. The scoreboard operator will have a sore finger. Henderson International by 10.

Last week: 6-2 (overall), 5-3 (with points)
Season: 27-7 (overall), 25-9 (with points)