4A ROUNDUP: Three players score twice to help Palo Verde top Arbor View, stay unbeaten

Banged up a bit the past few weeks, top-ranked Palo Verde was back at full strength on Friday night at Arbor View. And it showed.

Chaz Thomas, Torin Harris and Tyrone Blake rushed for two touchdowns apiece as the deep Panthers rolled to a 48-21 road romp over the ninth-ranked Aggies.

“We got this nice shiny pistol and we had all our bullets in it tonight,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. “Our kids really came out and got after it. We have exceptional team speed and it kind of shows on a good turf field like this.”

The Panthers, Southern Nevada’s only unbeaten team at 8-0 (5-0 in the Northwest League), scored on their second play from scrimmage — on an 88-yard sprint by Blake — to take a 7-0 lead and they never trailed.

With the game tied 14-all, Palo Verde scored three touchdowns in a 3:42 span bridging the first and second halves to take control.

Harris, who has committed to play at the University of Southern California next year, scored from 15 yards out to make it 21-14 with 2:43 left in the first half and Thomas bulled his way in from seven yards out with 16 seconds left to make it 28-14.

“When they scored that one just before the half, that was tough,” Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said. “We go as fast as we can on offense, that’s our style, and we gave them just enough time to stick one in before the half. But we’re not going to change the way we play.”

Harris only had three carries in the game, but he scored on two of them, including a 57-yard scamper down the sideline 59 seconds into the second half that gave the Panthers a 35-14 lead.

“It’s special having a guy like Torin Harris who can do a lot of things like that,” Rost said.

Palo Verde produced nearly 500 yards total offense as it taught Arbor View a lesson in a game that was supposed to test the Panthers.

“This was a nice little win because there was a lot of talk that Arbor View was going to come in and upset us,” Rost said. “Our kids treated this like a Cheyenne game. They were real focused all week long.”

Taylor Wooten rushed for 117 yards on 28 carries to lead the Aggies, who fell to 5-3, 2-3 in the Northwest.

Bishop Gorman 57, Western 8 — At Western, quarterback Chase Cresto threw three touchdown passes and 12 Gael players scored points as co-No. 1 Bishop Gorman won its 12th straight Southwest Division game.

Gorman (8-1, 4-0 Southwest) remains tied atop the league standings with Bonanza, a 23-point winner over Clark on Friday.

Cresto, who completed all five of his pass attempts, threw TD tosses of 2 yards to Jordan Welte, 34 yards to Xavier Grimble and 30 yards to Bud Reschke.

The Gaels had five other players score touchdowns, including John Therrell on a 58-yard punt return and 230-pound offensive lineman Evan Palelei on a two-yard run.

Western (1-6, 1-4 Southwest), which gained its initial first down of the game at the 3:59 mark of the third period, scored its only touchdown thanks to a 85-yard kickoff return by Anthony Garrett.

The Gaels dominated every statistical column and held the Warriors to 3 yards rushing. Gorman outgained Western, 361-51.

Nine players rushed the ball for Gorman, led by Matt Malone, who gained 51 yards on six carries. Joe Huber completed eight-of-13 passes for 94 yards.

Spring Valley 54, Pahrump Valley 0 — At Pahrump, Jacques Adams ran 12 times for 212 yards and three touchdowns in less than three quarters as the seventh-ranked Grizzlies (6-1, 4-1 Southwest) overpowered the Trojans.

Adams had touchdown runs of 41, 42, and 55 yards, and the Spring Valley defense never allowed Pahrump Valley to threaten. When first-year coach Kelly Murphy began to liberally substitute his backups, the Trojans (1-7, 0-5) had netted only 53 yards. They didn’t get into Grizzlies territory until late in the fourth quarter, when Ande Floyd broke a 50-yard run to the Spring Valley 25.

Quarterback Anton Stallworth threw TD passes of 69 yards to Jeff Fajardo and 8 yards to Aaron Smith-Allen in the first half.

Spencer Manning returned a punt 70 yards on Spring Valley’s first touch of the game, then added the conversion to give the Grizzlies an 8-0 lead just 2:47 into the game.

 
Legacy 47, Mojave 0 — At Mojave, Deshae Edwards scored on an 80-yard punt return early in the first quarter and the sixth ranked Longhorns (7-1, 3-1 Northwest) shut out the Rattlers, adding another victory to the best start in team history.

Zach Monticelli found Richard Johnson for a 30-yard touchdown pass, Edwards scored on a 38-yard TD run and Martell Crockett and Prince Oroke each rushed for touchdowns as the Longhorns pulled away in a 26-point second quarter. Edwards finished with three scores and 155 yards on 14 carries. Oroke added a 53-yard TD run for the lone score in the second half and finished with 102 yards on eight carries.

Legacy’s defense held the Rattlers (0-7, 0-5) to 112 yards of total offense.

Liberty 32, Coronado 8 — At Liberty, Shawn Murray rushed for 160 yards and scored five touchdowns (four rushing, one passing) as the Patriots dismantled the Cougars.

The highlight of the game came with 2:35 left in the first half as Murray took a handoff from quarterback Ryan Doty and threw it 74 yards to wide receiver Anthony Norris.

Defense was also a key to the win for Liberty (4-4, 2-3 Southeast); the Coronado running game was held to 3 net yards. This along with nine delay-of-game penalties kept the Cougar offense from finding a rhythm.

The offense for Coronado (4-4, 1-4) was led by quarterback Dane Cooper, who completed 11 of 24 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.

Canyon Springs 34, Valley 13 — At Canyon Springs, quarterback Jamal Martin passed for 114 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 101 yards and a score to lead the Pioneers past the Vikings.

Canyon Springs running back Devin Rimmey rushed for 108 yards on 20 carries and hauled in a 65-yard pass from Martin for a touchdown. The Pioneers improved to 1-6, 1-3)

Quarterback Kerwynn Williams carried the load for Valley (3-5, 1-4), rushing for 174 yards and two scores, including a 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Sierra Vista 28, Durango 14 — At Sierra Vista, Akil Sharp rushed for 252 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries to lead a punishing ground game as the Lions (3-5, 2-3 Southwest) defeated the Trailblazers (1-7, 1-4 Southwest).

Sharp scored on Sierra Vista’s second drive with an 18-yard run in the first quarter. Jeremy Green threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chris Zatezalo early in the second quarter, and Sharp added a 45-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0 at the half.

Durango’s Julio Mora, who rushed for 91 yards, scored on a 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter, but Sharp answered for the Lions with a 3-yard touchdown.

Romell Maxwell capped the scoring on a 58-yard pass from Thomas Flanagan.

Cheyenne 42, Shadow Ridge 0 — At Shadow Ridge, Donnel Thompson’s 45-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game set the tone as the Desert Shields (7-1, 4-1 Northwest) routed the Mustangs (2-6, 1-4).

Marcus Sullivan ran for a game-high 138 yards and two touchdowns and also caught an 83-yard TD pass from Kaeo Helekahi on Cheyenne’s only pass attempt.

Terence Brison added two touchdown runs in the second quarter to give the Desert Shields a 36-0 lead at the half.

Cheyenne forced five turnovers and held Shadow Ridge to 100 yards.

Chaparral 17, Eldorado 14 — At Chaparral, senior Carl Vanlandingham kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8.6 seconds remaining as the host Cowboys rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to beat the rival Sundevils and retain the Merlin Olsen Cleat trophy.

Greg Tucker intercepted a pass for Chaparral (3-5, 2-3 Northeast) midway through the fourth quarter. Six plays later, Cowboys quarterback Jermal Turner scored on a 1-yard plunge with 4:18 remaining. Vanlandingham, who was named homecoming king at halftime, booted the extra point to tie the score at 14.

On the ensuing kickoff, Edward Weist recovered Vanlandingham’s perfectly placed pooch kick along the right sideline to give Chaparral possession at the Sundevils 40-yard line. Eldorado (4-4, 2-2) sacked Turner on first-and-goal from the 15, but he hit Devian Blow for a 10-yard gain and ran 4 yards up the middle to set up Vanlandingham’s winner.

The Sundevils went up 7-0 when Tone Gatewood brought the opening kickoff back 85 yards for a touchdown, and Gatewood added a 5-yard touchdown run with 43.7 seconds left in the second quarter to put Eldorado on top 14-0. However, earlier on the drive, Sundevils quarterback JaQuorrey Williams suffered a separated throwing shoulder. Eldorado struggled to move the ball in the second half without him.

Isaiah Washington led the Cowboys with 104 yards rushing and had a key fourth-down conversion one play before Turner bolted 23 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-7 with 5:45 to go in the third quarter.

Basic 47, Foothill 30 — At Foothill, Anthany Lessier rushed for a pair of touchdowns and had a pair of interceptions, returning one for another score, to help the eighth-ranked Wolves outscore the Falcons and clinch a playoff berth.

Lessier’s first interception was a key. Foothill had taken a 17-14 lead in the second quarter and was driving, when Lessier picked off the pass and raced 55 yards to the end zone for Basic (6-2, 4-0 Southeast).

Lessier then scored on runs of 9 and 23 yards in the third quarter to put the Wolves up 40-17.

Foothill (3-5, 1-3), which outgained Basic 333-270, battled back in the fourth quarter on a pair of Aaron Dupin-to-F. J. Funtila  touchdown passes to make it 40-30 with 4:03 left.

The Falcons appeared to cut the lead to three points with 2:20 left after a Basic fumble was returned for a touchdown. But Basic quarterback Robby Faiman was ruled down before the ball came lose and the score was nullified.

Four plays later, Faiman threw his second TD pass of the game, connecting with Justin Burdno on a 36-yard strike, securing the victory.

Faiman threw for 204 yards on 9-of-12 passing for the Wolves.

Conner Afoa had a 92-yard kickoff return for Foothill.