LV High hopes loss to higher-class Reno team pays off in playoffs

Las Vegas High coach Erick Capetillo wanted a late-season test against a quality opponent, and the Wildcats got that Friday night in Reno.

The went up north and up a class to face 5A Bishop Manogue, and came away with a 55-14 loss.

Las Vegas (6-2) will go into the Class 4A playoffs in two weeks as the top seed in the Mountain League.

“For us, it’s a great experience to battle top-level competition in our state and see kind of where we’re at,” Capetillo said. “I think it also prepares us for the playoffs.”

Manogue (7-2) struck early, returning an interception for a touchdown to grab a 14-0 lead. Las Vegas managed to stay close, at 28-14, before the Miners scored two TDs in the final two minutes of the first half to take control at 41-14.

“We put ourselves in a hole,” Capetillo said. “That’s one of the things that we talked about earlier is execution. When you play against those teams, you can’t spot a team 14 points in the first quarter. Those are things that are hard to come back (from), especially against great opponents like Bishop Manogue.”

Basic 27, Durango 25 — At Basic, Antoine Taylor registered seven sacks, including five in the first half, and forced a fumble to help lead the Wolves, who survived a late score.

“He’s been playing well all year, he’s one of our best guys, but he really exploded tonight,” Basic coach Jeff Cahill said. “They just couldn’t block him. He was on fire. He was in their backfield constantly the whole game. He changed the whole game for us.”

Even so, Durango (5-4, 2-2 4A Mountain League) nearly tied the game, scoring a touchdown with two minutes left to get to within two points. The Trailblazers went for two points, but Basic (7-2, 2-1) kept them out of the end zone and then recovered the onside kick.

The Wolves then picked up a first down to clinch the victory.

Coronado 21, Spring Valley 19 — At Coronado, the Cougars went up 21-7 in the first half and held on from there.

Coronado (6-2, 3-1 4A Sky League) was shorthanded against Spring Valley (5-4, 2-2) due to injury and eligibility issues.

“We were just throwing dudes in there,” Coronado coach Fred Biletnikoff Jr. said. “We were running out of people.”

Especially given the circumstances, it was an important bounce-back game for Coronado, which lost a key league a week earlier to Shadow Ridge.

“We knew going into the game last week we had a rough road ahead of us with Shadow and then with Spring Valley,” Biletnikoff said. “Next week, we’ll have our hands full with Sierra Vista. All these teams have gotten really, really good.”

Silverado 63, Sunrise Mountain 0 — At Silverado, the Skyhawks continued to show how dynamic they are on both sides of the ball.

Brandon Tunnell completed all 11 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns. Donavyn Pellot scored three TDs — rushing, receiving and on a punt return. Caden Harris rushed for three scores. Three other players each reached the end zone once.

Silverado (8-0, 4-0 4A Desert League) has scored more than 60 points in four of its past six games. The Skyhawks’ shutout of Sunrise Mountain (4-5, 2-2) was the fourth in five games and the fifth blanking by their defense. Cimarron-Memorial’s points in the Sept. 30 meeting came on a safety.

Shadow Ridge 49, Mojave 0 — At Shadow Ridge, Coen Coloma passed only four times, but he completed all of them for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 42 yards.

Also for Shadow Ridge (8-1, 4-0 4A Sky), JaQuieze Holland rushed for 96 yards and two TDs.

Jeremiah Campbell and Liam Guthrie each caught a scoring pass.

Mojave is 2-6, 0-4 in league.

Arbor View 48, Legacy 6 — At Arbor View, Michael Kearns completed all eight passes for 204 yards and five touchdowns.

David Washington caught four passes for 114 yards and three TDs for the Aggies (7-1, 3-1 5A Southern League).

Arbor View scored three touchdowns in each the first and second quarters to take a 42-0 halftime lead over Legacy (2-7, 0-4).

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