Dawgs win 1st round Regionals

By BOB SNELL

The Progress

Elian Pinto returned a kickoff 45 yards to put the Bulldogs in good field position for a touchdown in the first round of 3A Regional Playoffs played last week at Bulldog stadium against Eldorado. PHOTO BY DAMON JACKSON/The Progress

The Virgin Valley High School Football team ground out a 19-7 win over Eldorado of Las Vegas in the first round of the 3A South Regional playoffs last Thursday night inside Evan Wilson Stadium in Mesquite.

The Bulldogs (8-2 overall) now move on to a regional semifinal contest against Mountain League champion SLAM Academy (6-3) on Friday at 6 p.m. at Foothill High School in Henderson. The winner will advance to the 3A state semifinals.

Coming off an emotional rivalry game against Moapa Valley, and having a short week to prepare – plus the fact that the Bulldogs handled Eldorado 50-14 in the first week of the season back in August – were some of the challenges the coaches faced in getting the team ready for the much-improved Sundevils.
“It was tough to get focused,” VVHS head coach Matt Woods said. “We basically did what we had to do to win, and now we move on.”

The Bulldogs find themselves in the same situation they faced last year after winning a first-round playoff game at home against Eldorado – having to go on the road and win twice to reach the state title game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

VVHS senior Martin Jordan runs the ball for the Bulldogs in last week’s home game against the Eldorado Sundevils. PHOTO BY MARK MCEWEN/The Progress

It starts Friday against SLAM.
“SLAM is big up front and plays very physical,” Woods said. “They have a quarterback that is very athletic. Our defense will have to step it up. We’ll have to play our best game this week to move on.”

In Thursday’s win against Eldorado, quarterback Gunner Cortez did a nice job in managing the game for the Bulldogs. The junior quarterback completed 7-of-10 passes for 104 yards and threw for three touchdowns.

“I thought Gunner threw the ball well,” Woods said. “Overall, he did a really nice job for us. That’s the way he needs to play for us to be successful.”

The Bulldogs started quickly. VVHS junior Chase Otteson ran 45 yards on the first play from scrimmage to the Eldorado 10-yard line. A five yard penalty and two runs by senior Isaiah Frieling totaling four yards, was followed by Cortez firing a one-yard pass to senior Jared Jensen in the endzone for a touchdown. Junior Kurt Felix booted the point-after putting Virgin Valley up 7-0 five minutes into the contest.

That would be all the scoring until the third quarter.

Bulldog quarterback Gunner Cortez gets ready to fire the ball during last week’s playoff game against Eldorado played in Mesquite. PHOTO BY MARK MCEWEN/The Progress

Eldorado took the second-half kickoff and marched 80 yards in 11 plays; taking six minutes off the clock; to pull even at 7-7. Quarterback Matt Gallegos connected with Napoleon Washington on a 36-yard pass for the score and Ab Ruiz Inzunza booted the PAT.

The Bulldogs answered immediately. VVHS freshman Elian Pinto ran the kickoff back 45 yards to the Eldorado 42-yard line. Five plays later, Cortez found senior Cutler Crandall for 25 yards and a touchdown. The point-after was blocked leaving VVHS up 13-7.

The Sundevils drove into the Red Zone on their next two possessions but were turned away by the Bulldog defense. Pinto made two key pass breakups near the goal line on each Eldorado possession.
Virgin Valley put the game away late in the final quarter. The Bulldogs marched 74 yards in eight plays – the key play a 32-yard pass from Cortez to Jensen – capped by a 22 yard scoring pass from Cortez to senior Martin Jordan with 2:28 to play.

“We played a lot better in the second half,” Woods said. “We had kids step up and make some big plays.”