71°F
weather icon Windy

Beatty closes football season with rout of Indian Springs

Senior Night was a bit bittersweet for the Beatty High School football team.

On the one hand, the Hornets celebrated a group that posted an 18-8 record over the past three seasons, with all eight losses against Pahranagat Valley and Spring Mountain. On the other hand, Beatty (6-2, 3-2 1A South) wrapped up its season with the distinction of being the best Class 1A team in the state not to make the playoffs.

The game itself was no contest. Jacob Henry ran for two touchdowns and hit Max Taylor for a TD pass, Alan Sandoval and Fabian Perez each scored, and Beatty rolled to a 38-0 victory over Indian Springs on Thursday night in Beatty.

It was the fifth time this season the Hornets have held an opponent to fewer than 10 points.

“They were not very good,” Beatty coach Leo Verzilli said of the Thunderbirds (1-6, 1-4). “It was Senior Night, so we played our starters for about the first quarter. Our younger guys got a lot of experience. Defensively, we kept some of our starters in.”

But the fact the Hornets missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013 despite a 6-2 record is a sore point with Verzilli. When Class 1A was realigned into four leagues this year, it was determined the top two teams in each league would make the playoff. With Pahranagat Valley and Spring Mountain in the same league, the Hornets knew it would be an uphill climb before the season even started.

“We do have a short playoff season,” Verzilli said. “You play a couple of weeks and then you’ve got a championship. They could extend it, give the first-place teams a bye in the first round and incorporate a couple more teams. They could make a change, but I don’t know if they will or not. It would be nice to get some other schools involved.”

With eight seniors on the roster, the Hornets will be losing some very talented players to graduation. But Verzilli said the cupboard will be far from bare in Beatty.

“We’re not going to be left in the lurch,” he said. “We have some young kids coming up. … Efrain Villanueva will be back, Fabian will be back, Brayden Lynn has been playing quite a bit, and he’ll be back. So we’ll have a core of four or five kids that have had a lot of experience either offensively or defensively to build around for next year.”

None of which means Verzilli won’t miss the likes of Henry, Sandoval, Taylor and the rest of a senior class that performed so well over their careers.

“This year was the same team, because we didn’t have any seniors last year,” Verzilli said. “These kids were leaders as juniors. What a great job they did. Kudos to them for putting in the time and the effort as a group.

“They will be missed. I can’t say enough about them. Even outside of football, they’re all good kids, and that had a lot to do with it. They have a great attitude, they’re all friends with each other. They have a lot to be proud of. They’ll be successful in everything they do.”

Contact Sports Editor Tom Rysinski at trysinski@pvtimes.com On Twitter:@PVTimesSports

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Trojans home run isn’t enough for win

A home run from Madison Rodriguez (6) wasn’t enough for the Pahrump Valley softball team to beat the Sports Leadership & Management (SLAM) Bulls in a conference game on Wednesday.

SOFTBALL: Trojans top Moapa, fall to Needles

The Trojans softball team suffered their first loss this season against a school from a neighboring state on Monday, but it also added a win in a weekend game against Moapa Valley (2-1) at home.

Muckers baseball off to 1-3 start this season

By the end of the weekend, the Tonopah Muckers had played four games, where they scored over 17 runs.

Muckers start softball season 1-3

Tonopah softball started their season over the weekend with four games on Friday and Saturday.

RODEO 2024: Here are the winners

The Nevada State High School Rodeo was in Pahrump last weekend where junior and senior high school students from around the state came to compete after their winter break.

Trojans girls basketball moves on to the quarterfinals

After Avery Moore stole a pass from the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) girls basketball team she passed the ball to Paris Coleman who ran up and scored the team’s fourth two-pointer in less than two minutes.

Pastor opens boxing gym for Pahrump youth

Pastor Ruben Bajo, of Full Armor of God Ministries in Pahrump told the Pahrump Valley Times that decades ago the sport of boxing saved his life and kept him off the streets of Los Angeles.

Trojans struggle in nail-biting 4th quarter against Chaparral

It was all up to No. 14 Daxton Palmisano from the Pahrump Valley boys basketball team with less than 10 seconds on the clock to score a three-pointer to get the Trojans into overtime in a hard-fought game on Wednesday.