Legacy beats Shadow Ridge in Las Vegas high school football

Legacy’s football team won the Class 5A Division III state title last season, which earned it a promotion to 5A Division II this year.

The Longhorns, despite moving up, are right in the middle of another league title race.

Legacy, which brought back most of its key contributors from last year’s team, blew out Shadow Ridge 43-14 at home Saturday in a key 5A Division II Southern League matchup. The win keeps the Longhorns (5-3, 3-1) in contention for the postseason’s No. 1 seed before the playoffs begin at the end of the month.

“It was about us refining the hunger. It was hard for us at first,” Legacy coach Zach Monticelli said. “We were still working hard and doing all that, and those early losses early in the season helped us play with that chip on our shoulder again.”

Legacy’s win means there will be a lot on the line when it travels to play first-place Faith Lutheran (6-0, 3-0) on Thursday. The Longhorns would keep their hopes for a league title alive with a win.

Legacy lost its league opener 38-35 to Green Valley (5-1, 3-0) on Sept. 13. The Gators are tied with the Crusaders for first place. The two face each other Oct. 18.

The Longhorns, before turning their attention to their game against Faith Lutheran, will take time to savor their win Saturday.

“It was good for us,” Monticelli said. “It was more for us as a program than everyone around town. People know we can play but we need to prove to ourselves that we can come out and beat a team that’s won a lot of games the last few years.”

Shadow Ridge (4-3, 1-2) took an early 7-0 lead, but Legacy scored three unanswered touchdowns to go ahead 21-7 by halftime. The Longhorns added another 22 points in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to a 75-yard touchdown run by Zaione Henderson.

Quarterback Aidan Crawford completed 17 of his 29 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns in the win, while Henderson finished with three touchdowns. Two-way standout Dominic Oliver had a 5-yard touchdown catch and two interceptions on defense.

“We played fast. We put the pressure on (Shadow Ridge),” Monticelli said. “They went up 7-0 early and we didn’t miss a beat after and put enough on them to keep them down.”

Calculators were needed to break a three-way tie between Basic, Faith Lutheran and Foothill for the No. 1 seed in the 5A Division II playoffs last season.

The calculators may come in handy again given how much parity exists in the division this year.

Thursday night lights

Most high school football teams will not have a normal schedule for the second straight week. All games will be played on Thursday next week because of the Yom Kippur holiday.

Most games were played Saturday this week because of Rosh Hashana.

The schedule change means most teams will get in just three days of practice before their next game.

That doesn’t give Arbor View much time to prepare for its matchup with Bishop Gorman. The Aggies (6-0, 3-0 5A Division I) beat Desert Pines 42-21 on Saturday, while the Gaels (5-1, 2-0) defeated Foothill 50-0.

Gorman hasn’t allowed a point in two games against local teams. That means Arbor View’s offense, which is scoring 40.2 points per game, will be tested.

“Our attention to detail has to be extremely important this week. That has to be the emphasis,” Arbor View coach Marlon Barnett said. “Not because of who we play, but because it’s a shortened week. We don’t buy into the hype and all the extra stuff. It’s us versus us, and that’s what we have to focus on.”

Up next

Green Valley will continue its pursuit of a league title when it hosts Shadow Ridge (4-3, 1-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday.

In 5A Division I, Desert Pines (2-5, 1-2) will host Liberty (1-5, 0-2), while Foothill (5-1, 1-1) will look to rebound at Basic (1-6, 0-3) in the “Battle for Boulder Highway.” Both games are at 6 p.m. Thursday.

In the 5A Division III Southern League, Las Vegas High (5-2, 2-0) plays at Sunrise Mountain (0-7, 0-3). The Miners gave Durango a scare Saturday, but the Trailblazers prevailed 23-20 in overtime. Durango (6-2, 3-0) has a bye before facing off against Las Vegas in two weeks with the 5A Division III title on the line.

In the 3A Southern League, SLAM Academy (4-3, 3-0) faces another challenger when it plays at Virgin Valley (5-2, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.