Elijah Espinoza passes for 607 yards, 6 TDs in Las Vegas High’s rout

It is widely assumed that all roads to the Class 4A state football championship will go through Silverado High School.

But Las Vegas High might have earned the right to take an alternate route before heading down that treacherous path.

Sophomore quarterback Elijah Espinoza compiled video-game numbers, completing 32 of 37 passes for 607 yards and six touchdowns as Las Vegas routed host Durango 49-15 on Friday night in a battle of Mountain League pacesetters.

Giovanni Espinoza caught scoring throws of 57 and 12 yards from his younger brother, and Andrew Bowen scored on a 6-yard reception as the Wildcats (6-1, 3-0) raced to a 21-0 lead before piling on the points in the second half and easily turning back the Trailblazers (5-3, 2-1).

The victory gave Las Vegas sole command of first place in the Mountain and the inside track on lining up in the opposite bracket from top-ranked and undefeated Silverado in the playoffs.

“We’ll play anybody, anywhere, but it was good for us because we set goals at the beginning of the season, and part one of those goals is winning your conference,” Las Vegas coach Erick Capetillo said after his team won its sixth consecutive game. “You win your conference, you put yourself in good position in the playoffs.”

Capetillo raised an eyebrow after Elijah Espinoza’s numbers were totaled, but allowed it seemed like a long time before he threw his first incompletion.

“We dropped like nine passes last week (in a 14-0 win over Basic), which really put a sour taste in our offense’s mouth, and they went to work this week,” Capetillo said of the unit led by Elijah Espinoza and a bevy of sure-handed receivers. “He works hard, and he’s a great kid to be the leader of our offense.”

Elijah Espinoza threw for three more touchdowns in the second half, connecting with Mychael Walker from 2 and 50 yards and Tommy Vibabul from 55.

The Wildcats had three receivers top 100 yards in receptions, as Elijah Espinoza riddled the Trailblazers with short-, medium- and long-range pinpoint accuracy. Vibabul caught nine passes for 178 yards, Giovanni Espinoza six for 146 and Walker seven for 114.

“It goes to a little bit of both,” Capetillo said of Las Vegas’ pass-oriented game plan and Elijah Espinoza’s ability to execute it. “We knew they were a physical team, good D-lineman and linebackers that controlled the box real well, so we for sure wanted to spread them out a little bit and make them run.”

Durango scored on an untimed down at the end of the first half to pull within 21-7. Backup quarterback Tyler Paul found Micah Reyes from 5 yards after Las Vegas was called for pass interference in the end zone. The two later collaborated on a 75-yard scoring catch and run midway through the fourth quarter.

Paul, who started in place of injured Maverik Cormier (broken collarbone), completed 16 of 29 passes for 210 yards.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.