Healthy Jaguars back in business

Coming off a seven-win season with most of its starters returning, Desert Pines’ football team faced high expectations in August.

But mounting injuries and a rugged schedule led to losses early in the season, as the Jaguars started 1-4.

Finally healthy, Desert Pines (5-5) hopes to prove those early expectations were warranted when it plays at sixth-ranked Del Sol (8-1) in the first round of the Sunrise Region playoffs at 6 tonight.

"To me, 5-5 doesn’t mean a thing compared to what I know our team can do," Jaguars coach Paul Bennett said.

The biggest key for Desert Pines’ hopes is a healthy Michael Ball. Ball, who committed to UNR before the season, injured his right ankle in the season opener and hasn’t had much impact this season.

He’s touched the ball in just six games, and only twice has he carried the ball 15 times. But he’s coming off a 13-carry, 151-yard effort last week against Valley that brought back memories of the last two seasons, when Ball rushed for a total of 2,091 yards.

"We’ve got Mike back, and everything’s kind of falling into place," senior wide receiver/cornerback Josh Williams said. "The puzzle pieces are kind of falling into place now."

The teams met in a nonleague game two weeks ago, with Del Sol dominating, 35-7. But Desert Pines turned the ball over seven times in that game, and Ball didn’t play.

And Bennett pointed out that all of the teams that beat Desert Pines are going to make the playoffs. Those five squads have a combined record of 38-9.

"The five losses are to playoff-caliber teams, and we were in every game," Bennett said. "And (if) you have a healthy Michael Ball, I guarantee probably three or four of those games would have been different.

"Not that the rest of the kids didn’t do well, but Michael Ball is just a special talent, and everybody knows that."

While Desert Pines is getting healthy, the Dragons will be without a key player. Del Sol coach Preston Goroff said running back Bryan Grenier (894 yards, 12 touchdowns) probably will miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury.

Grenier missed the first meeting with Desert Pines because of a concussion he suffered the previous week. He came back last week against Liberty but injured his knee on his sixth touch of the game.

In his place, Jordan Molina and Earnest Hall will have to carry the load running behind Del Sol’s powerful offensive line.

Molina has topped 100 yards in consecutive weeks, and Hall has 236 yards on 48 carries in the last three games while helping to make up for Grenier’s loss.

"We feel like we’re pretty good up front, and we feel like we’ve got a bunch of guys that can get touches and do things with the ball," Goroff said. "They’re going to get their opportunities."

Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4587.