High school football coaches see improvement in spring season

The Meadows football coach Jack Concannon doesn’t want to make too much of his team’s game against White Pine on Friday night.

Sure, the Mustangs would claim the Class 2A Southern Region championship with a win, but that’s not what has been most important to Concannon this spring.

“The opportunity to win four consecutive 11-man football games is unreal,” Concannon said. “Whether we want to call it a championship game or not doesn’t matter. It’s a chance to win, and more important for us is to come together and continue to improve.”

Improvement has been the central theme for most coaches whose football teams played this spring, a six-week season that concludes Friday.

After a loss to Class 3A SLAM! Nevada in the opener, the Mustangs beat Calvary Chapel, Lake Mead and Lincoln County to put them in position to sweep through the 2A South teams that played this spring. Democracy Prep, Laughlin and Needles did not field teams.

The Meadows’ rise, which Concannon said has created a buzz at the school, has been particularly impressive this spring considering it played as an independent eight-man team the past two seasons because of low numbers.

“Part of our experience, we’re one football team,” Concannon said of not having freshman or junior varsity teams. “Kids would come in as freshmen and have to play against 18-year-olds and say they don’t want to do it anymore. We’ve had a couple great admissions groups of football players, and we now have 25 or 26 players.”

Even better for the Mustangs, only three of them are seniors, which should put them on solid footing this fall.

The two Class 5A teams that played this spring — Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran — used their time to learn more about their squads.

Bishop Gorman coach Brent Browner was an assistant before being elevated to head coach, so he had a good idea of the Gaels’ personnel. But they installed new offensive and defensive systems, and the spring gave them more time to get those solidified.

Gorman played only two games, but it cruised to wins over SLAM! Nevada and Faith Lutheran by a combined total of 94-0.

“We didn’t get as much as we wanted because we only played two games, but we’re glad to have gotten what we did,” Browner said. “We learned a lot about our young players, so we could see what the future holds. It would have been difficult to install a new offense and defense in the fall, so we took advantage of the extra time.”

Faith Lutheran coach Mike Sanford said the time was valuable for him, especially since he’s new to high school football in the valley.

“We found out a lot of what we need to improve on, do more of and do less of,” Sanford said. “There were a lot of things that will help us organizationally.”

The Crusaders will play their final game against SLAM! Nevada on Friday. They beat 3A foes Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley before their 43-0 loss to Gorman two weeks ago.

“I would say that was a really good game for us,” Sanford said. “It was a very difficult game with a tough outcome, definitely not what we expected or had in mind, but I think it was good for us to have a barometer of where we want to go and what we want to be.”

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.