Prep football state title game matchups, schedule at Allegiant Stadium set

You wouldn’t have known that Friday’s Bishop Gorman football game against Faith Lutheran was a playoff game given the energy and atmosphere from the sparse crowd that showed up to the Gaels’ home seats.

It was a night-and-day difference from when Gorman played St. John Bosco (California) in August in battle of then the top two teams in the country with a capacity crowd of more than 5,000 people, hardly any parking spots and a crowded sideline filled with media and fans.

Despite the lack of a big-game feel, with no band or student section, Gorman gave the small crowd plenty to cheer for in a 53-0 rout of Faith Lutheran in an Open Division state semifinal as the Gaels punched their ticket to the Open Division title game.

Gorman (10-1) will play Losee at 7 p.m. on Friday at Allegiant Stadium. Gorman is seeking its sixth straight title and 16th in the past 17 seasons.

“We probably have the biggest ebb and flow of crowd sizes,” Gorman coach Brent Browner said Friday night. “You get sold out, capacity game where it’s all crazy. Go travel somewhere, sold out. When you come back, it’s sold out for a little bit and then it does kind of die down a little bit.

“I’d love to have more people out in the stands, but we work every day on this field to play the game. (Our players) cheered themselves on if you look at the end, some guys made plays and the guys got excited for the guys that got in. It’s par for the course. We’ve been doing it for a couple years, but I think they understand the importance of the game.”

Title game schedule set

The Nevada high school football state championship matchups are set in all classifications. Allegiant Stadium will host four title games on Friday with Gorman and Losee (2-8) being the finale of a quadruple-header. It’s the sixth year Allegiant Stadium will host Nevada high school title games.

The other title games at Allegiant Stadium on Friday are:

Class 1A: Pahranagat Valley (10-2) vs. Tonopah (11-0), 9 a.m.

Class 3A: Spring Creek (11-2) vs. Churchill County (12-0), 12:20 p.m.

Class 5A: Bishop Manogue (7-5) vs. Faith Lutheran (6-5), 3:40 p.m.

“For the seniors that have done it for all these years, it’s a cool send of for them,” Browner said. “For the freshman that have never done it’s one of those things that’s the first time the big bright lights come on and your eyes get a little bit big.

“Having the Raiders here is special because this is something where if you’re a kid that aspires to go to the NFL … being able to play in the stadium in the bright lights, so you kind of picture yourself there (in the NFL) and we have some guys that have played in that stadium that are in the NFL. If you can see it, you can do it.”

Mater East reaches 4A final

In Reno on Saturday, Nov. 21, McQueen High will host the 4A and 2A state title games. Southern Region champion Mater East (9-3) will face Northern champion Galena (7-5) at 1:30 p.m. for the 4A title. The 2A is an all-Northern final between Coral Academy Reno (9-2) and Pershing County (11-0).

It’s the first football title game appearance for Mater East, a rising charter school on the East side led by Desert Pines High graduate and former UNLV football player Tim Hough, with many of his former Desert Pines and UNLV teammates on his staff.

“It’s great, not even just for the program or the people who are here, but the people who came to Mater before us,” Hough said Friday night after the Knights defeated rival Sloan Canyon 20-14 for the Southern Region title. “Especially when dealing with a lot of stuff. It’s a blessing.

“You’ve really got to put your head down and go work. At the end of the day you can get a lot of players, you can do everything, you can get the best coaches, but if everybody isn’t willing to work, nothing’s going to work.”

‘Awesome experience for our kids’

Some of the lack of excitement from Gorman’s playoff game, which was a rematch of a 45-3 win over Faith Lutheran in the regular season, could be a result of the departure of 30 5A/4A CCSD football teams from the NIAA to independent status.

Those 30 schools ended their football seasons on Oct. 23. That left seven total 5A (three) and 4A (four) football programs that were eligible for NIAA-sanctioned state titles and the creation of a unique format that put the loser of the Open Division state semifinal (Faith Lutheran) into the 5A state title game against the Northern champion.

But none of that really matters to the remaining kids and communities that get to play for a state championship and for the eight programs that will play in the home of the Raiders.

Spring Creek had a packed visitors section on Saturday, making the nearly seven-hour drive to Moapa Valley for a 3A state semifinal that the Spartans won 29-26. And they’ll get to make that drive again to play on the grandest football stage in Nevada.

“That’s awesome,” Spring Creek Hunter Thomsen said Saturday of playing in Allegiant Stadium. “It’s going to be an awesome experience for our kids. I’m super proud and excited that they get to experience that. I’m just super excited. It’s huge for our program. … They wanted it and I’m glad they get to experience and achieve this.”

Contact Alex Wright at [email protected]. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.

Southern Nevada high school football scores, schedule

Week 14 scores

Open Division state semifinal

No. 1 Bishop Gorman 53, No. 2 Faith Lutheran 0

4A Southern Region final

No. 1 Mater East 20, No. 2 Sloan Canyon 14

3A state semifinals

Churchill County 47, Pahrump Valley 14

Spring Creek 29, Moapa Valley 26

2A state semifinals

Coral Academy Reno 16, Lincoln County 12

Pershing County 52, Lake Mead Academy 17

1A state semifinals

No. 1S Tonopah 38, No. 2N Mineral County 6

No. 2S Pahranagat Valley 26, No. 1N Eureka 0

State championship game schedule

Friday, Nov. 20

At Allegiant Stadium

1A: Pahranagat Valley (10-2) vs. Tonopah (11-0), 9 a.m.

3A: Spring Creek (11-2) vs. Churchill County (12-0), 12:20 p.m.

5A: Bishop Manogue (7-5) vs. Faith Lutheran (6-5), 3:40 p.m.

Open Division: Losee (2-8) vs. Bishop Gorman (10-1), 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 21

At McQueen High in Reno

2A: Coral Academy Reno (9-2) vs. Pershing County (11-0), 10 a.m.

4A: Galena (7-5) vs. Mater East (9-3), 1:30 p.m.