It’s finally time for high school football teams around Southern Nevada to get in full pads.
Saturday marked the first official day teams could conduct full-contact practices, wrapping up the first official week of fall camps.
A handful of teams took advantage of the first day of full-padded practices to gear up for the start of the season on Aug. 14. Next week, teams can scrimmage one another, with most scrimmages taking place on Friday.
Teams spent the first part of the week in helmets only for two days of heat acclimation and the rest of the week in helmets and shells for three non-contact practices.
“The toughest three days of the whole process is when we transition from helmets to shells, but we still have to be non-contact because once they put those shoulder pads on and they got the helmet on,” said Desert Oasis coach Matt Rosdahl, who gave his team Saturday off and will have its first full contact practice on Monday.
“They want to go….. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week is always the hardest three days because it’s almost like you got to hold them back. You got to rein them in.”
The other obstacle that teams have needed to navigate this summer is the heat. On Saturday, the temperature surpassed 100 degrees by 9 a.m., and the high temperature reached 115. Teams that practiced on Saturday went early in the morning or later in the evening to avoid the heat.
“We’re just trying to get through the weather,” said Foothill coach Vernon Brown, whose team practiced on Saturday. “That’s the biggest hurdle right now, this time of year, especially the times that we practice. … (Sometimes) you can’t get everything that you want to get done on the field. However, you can just adjust and you can go in a weight room. You can go in the gym and do walkthroughs, or a lot of times we’ll do chalk talk in our classroom.”
‘Make some decisions’
With practices getting closer to game-like conditions, coaches are getting a better understanding of the depth they will have. Teams go nearly year-round with winter workouts, spring ball, summer workouts and other 7-on-7 team events or college camps, but the final varsity spots for teams will be determined in the coming days for many schools.
“We got a lot of depth, so we’re trying to make some decisions on who’s going to be varsity guys, who’s going to be (junior varsity) guys,” Coronado coach Shawn Dupris said. “Looking forward to this week of being able to go full pads and letting that work itself out with the physicality portion of it. Summer is always tough because you like guys, but you’re not too sure how they’re going to react with pads on for the younger guys if they’re varsity ready or not varsity ready.”
Other teams are working with adjustments to their coaching staffs. Rosdahl is in his fourth season coaching Desert Oasis, and has taken over the offensive coordinator duties himself after Brandon Harton left to take the Green Valley head-coaching position. The Diamondbacks also have a new quarterback, Preston Helsham, who Rosdahl believed was one of the best backup quarterbacks in the city.
“Our offense is improving every day,” said Rosdahl, who added there was an adjustment period with the new offensive coordinator. “We’ve got some really good skill players. … As long as we get the o-line kind of up to par — They’re big, they’re just not super experienced at this point. Luckily, I can’t imagine that there are too many defensive lines better than what we have, and so they’re tested every day.”
Foothill last year qualified for the four-team Open Division state tournament, and the Falcons were one of two local teams to score on Bishop Gorman in 2025 in a 56-6 loss in the state semifinals. The Falcons return many of their offensive skill position players, led by quarterback Ryder Dobbs.
“Our performance against Bishop Gorman in the playoffs was something we can hold our heads high,” Brown said. “We got a little confidence going into the season. Not overconfident, but we’re confident in our abilities, and a lot of that has been our leadership.”
Gearing up for scrimmages
Centennial and Liberty will scrimmage on Friday. Bulldogs coach D.J. Campbell said the scrimmage will mirror more of an NFL joint practice as his team gets a look at one of the top programs in the state.
“We’re trying to get better and what better way to do that than against one of the top teams in the state,” Campbell said. “The goal is to get better, especially going against great competition. They have big-time guys (at Liberty). We have some big-time recruits too, so it’s a good litmus test to see where we really are and where we can go from there.”
Desert Oasis faces Green Valley in a scrimmage on Friday in preparation for the Diamondbacks’ Week 1 game against rival Sierra Vista in the “Bell Game” on Aug. 14.
“You want to emerge (from the scrimmage) healthy,” Rosdahl said. “You want to make sure that all of the systems and stuff are working, and that’s like across the board, like play calling and communication on the field, all the way to your end zone camera and the communication from the box.
“It’s a test run. … we’ve got some spots where we got some people competing for starting positions and playing time and so that scrimmage is kind of that last chance for them to show out and kind of make a determination where they’re going to be.”
Coronado faces Legacy, and Foothill will play Canyon Springs in scrimmages on Friday. Coronado takes on Centennial in Week 1, and Foothill will host Henderson rival Green Valley on Aug. 14.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
