It’s still August, but after Friday there will be less than two months remaining in the high school football season for most teams, including the 30 independent Clark County High School programs.
The Week 3 slate features 35 games involving teams from Southern Nevada.
It’s a crucial time for teams as they enter the full swing of the season. They head into the week battling quality out-of-state and nonleague opponents to get ready for league play and a run at a state title or CCSD Superintendents Cup.
Here are three storylines to watch during Week 3 of the high school football season around Southern Nevada:
1. Palo Verde going for 3-0
Palo Verde’s football team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season after going 3-7 last year. Under first-year coach Dru Smith, only the third coach in the school’s history, Palo Verde could match last year’s win total this week.
The Panthers (2-0), ranked No. 10 in the Review-Journal’s Southern Nevada football rankings, host No. 9 Desert Oasis at 6 p.m. Friday.
“It’s a testament to them,” Smith said. “They’ve been grinding since January … and they’ve completely bought in and worked their butts off and they’re seeing the results of all the hard work.”
Smith said he wanted to test his team from the start. Palo Verde, which plays in Division II of the CCSD independent teams, pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Desert Pines (Division I) 34-18 on Aug. 14. The Panthers last week overcame a slow start to hold off Legacy 28-26 in a battle of two of the top teams in Division II.
“They don’t have any quit … no one ever batted an eye, they just kept grinding and believing,” Smith said. “Good things happen when teams think like that.”
Now comes another test with Desert Oasis, which is in Division I. The Panthers have one of the top receivers in the area with X’Zavier McZeal (nine catches, 271 receiving yards and four touchdowns in two games), who will be a difference maker on Friday alongside linebacker Christian Bell, two-way athlete Beau Gardineer and the quarterback duo of Dillon Carroll and Cooper Roberts.
2. North vs. South battles
A few Southern Nevada teams will continue the growing trend of the last few years of playing teams from Northern Nevada. The top game will feature Foothill playing at defending 5A state champion Spanish Springs at 7 p.m. Friday.
The two teams were at the center of the wild HRM football playoff controversy last year. Foothill, after multiple adjustments to the initial playoff bracket, was placed into the four-team Open Division state tournament, where the Falcons lost to Bishop Gorman 56-6.
Meanwhile, Spanish Springs went 13-0 and won the 5A state title. Spanish Springs was considered to be the fourth-best 5A team in the state, but 5A Northern Nevada schools elected to not participate in the Open Division during the realignment cycle after the 2024 season.
“We’re excited about it,” Foothill coach Vernon Brown said. “We ended up being in the Open Division. We felt we had a shot at it to try and get to the (5A state) championship game. This year was an opportunity to play them to see where we are as a program. They’re a top-notch program, so this trip is going to be very good for us.”
Foothill quarterback Ryder Dobbs threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns as the Falcons defeated rival Basic 42-8 last week. Spanish Springs appears to have reloaded after losing several starters from last year’s team, with the Cougars rolling to a 35-7 win last Saturday over Carson.
“Special teams is going to be a key for us (against Spanish Springs) and defensively, we’re looking to be a bit more physical,” Brown said. “Last week, we were kind of bend, but don’t break. We had some key stops, but when you’re playing a team like Spanish Springs, you need to be hitting on all cylinders.”
Two other North vs. South battles will take place in Las Vegas on Friday. Legacy hosts Reed and Losee welcomes Douglas. Both games are at 7 p.m. Friday.
Legacy senior running back Cameron Turner rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns in the Longhorns’ nail-biting loss to Palo Verde. Reed lost to defending 3A state champion Churchill County 14-13 last week. Losee lost a close game to Barstow (California) 19-16 last week, while Clark outlasted Douglas 39-35 up North.
3. Out-of-state teams opponents
The biggest game on the Week 3 slate is Bishop Gorman taking on Columbus (Florida) on Saturday, but it’s expected that the Gaels will play out-of-state teams. Even with the CCSD teams’ move to independent status, several teams are still playing quality out-of-state opponents.
Two of the top contenders for the Superintendents Cup in Division I – Centennial and Liberty – host out-of-state opponents. Centennial faces Burbank (California) at 7 p.m. Friday and Liberty faces Tafuna (American Samoa) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Las Vegas High will play at Mountain View, MaxPreps’ eighth-ranked team in its Arizona state rankings, at 6 p.m. Friday, and Shadow Ridge plays at Simi Valley at 7 p.m. Friday.
Centennial is coming off a 52-49 shootout loss to Cathedral Catholic (California), where quarterback Blake Nadler threw for 400 yards and seven touchdowns and Minnesota commit Jayden Thomas had 13 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Liberty had a bye, but last played on Aug. 14 at Mililani (Hawaii), where the Patriots led 24-14 at halftime before falling 31-24.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Southern Nevada high school football Week 3 schedule
Week 3 schedule
All games at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted
Friday
Desert Oasis at Palo Verde, 6 p.m.
Muir (California) at Sloan Canyon, 6 p.m.
Las Vegas High at Mountain View (Arizona), 6 p.m.
Spring Valley at Bonanza, 6 p.m.
Cimarron-Memorial at Silverado, 6 p.m.
Pahrump Valley at Durango, 6 p.m.
Valley at Rancho, 6 p.m.
Western at Chaparral, 6 p.m.
Tafuna (American Samoa) at Liberty
Canyon Springs at Coronado
Burbank (California) at Centennial
Foothill at Spanish Springs
Faith Lutheran at Valor Christian (Colorado)
Desert Pines at Cheyenne
Shadow Ridge at Simi Valley (California)
Reed at Legacy
Sierra Vista at Basic
Victor Valley (California) at Mater East
Mojave at Moapa Valley
Valley View (California) vs. SLAM! Nevada at Bishop Gorman
Clark at Virgin Valley
Douglas at Losee
Eldorado at Boulder City
CIVICA Academy at Shadow Ridge (Arizona)
GV Christian at The Meadows
Lincoln County at Cadence
American Leadership Academy at White Pine
Pahranagat Valley at Eureka
Spring Mountain at Laughlin
Sandy Valley at Beaver Dam
Pyramid Lake at Indian Springs
Round Mountain at Tonopah
Saturday
Bishop Gorman at Columbus (Florida), 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas HS
Monument Valley (Arizona) vs. Needles, noon at Northern Arizona University
Providence (Utah) at Lake Mead Academy
