Dave Maxwell:
Pahranagat’s Garrett Higbee lines up on the defensive line in a recent game. Pahranagat Valley plays host to Sandy Valley tonight. Next week’s game with Beatty is on Thursday, Oct. 27.
Only two schools in the over-a-century long history of high school football in the United States have ever had 100 consecutive wins or more, De LaSalle, (Concord, CA) 151, 1992-2003, and Independence (Charlotte, North Carolina) 109, 2000-2007. Both are large schools playing 11-man football.
Now, Pahranagat Valley in Alamo has become the third, and the first team playing 8-man football to do it, and they have had 22 shutouts during that time as well, including three this season alone.
People in all of Lincoln County can feel just a little bit prouder than they have already felt during the long winning streak, which is the longest active streak in the nation. The state of Nevada can be proud too, if they want to be.
However, the Panthers didn’t get to win this most special game on the field. It was a bit anti-climactic as they claimed a forfeit victory over Indian Springs, who entered the week 0-4 and coming off a lopsided loss Sept. 30 to the same team Pahranagat Valley beat 56-0 on Oct. 7. Officially, it goes down in the books as a 2-0 score.
What has made the Panthers the team they are has been a combination of talent, coaching and performance. Mostly it is coaching as led for the past 17 years by Ken Higbee and his staff. Opposing coaches have said, more than once, “Alamo may not have the best players on the field, but they execute everything so very well.” That goes back to coaching and fundamentals. Higbee often says, “When you do the little things right, good things happen.” And so they have now, 100 times in a row.
Therefore, looking ahead, Pahranagat Valley finishes out the regular season in October, the last two home games against Sandy Valley and Beatty, then heads into the NIAA state playoffs in November.
Another state title for the Panthers would be a record ninth consecutive, and record 20th championship, one more than the 19 titles by Reno High between 1924-2003. Pahranagat’s titles have all come since 1978.
The 2016 team is shaping up to be one of the more dominant editions. PVHS (7-0, 5-0 1A Southern) is averaging 47.6 points per game while allowing just 5.6.
Thus this team takes the memory, pride and joy of now being on the same shelf with some very special national company, and the first 8-man team ever to do it.
