Pahranagat Valley seniors Preston Higbee and Reece Thornton were given honorable mentions in the NevadaPreps All Southern Nevada football team for 2019.
Higbee and Thornton helped the Panthers (13-0, a state record 21st in school history) reclaim the 1A state football title with a 28-14 win over defending champion Spring Mountain.
As usual, 98 percent of the players came from Las Vegas area teams, but senior Mason Thornock of Lincoln County was placed on the second team and Lincoln’s Cody Zile was given an honorable mention.
Thornock and Zile led Lincoln County to the 2A state finals but the Lynx lost to Yerington 33-22.
Thornock rushed for 1,339 yards and 18 touchdowns, caught four touchdown passes and threw one.
Zile, a junior, was credited with 929 yards passing for the Lynx, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.
For the season, Higbee had 1,406 yards passing, 25 touchdowns and one interception. As a runner, he rushed 91 times for 799 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Thornton, the Panthers’ Mr. Inside, rushed 105 times for 1,088 yards and 18 touchdowns. He and Spring Mountain’s Masiah Pagota were the only two players from 1A teams to have over 1,000 yards rushing.
Pahranagat’s John Hansen, Mr. Outside, the other senior in the Panthers’ three-man power backfield, ran the ball 91 times for 777 yards and 11 touchdowns.
