The debate has raged on for years and it will likely to continue in the future. Private schools versus pubic schools.
Faith Lutheran, a private school in Las Vegas, won six state championships last year, including its first ever in football in Division I-A. When the state football championships take place this year, it will likely feature two private schools out of eight teams between the four divisions.
Division I-A and IV feature three public schools in Moapa Valley, Desert Pines and Pahranagat Valley (Alamo). Pahranagat Valley currently owns the longest win streak in the nation at 80 games. The Panthers will play Spring Mountain in the Division IV championship. Spring Mountain is basically the Rite of Passage in southern Nevada.
The Pershing County football team traveled to Las Vegas last Saturday to play The Meadows in a Division III state semifinals. Pershing County won the regular season match-up 8-0, but lost 20-6 this past weekend.
The Meadows is another private school and a pricy one. If you have a child or two and would like them to attend the school, open up the checkbook. It cost $21,000 a year to send a student to go to the school. If you have seen the campus, parents get what they pay for.
On the athletic side, Pershing County already beat The Meadows once and it was a competitive contest on Saturday. The Meadows have some decent size kids and have a good team. Pershing County had its chances to win the game and advance to the state championship.
The giant elephant in the room in Nevada high school athletics is Bishop Gorman. The Gaels are the No. 1 football team in the nation and are looking to win a sixth consecutive Division I state championship. Bishop Gorman has also been a power in boys basketball, baseball and girls basketball.
Compared to The Meadows its a bargain to attend Bishop Gorman - $17,000. However, the Gaels look for a different kind of athlete. Randall Cunningham, and ex-NFL quarterback, had is daughter and son attend the school. Currently Snoop Dog's son plays for the Bishop Gorman football team.
If you took a poll throughout Division I, I think it would be close to unanimous that coaches and athletic directors would tell Gorman bye-bye. The Gales still have a couple of weeks left and barring the upset of all upsets they should cruise to another title.
OK. Now we will start talking about where you can get your child in cheap. Faith Lutheran wants to become the next Bishop Gorman. You get the same thoughts on the Crusaders from Division I-A coaches and administrators like Gorman does in its league.
Hey - its a steal to go to Faith Lutheran at $10,500 a year. However, after building a multi-million dollar gym and weight room complex that might go up.
Faith Lutheran has won state championships in girls golf and volleyball this season. The Crusaders beat Sierra Vista in five sets for the volleyball title this past weekend. Sierra Vista beat Elko in five sets in the state semifinals. That tells me that Lowry could compete with Sierra Vista, a schools with more than 2,500 students. Could the Lady Bucks beat Sierra Vista? Yes. Could Lowry beat Faith Lutheran? Everybody is beatable, but it would take the perfect match.
If The Meadows, Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran is a little to expensive parents, here is an alternative plan. Since you are a cheapskate, we will only spend $6,500 a year to send your child to Mountain View Christian, also in Las Vegas. The school participates in Division III athletics. Come on now, spend that extra $15,000 to send your pride and joy to The Meadows.
As we get into Division IV, private schools are popping up as well. In the north you have Excel Christian (Sparks), Sage Ridge (Reno) and Sierra Lutheran (Carson City). Sierra Lutheran costs $7,700 if you are a member of church or $250 more if not a member. It costs $6,325 to send one child to Excel Christian. Private schools in the Division IV South includes Adelson, Liberty Baptist, Quest Prep and Word of Life.
In a perfect world, you could separate the public and private schools for postseason play, but that is not going to happen. There are not enough private schools to hold a state championship for them. Schools like The Meadows or Mountain View will not come close to competing with Gorman or Faith Lutheran.
From what it sounds like, the newest round of realignment will not do much to the Division III and IV schools. So, the likes of McDermitt, Battle Mountain and Pershing County will be playing these private schools.
The mess right now is what to do with Bishop Gorman, Faith Lutheran, Division I and Division I-A.
A couple weeks ago, Dave Wilson, who spearheaded the realignment in the south was in Winnemucca a couple of weeks ago to talk to Division I-A administrators.
Just my opinion, but get ready for a 10-team super conference in Las Vegas. This will probably happen with Gorman or without. After that league is created, teams will get moved around.
The Division I North will most likely stay unchanged. You could see a Wooster or Hug drop down ti Division I-A. Look for current teams in the Division I-A South to stay in that league such as Clark and Desert Pines. Those are magnet schools in Las Vegas, which means they can recruit any student that qualifies for those programs. The boys basketball teams have taken advantage of that process.
Faith Lutheran, who was protected from moving up in realignment due to its smaller size, will all but lose that luxury. Teams in Division I-A will likely say so long to the Crusaders.
A Division II or whatever you want to call it will be created. It will consist of the teams currently in the Division I-A North. The league will go back to its rural roots in a way with Moapa Valley, Boulder City, Virgin Valley and Pahrump Valley creating four of the teams in the south. An additional four-six of the worst of the worst (athletic wise) would also make up the league in the south.
All of these changes are dependent on the human vote. So, all of it, some of it, or none will happen. Hopefully, the realignment committee and the NIAA make the right choice in the next year.
Sports editor Tony Erquiaga can be reached via email at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
