hs football:

Braxton Harms rescues Green Valley from upset bid against Centennial

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Christopher DeVargas

Members of the Green Valley High School football team, from left, Chas Kopp, Braxton Harms, Eric Brown, Christian Mayberry, and AJ Barilla pose for a portrait at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day August 2, 2017, at the South Point.

Fri, Sep 1, 2017 (11:25 p.m.)

Prep Sports Now

Show up, ball out

Las Vegas Sun's Ray Brewer and Case Keefer toast all the area teams who defeated out of state competition in week 1, and look forward to an almost-as-loaded week 2 schedule.

Green Valley senior Braxton Harms had hardly played any offense Friday night against visiting Centennial until the final minutes of the game.

That’s when Green Valley coach Brian Castro told the safety he needed him at running back.

“He’s so valuable on defense that we use him sparingly (on offense),” Castro said. “But we needed someone who could make some plays, and he’s just so dynamic.”

Harms led a game-winning drive for the Gators, which held off the upset-minded Bulldogs 24-21. He found the end zone on a 5-yard run with 11 seconds remaining to give Green Valley the victory, but that was only after notching two big conversions earlier on the drive.

Green Valley senior quarterback A.J. Barilla found Harms for long completions on both a fourth-and-5 and third-and-20 plays before the score. The Gators trailed for most of the night, but went up 17-14 when Noah Hawthorne scored his second of two rushing touchdowns in the third quarter.

Hawthorne’s pair of trips to the end zone erased a 14-3 hole that Green Valley fell into the start the second half when Atoa Pili-Eskeets returned a kickoff nearly 100 yards for a touchdown.

Centennial continued to move the ball more efficiently than it did in a shutout loss to Foothill last week, but Green Valley was able to answer late. The Gators improved to 2-0 with a second straight win where they came from behind.

“I wish they weren’t all like that,” Castro said. “I don’t know how many lives I have left, but I’m very proud of our kids.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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