Members of the Silverado High football team look at the scoreboard tonight and saw something unfamiliar: a close contest.
The defending state champions Skyhawks entered tonight’s class 4A state semifinals having only surrendered 23 points in 10 games on the season. But against Coronado, it only led 28-17.
But Silverado closed the game with 29 unanswered points in a 57-17 victory to earn a return trip to the state championship game. The Skyhawks will play Shadow Ridge for the title.
“We made some mistakes in the first half and Coronado caught us with some things,” Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza said.
Ultimately, Silverado had the best player on the field in UCLA commit Donavyn Pellot, who rushed for five touchdowns.
Pellot, Caden Harris and Marcus Council combined for 350 yards rushing. Harris had a pair of rushing scores and quarterback Brandon Tunell also rushed for a score.
When Ostolaza broke into the coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Cimarron-Memorial in the late 1990s, the Spartans played in consecutive state championship games. Now, his Skyhawks are making a return trip.
“That’s not easy to do, especially with the dynamics of how things have been in Las Vegas,” he said, eluding to Bishop Gorman’s dominance in the large-school classification.