Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The start of Bishop Gorman High School’s football dynasty wasn’t as glamorous as you’d expect from the national power with seemingly unlimited resources.
The Gaels on this November day in 2007 were practicing at a public park near their new campus in Summerlin. There were no lines on the field, goal posts, matching practice gear or a locker room outfitted with the latest weights and workout machines.
“There wasn’t even water,” coach Brett Browner says. “It was like a Pop Warner practice with parents bringing water for the players.”
A few days later, Gorman would play its first game at Fertitta Field, winning a classic matchup against Palo Verde on the way to the state championship. The late-game rally, including a Dylan Barrera-to-Kamana Kaimikaua touchdown pass with 23 seconds left for the victory, set the stage for what’s become one of the greatest dynasties in all of high school sports.
Gorman at 7 p.m. today takes on Arbor View in the Class 5A, Division-I state championship game looking to win its fourth consecutive state title.
The Gaels have won 14 of the past 16 state championships, going from competing for a Nevada crown to becoming a national brand. They have been voted national champions four times since 2014 and are ranked in the top 5 this season.
“A lot of people take a lot of pride in this program, especially the players and especially our seniors,” said Browner, who was an assistant in 2007 and elevated in 2020 to head coach. “We always tell (the seniors), ‘You are in charge of everybody else. You are continuing the standard. People don’t realize, the standard was put in place by the players — not coaches. They take pride in continuing it.”
Laying a foundation
Browner remembers talking to a friend in Atlanta after joining the Gorman staff. It was in the mid-to-late 2000s, when Gorman was still very much an unknown.
“He was (saying), ‘That’s where DeMarco Murray and Ryan Reynolds played, right?’ ” Browner recalled.
Quarterbacks Tate Martell and Micah Alejado, who were national players of the year in leading Gorman to mythical national titles, certainly deserve consideration as the top players in program history.
But if it weren’t for Murray and Reynolds choosing to attend Gorman — and developing there — on the way to playing at Oklahoma, the Gaels might not have a dynasty.
Murray, who eventually played in the NFL, became the standard of Gorman football. And yet, having a handful of college recruits wasn’t enough.
In 2008, Palo Verde — still the top team in Las Vegas — had its way with Gorman in a convincing five-touchdown victory. Even worse: Gorman was undisciplined and unprepared, especially in defending the run.
That led school officials to part ways with coach Bob Altshuler, who posted a 26-2 record and won the 2007 state championship.
They hit a home run with their next hire, bringing in Tony Sanchez from Northern California to kick-start the dynasty. Sanchez had a hand in growing the infrastructure for the program, including helping design the multimillion-dollar practice facility, and turned out to be the perfect person to market the school.
As the program saw its stock rise in the national rankings, it was thrust into the spotlight and became a known commodity. Observers either admired what was built or complained that other Nevada teams couldn’t compete.
Sanchez’s last team at Gorman had plenty of notables: Nicco Fertitta, son of the Station Casinos and then UFC owner; Biaggio Ali Walsh, grandson of boxing great Muhammad Ali; Cordell Broadus, Snoop Dogg’s son; and Martell, the nation’s top recruit who brought camera crews for a reality show.
Many who didn’t know of Gorman before the season certainly knew of it after. Sanchez, especially after those televised games, would frequently hear from players looking to join the program.
Sanchez left for a college job after six seasons and an 85-5 record. He left behind what has become one of the all-time notable dynasties in prep football.
Bishop Gorman students attend a game against Mater Dei at Bishop Gorman High School Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.
Out-of-state foes
Gorman in the mid-2000s started mixing in games against out-of-state opponents. It won a home-and-home series against Battle Ground of Washington state, and lost a game against Colton High of California.
Challenging a team in Texas in 2006 turned out to be the most meaningful because program leaders were able to see big-time high school football in person. Gorman lost 56-14 to Gilmore, Texas, in a packed prep stadium.
Browner says Gorman dressed 46 players for the game; Gilmore, it felt like, had 110, he recalled.
“That’s kind of the first piece of it,” Browner said of the Texas trip. “Then, you move here to this facility — the first time that Gorman ever had a stadium on campus — and now all of a sudden we are playing for the state championship for the next 20 years.”
Within a few seasons, Gorman’s nonleague schedule was exclusively contested against national opponents, playing in every time zone and developing a program that was game-tested against the best.
Initially, games were played against elite out-of-town competition to get the program ready for the Nevada playoffs. That schedule philosophy blossomed into a way of life in the fight to win a national title, with television matchmakers pitting them against other ranked teams and airing the games on ESPN.
At one point, Gorman’s season featured more games on ESPN than UNLV.
And, often, the games are national news.
In 2014, Gorman beat St. John Bosco of California on ESPN in the de facto national championship game. It was standing room-only that day at Gorman, with tickets selling out during the week.
Games against Mater Dei — Gorman’s nemesis and annually among the nation’s best teams — are also standing room-only. Gorman lost at Mater Dei earlier this season in a game that received more hype and publicity than many college games because it pitted two of the nation’s best teams.
Traveling throughout the country, Browner is constantly approached in airports by well-wishers. They recognize the “G” logo on his apparel. He’s humbled that the high school program he leads is known across the country.
“When you show up with that G on your chest, that brand, that G is noted. People know who that is,” he said.
If Gorman was still located at its original campus on Maryland Parkway near downtown, none of this would have happened.
Gorman had a small patch of grass in a recreation area for practice and played games on Saturdays at Valley High School.
For big games, such as homecoming, the Gaels rented out Sam Boyd Stadium. In 2006, Gorman lost its last regular-season game to a local opponent when Spring Valley beat the Gaels 28-14 at Sam Boyd. They also were defeated by Cheyenne in the playoffs that year.
Additionally, many Las Vegas families had left the center of town for homes in suburban neighborhoods and Summerlin and Henderson, not willing to commute into downtown.
The new Summerlin campus changed everything, paving for a spike in enrollment that has translated to athletic dominance in most sports.
The football team is housed in a facility that mirrors what’s seen in a small college program. In addition to the stadium, the training center — complete with weight training equipment, meeting rooms, physical therapy rooms and more — gives the program an edge. It was a multimillion-dollar project.
Today’s game
If anyone can score with Gorman, it’s Arbor View.
The Aggies have five Division I recruits on offense, including sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Thatcher and wide receiver Damani Warren. Warren has scholarship offers from Southeastern Conference powers Alabama, Georgia, LSU and others.
“We have to put pressure on their quarterback so our teammates can make plays,” senior linebacker Landon McComber said.
In the initial meeting of the season, Arbor View was limited to 11 rushing yards in a 49-14 defeat. Yet, Gorman isn’t overlooking its opponent. Thatcher is one of the state’s top quarterbacks and Arbor View played hard in the regular-season meeting, McComber said.
“Every team we play is going to give it their all,” be said. “And we are going to give it our all. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You give your best; we’ll give it ours, and let’s go play. We expect a great game.”
McComber’s brother was part of a state title team in 2023. He remembers watching from the bleachers and envisioning being on the field hoisting the state trophy in celebration.
Gorman has won plenty of championships in its run, but for many players this could be their first. And for others, this could be their last game in helping extend the dynasty.
The message, McComber says, to a younger generation is nonverbal. It’s how the Gaels play today that will leave the legacy.
“Our legacy is having that brotherhood,” he said. “Go out and play hard for your brother and he will do the same. That helps us stand out.”