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Expect the Aggies, Panthers to lean on ground

High school football players generally don’t love practice. But with the season winding down, even the practice haters are starting to fight for the right to keep running drills.

“You really have to cherish each moment,” Palo Verde senior safety Graeson Vereen said. “Even though you hate practices, you really have to like it. Because you never know. Each week it could be over. You really have to cherish the moment and know that it can all be over. So when you get on the field you’ve really got to give it your all and leave it all on the field and not have any regrets.”

Vereen and his teammates battle for another week of practice when they travel to face undefeated Arbor View in the Sunset Region semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday.

The similarities will be obvious when the teams hit the field. Both run the double wing, though Palo Verde (7-3) mixes in some pistol formations with its offense. If there are more than a dozen pass attempts in the game, it will be an upset.

“They run it just a little bit different than we do,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. “It’s going to be one of those things that the team that comes out and plays real physical and takes care of the ball” will have the advantage.

Palo Verde senior linebacker/running back Jaren Campbell said facing another double-wing team has helped the defense prepare this week. And he thinks the few wrinkles the Panthers sprinkle into the double wing will give them the advantage.

“I feel like it’s a good thing for us, because we know how to stop it,” Campbell said. “And I feel like we can execute what we have to do more. We know what’s coming. … We have more to it, and we know how to stop what we originally started.”

Campbell leads the Panthers with 72 tackles and doubles as the team’s leading rusher with 829 yards and 12 TDs. He and the Panthers are coming off their best offensive game, a 42-12 win over Cimarron-Memorial that saw Palo Verde rack up a season-high 470 yards. Campbell rushed for a season-best 173 yards to help the Panthers run for 432 yards, their second 400-yard rushing game of the season.

Palo Verde has topped 300 rushing yards in four of its last six games.

“We weren’t all together in the beginning of the season,” said junior linebacker/fullback Chauntez Thomas, who is second on the team with 57 tackles. “The chemistry wasn’t there. Going on throughout the whole season we’ve grown really, really well together. That’s how we’ve won so many games.”

Arbor View (10-0) averages 327.4 rushing yards per game. Senior Herman Gray leads the way with an area-best 1,510 yards. He’s scored 20 touchdowns. Speedy Charles Louch is second on the team with 572 yards and seven TDs.

Vereen said containing Arbor View’s outside runs will be key.

“Their sweep plays, their outside plays — they’re really good on that with their (offensive) linemen pulling,” Vereen said. “And they’ve got some good linemen over there. We’re just going to have to focus on really getting on those backs, because they’re speedy backs. (Gray) had a really good season, so we just really have to contain them, because that’s what they really excel at.”

And Campbell thinks he knows the key for both teams.

“The most physical team wins,” Campbell said. “The lowest man wins, so we’ve just got to be more hard-nosed than them and get the job done.”

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.

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