NOTES: Mustangs scoring leader Aubrey Nellems sits out to stay faithful to Sabbath

When the schedule for Shadow Ridge’s football team came out, many of the Mustangs’ players circled the Sept. 30 game against rival Arbor View for motivation.

Aubrey Nellems did it because he knew he couldn’t play.

Nellems, who leads Shadow Ridge with six touchdowns this season, sat out last Friday’s 45-6 loss to Arbor View for religious reasons.

“We looked deeper into the calendar before the season starts so I know what I’m dealing with,” Nellems said this week. “It was something difficult to do. Of course you want to be on the field with your team and everything. But it was set in stone I’m not playing, so it was just a matter of being there for my team.”

Nellems is part of the Hebrew Israelite faith and said playing in Friday’s game would have been a violation of his sabbath. The religion bases the sabbath on the lunar calendar rather than the traditional Gregorian calendar.

Nellems said last week marked the end of lunar month and moved his day of rest from Thursday to Saturday. As a result, he said Friday was considered a “transition day.”

“Of course playing that day wouldn’t have been rest,” Nellems explained. “I miss practices every week, unfortunately. It’s something I have to do. With faith being over everything, I have never violated my sabbath day.”

Nellems scored three touchdowns in Shadow Ridge’s 28-21 win over Las Vegas on Sept. 23 and was voted Nevada Preps player of the week. In three games, he has rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries and has a team-best 105 yards and two TDs receiving to go along with a 97-yard kickoff return for a score.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 195-pound Nellems also is the Mustangs’ top linebacker and has started to draw interest from colleges, though his observance of the sabbath could preclude him from playing at the next level, according to Shadow Ridge coach Travis Foster.

“I feel grateful to have the opportunity to coach a kid like Aubrey because to have such a strong belief system, you have to respect it,” Foster said. “Every kid in the room thinks he’s going to every school possible, and somebody actually has the potential to and they say, ‘You know what, it’s not the most important thing,’ it’s pretty remarkable.

“Somebody’s going to get a heck of a football player in a couple of years. It’s just a matter of how they handle it from there.”

Nellems is expected to suit up Friday when the Mustangs (3-1, 0-1 Northwest League) host Cimarron-Memorial and said he does not expect to miss any more games this season while observing the sabbath.

“I have 100 percent support from my teammates,” Nellems said. “They’re just happy that I’m back; I’m happy that I’m back, because you never want to sit out a game. You always want to be with your brothers. I’m looking forward to the rest of our schedule.”

SANCHEZ TO COACH U.S.

Bishop Gorman football coach Kenny Sanchez was named coach of the U.S. Under-19 National Team that will compete against Team Canada in the first North American Championships on Jan. 28 in Orlando, Florida.

DRAGONS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS

Del Sol’s boys soccer team, off to an 8-0 start, is ranked No. 20 in this week’s USA Today/National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.

RECENT COMMITMENTS

■ Centennial senior Kyle Horton to College of Southern Nevada for baseball.

■ Centennial senior Darian Scott to Missouri State for men’s basketball.

■ Centennial senior Jayden Eggleston to Iona for women’s basketball.

■ Centennial seniors Megan Jefferson and Shyla Miller to Academy of Art University for women’s basketball.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ