Big plays by Bullock help lift Las Vegas

The state’s oldest football rivalry doesn’t date to the days of the wild, wild West. But Friday’s Bone Game between Las Vegas High and Rancho produced a shootout worthy of that era.

Reggie Bullock scored four touchdowns as the Wildcats claimed a 63-42 road victory in Northeast League play Friday night.

“That was an arena football game right there,” Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. “It was whoever could score the most.”

That turned out to be Las Vegas (7-1, 4-0), which rode the momentum of a 49-26 halftime lead to win the annual Bone Game. The win gave the Wildcats the edge in the all-time series at 26-25-1.

“We were just real excited about coming into this Bone Game because it was a tied streak, and we just wanted to break it,” Bullock said. “We just came out hard. We’ve just been ready for it the whole week, and we’re just excited we came out with the win.”

The track meet started in the first quarter, as the teams traded scores before a big play by Bullock gave Las Vegas the momentum.
Bullock’s 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown broke a 14-14 tie, and the Wildcats didn’t trail again.

“Coach has been telling us about special teams, and we finally came out with a kick return,” Bullock said. “We should get them all the time, but we finally came out with one on a big play.”

That was one of several big plays for Bullock, who outdueled the dynamic duo of quarterback James Cammack and receiver Dijon Holman for Rancho (4-4, 3-1).

Bullock added TD runs of 46, 13 and 49 yards. He finished with 156 rushing yards on just 11 carries and totaled 348 all-purpose yards.

“I just want to score every time I get the ball, and thanks to my line, I do what I do,” Bullock said.

Cammack passed for 377 yards and five touchdowns. He also scored on a 1-yard run. Holman was his favorite target, hauling in 15 passes for 221 yards and three scores.

Las Vegas seemed to have Cammack surrounded in the backfield most of the night, but the cat-quick senior escaped the pressure time after time and turned in big plays.

“That Cammack kid is just phenomenal,” Faircloth said. “I don’t know how many tackles he broke tonight, but he’s just a phenomenal football player.”

Holman was suffering from cramps from the second quarter on but still made big catches in the second half, including a 38-yard TD catch from Cammack that cut the Las Vegas lead to 56-42 with 7:44 to play.

But a 25-yard punt return by Bullock helped set up a 37-yard touchdown pass from Emir Lopez to Aaron Franklin to seal the victory.

“Offensively and special teams, that’s the one part that we turned it on tonight,” Faircloth said. “And fortunately we did, because it carried us. If we just had to count on the defensive side of the ball tonight, we would have been in a lot of trouble.”