Bishop Gorman vs. Good Counsel, Santa Margarita vs. Brophy, double desert delight

LAS VEGAS - It's supposed to be an unseasonable cool 90 degrees at kickoff Friday for the national showdown between Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) and host Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.).

That's the same forecast the following night 300 miles due North at Phoenix College, where the nation's No. 4 team Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) travels to Arizona's top squad Brophy College Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.).

The weather is relief to most in these parts but not Bishop Gorman coach Tony Sanchez.

"Frankly, I wish it was 120," he said Wednesday.

The action figures to scorch on both fields for these cross-state desert showdowns.

Though some scoff at the idea of interstate play – the prep game should be local and give a community vibe, traditionalist say – Welch has a different take.

"What a marvelous gift," Welch said. "To bring two states together with all these gifted athletes and all this excitement to start the season on national television, is truly a blessing. We feel honored to play to play."

Sanchez feels the same way.

This is Gorman's sixth interstate game and third on national television. The challenges of travel – in this case Good Counsel had to fly 2,500 miles – or hosting and preparing for a national opponent so early can be steep, but well worth it.

"Sure, there are challenges but we're not about to look a gift horse in the mouth," he said. "These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, new experiences and it's fun. It's great for our community, our school, it's a win-win. We feel very fortunate."

He would have felt a little better had the weather cooperated.

He was only half kidding about the temperature rise, but then he's seeking any advantage against a Good Counsel team that boasts a reported 14 Division I players from its senior class.

Among them are Virginia-bound Brendan Marshall, a sleek 6-foot-5, 215-pound quarterback who can make every throw, and Clemson commit Dorian O'Daniel, a strong and fleet 6-2, 205-pound tailback.

And that's just the appetizer for this smorgasbord of talent that also includes blue chip cornerback/receiver Kendall Fuller and a linebacking core that features O'Daniel, Darien Carr, Reggie McGee and Marcel Ngachie – college players all.

"They're unbelievably athletic," Sanchez said. "Off the charts."

No one is crying Gorman or Sanchez a river.

The Gaels claim "only" about eight Division I seniors and have at least eight more roaming the lower classes, including one of the top junior running backs/strong safeties in the nation Nathan Starks and former NFL great Randall Cunningham's clone for a son who can't crack the starting lineup.

Randall Cunningham Jr., a 6-foot-5, 190-pound junior who high jumped 7-foot-2 as a sophomore – no kidding, can't beat out Anu Solomon, but there's no shame there.

The 6-1, 190-pound senior is a four-year starter, committed to Arizona and has thrown for more than 7,500 yards in his career with 104 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions.

The most impressive numbers of all, Sanchez said: "He's 43-3 as a starter."

Solomon will need to make good reads and decisions because Good Counsel will "blitz coming off the bus," Sanchez said. "They stunt on every play. Armwood (last year's season-opening opponent) was the best defense I've ever seen, but this one definitely compares and they have more schemes."

It took more than a little scheming and planning just to get the Santa Margarita and Brophy Prep game off the ground.

According to Welch, the showdown was originally scheduled as part of the Sollenberger Classic, was cancelled because of state-rule complications, but then got fixed. For more than two weeks in July, Welch was scrambling trying to find a 10th regular-season game.

"This one was dead in the water," he said. "Thanks to some very hard work from some very good people, this game rose from the ashes."

Many concessions and work was done on the part of Brophy Prep, which reconfigured its schedule and will now open its season with a seemingly unfathomable three games in 10 days.

The Broncos opened Wednesday with a 37-14 win over Mountain Ridge, will play Santa Margarita Saturday, then tackle Boulder Creek (Anthem, Ariz.) on Aug. 31.

"There certainly is some unknown involved but we are excited and looking forward to what is ahead of us," Brophy coach Scooter Molander told MaxPreps correspondent Jason Skoda last week. "We haven't done anything like this before, but it is not unprecedented."

But playing the nation's fourth-ranked team so early – No. 1 in one poll – is definitely uncharted territory for the Broncos.

Santa Margarita returns 15 starters – nine on offense – from a team that won the California State Division I Bowl championship. Among them is the lethal passing combination of dual-threat quarterback Johnny Stanton to Washington State-bound receiver River Cracraft.

Brophy Prep counters with perhaps an even more frightening passing duo of WSU-bound quarterback Tyler Bruggman to fleet and highly touted Devon Allen. The duo connected twice Wednesday on scoring plays of 64 and 70 yards.

This match-up alone personifies what figures to be a terrific matchup of evenly-matched, talented teams. Welch notes both teams have Division I tailbacks as well in Brophy's D'Amani Grayer and Marche Dennard and Santa Margarita's Ryan Wolpin.

"We're talking very entertaining," Welch said. "How rare and wonderful is it to have that much Division I talent on one field?"

On two high desert fields on two nights, extremely rare.

NOTES: Good Counsel left Maryland 6 a.m. Wednesday, flew into Las Vegas and was greeted with a giant lightning and rain storm. The team practiced at UNLV in the afternoon. … According to mocovox.com, it was the first flight for Good Counsel linebacker Leo Ekwoge. The rough weather and turbulence made it a rough one, but teammates helped. … Welch told Arizona Republic reporter Richard Obert that Allen, a 6-foot, 197-pound track and field star, is "the most talented wide receiver I've ever seen. If you watch his highlight tape, he could skip college and go to the NFL. Who in the NFL runs 13.5 (seconds) in the high hurdles and 36-second intermediate hurdles and 10.5 in the 100 meters? He is about as gifted and talented as anybody in America."

E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax. He'll gladly be covering both games this weekend for MaxPreps.