Viva Las Vegas for Arroyo football, who hope to do well at passing tournament at UNLV

"It's a great team-building thing," Arroyo coach Jim Singiser said.

"The kids have a blast. And anytime you get on the field, everybody is competitive. Nobody wants to go out there and lay down."

With quarterback Steven Rivera at the helm, the Knights have a strong chance to give another good account of themselves, but Arroyo is replacing its leading rusher and receiver from last season.

"It will be the second time we've thrown since November with the group we have out there now," Singiser said. "We threw at San Gabriel a few times, but that was with the guys we had in the weight room.

"I know we've got a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. You take everything in passing league with a grain of salt. We have some guys who are really going to surprise people. If anybody is expecting us to fall off because of the guys we lost, they might be in for a little surprise."

Singiser and some of his staff left for Vegas on Thursday. The players will ride up Saturday morning in two vans. They'll begin competition at 2 p.m. and won't be done, possibly, until late in the evening, depending on how long they last. The team will then head straight back to Los Angeles following the conclusion of Saturday's games.

"I'm not staying in Vegas with 25 high school kids; you're out of your mind," Singiser said.

"We stop off at state line, take them to a buffet and go home. We knock it out in one day."