By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School varsity football team comes back this year with an experienced and seasoned program. The team will have four offensive starters and five defensive starters returning from last season’s State runner up team.
The Pirates will be lead by 6′ 2″ and 200 lbs senior QB Kelan Wiess. As Wiess flows so will the offence. Last year during the regular season Wiess had 1506 passing yards and threw 18 touch downs and 7 interceptions. He completed 82 of 138 passes for 59%.
As far as targets for Weiss to throw to, Moapa is loaded with receivers. Last year Casen Lewis had 18 receptions for 167 yards and two touch downs. Hayden Cooper had seven receptions for 100 yards. Will Belcher had three receptions for 69 yards. Brandon Johnson, Jeff Hilton, Dakota Waters and Shane Terrell should also catch a few balls.
In the backfield Zack Waite, Riley Soloman, Hayden Waite, and Parker Chappell can all carry the ball well making the ground game a powerful complement to the air attack.
But just because the Pirates are loaded in the skilled positions shouldn’t cause a feeling of relief when we think about and compare this years team with the past four years. The challenge will be on the line of scrimmage where the coaching staff will have to concentrate on both sides of the ball and improve this part of the team. Without protection, without execution, without control of the line of scrimmage the offence will fail. The defense will leak like Virgin Valley’s did last year and a long, tough season will be the result.
The Pirates run the “off set I” and “spread” offence. The base Defense is four linemen and cover three or the “4-3”. Coach Jeff Keel is a master at defense. He has kids shifting and flying from everywhere requiring the opposition to have absolutely perfect execution and a little luck in order to be successful.
This year there are nine games in the regular season with one open date.
The first home game will be played this Friday night, August 27 at 7:00 p.m. August 27 against Desert Hills High School from St George Utah. The Thunder is coming off a 6-4 season and tasted their first win of the season last Friday vs. Emery High School 19-6. Their big win last season came in the final week of the regular season when they upset #1 Hurricane 27-20. But they were beaten by Wasatch in the first round of the Utah State Championship.
On September 3 the Pirates will travel to Hurricane Utah and face the Utah 3A State runner up. The Tigers have not lost to Moapa in over a decade including a 38-12 victory last year.
Hurricanes lost 32 seniors this year but have had one of the top programs in the state over the last three years. They are currently ranked #1 in the Utah 3A, #10 in the whole State. They are the state runner up for the past two seasons with their losses in the title games both in the hands of Juan Diego. The Tigers won their first game 17-14 over Sky Line last Friday night; a 5A School in Salt Lake City. They play Delta in Delta on Friday night.
On September 10 Moapa returns to Kanab which was 6-5 on the season last year. This was one of the worst seasons in years for the Cowboys. Last year the Cowboys beat Virgin Valley 35-23 and lost in the Utah State quarter final game to San Juan 13-7. Kanab lost last Friday to San Juan 28-0. They play at Virgin Valley Friday then North Sevier next Friday.
On September 16 the Pirates will return home to face the team they were given by the CCSD scheduler: Cheyenne’s J.V. team. When I saw this I again felt the lack of respect the 4A gives Moapa and the 3A. When you play 4A schools from Vegas, a scheduler makes the schedule for all schools in Vegas. The reason the 3A is playing JV teams, I was told was because Moapa, Virgin Valley, and Boulder City scheduled their own pre-season and no other 4A schools were available. So, the 3A teams were all given J.V. teams to play.
Virgin Valley will play Palo Verdes’ J.V. while Boulder City will play Durango’s J.V.
On September 24 Moapa has a bye. No games.
On October 1 the Gators of Green Valley visit Moapa. The Gators were 4-6 last year with a loss against Foothill 21-10. Moapa handily beat Foothill 45-13. Green Valley also lost to Bishop Gorman 58-0. Gorman was 4A state champion. The Gators lost to Del Sol 21-14 last year. Del sol was the State Runner up in the 4A. The Gators did beat Rancho 35-0 though, but so did Moapa at Rancho last season 39-7.
On October 8 Moapa will travel to Clark High School, the place where the Pirates won the 2007 State Championship over Virgin Valley. The Chargers were 5-5 last year. They beat Virgin Valley 20-15 last season, then beat Pahrump 19-7 and lost to Gorman 61-0.
On October 15 the Pirates travel to Silverado a 6-4 team last year.Silverado beat Foothill 40-15, lost to DelSol 27-7 and lost to Green Valley 23-17 last season.
The MVHS Homecoming game will be on October 22 against Boulder City. The Pirates beat Boulder 39-7 at Boulder last season in a game that the Pirates dominated from the kick off.Boulder’s record was 7-5 last year. They lost to Virgin Valley in the regular season 10-7. Two weeks later beat Virgin Valley in Mesquite on a two point conversion 15-14 to qualify for the State Semi Finals. The Eagles hadn’t won a playoff game in several years. Their reward, a trip to Truckee for the semi-final match up with the Wolverines. Truckee won 35-8 advancing to the title game.
This season the Eagle returns starters and are a young team. Bleu Huxford is the team leader on the line. Matt Combs (Sr.) and Thomas Shelley (Jr.) are battling for the starting quarterback spot. Top returners: C/DE Bleu Huxford (Sr.), CB/WR Jack LaMarca (Sr.), OT/DL Kyle Erickson (Sr.), RB/LB Frankie Badgely (Jr.), OG/DL Billy Rotroff (Jr.), NT James Morgan (Sr.), WR/LB Joe Woodbury (Sr.), OT Cameron Thompson (Sr.).
Boulder City Schedule: August 27 @ Basic; September 3 @ Mojave AZ; September 10, River Valley AZ; September 17, Canyon View Utah; September24 @ Foothill; October 1 @ Faith Lutheran; October 8 Virgin Valley; October 15 Bonanza; October 22 @ Moapa; October 28 Durango J.V .
October 28: mark it on the calendar! This is a Thursday night game due to Nevada Day weekend. The biggest rivalry in the State of Nevada will be renewed in Mesquite as the Pirates face the Dawgs in what Virgin Valley hopes is a revenge match.
Last year, the Pirates scored 52 unanswered points and coasted the 3rd and 4th quarters for the win. The Bulldogs didn’t make the State Playoffs for the first time in a decade. The Bulldog have some experience returning 21 from last years 3-7 team. Humberto Urias who lead the team as QB last season is battling Daniel Gleave for the starting position. Richard Vidal who had 629 yards rushing and 6 TD’s was a 1st team all Division tailback that will rely upon Robert Lilly and Matt Devore to lead the ground attack on the offensive line. The rest of the line weighs 260 pounds giving the Dawgs a solid line to work with. Top returning players: RB/LB Richard Vidal (Sr.), OT/DT Matt Devore (Sr.), OL/DT Blake Leavitt (Sr.), QB/DB Daniel Gleave (Sr.), QB/LB Humberto Urias (Jr.), CB/WR Brandon Cohen (Sr.)
Virgin Valley’s schedule is August 27, Kanab; September 3 Cedar City; September 10, @ Meadows; September 17, @ Pahrump; September 24, @ Mojave; October 1, Bye; October 8, @ Boulder City; October 15, Palo Verde J.V.; October 22, Coronado; October 28, Moapa.
November 5 League Playoff.
November 12 State Semi Final.
November 20 State Championship.
MVHS Football 2010 Schedule
Aug 27 7:00 PM Desert Hills (Utah)
Sep 03 6:00 PM @ Hurricane (Utah)
Sep 10 6:00 PM @ Kanab (Utah)
Sep 16 7:00 PM JV Cheyenne
Oct 01 7:00 PM Green Valley
Oct 08 7:00 PM @ Clark
Oct 15 7:00 PM @ Silverado
Oct 22 7:00 PM Boulder City *
Oct 28 7:00 PM @ Virgin Valley *
* denotes league game
