By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
Well it’s finally here. It’s football season again and the Pirates will start off by taking on the defending Arizona state champions: the Show Low high school Cougars.
Show Low is located in Show Low Arizona. There are roughly 790 students and a football tradition which has been very successful over the last decade. Their only league championship came in 2003, but they own three state titles 2003, 2007 and last year 2010.
The Cougars finished ranked 4th in the state. Their record last year was 12-1 with their only loss coming to the team they beat for the state championship and their arch rival Blue Ridge who was at that time the defending state champion. The win was sealed with an interception in the end zone.
Show Low had an offense which averaged 42 points a game and only allowed 18 on defense.
They have six returning starters on defense and five on offense including 2-time All American wide receiver, the 6’ 4”, 205 pound Josh Weeks who has committed to BYU.
Weeks had 73 receptions last season for 1561 yards and 20 touch downs. He is ranked fifth in the nation by the Maxpreps website.
Show Low has four of their five offensive linemen back and are boasting to have the best offense in team history. They are the top ranked team in the Arizona 3A.
The Pirates who lost all skilled position players from last year’s team will be looking to run the ball more this season than last. The line on both sides will have experience but the skilled positions will have very little Varsity time.
Moapa is ranked fifth in the Nevada 3A and is not getting much respect from the media as they are the heavy underdog in this match up. The game is at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale.
Game time is at 3:00 pm and will be followed by the Gorman/Chaparral game pitting the 10th and 24th ranked high school teams in the country.
A more in-depth preview of Moapa, their opponents and the 3A as well as the rest of the Pirates fall sports will be published in next week’s Moapa Valley Progress.
