By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
How do you shake off the humbling loss that ended the season for the Moapa Valley High School Football team last year? Two words: hard work.
Last year, the Pirates were undefeated and rolling fast, like a well oiled machine, on the way to the state championship. Then all of a sudden the wheels came off the machine, and the Pirates were cut out of the state championship game for first time in eight years.
As the season unfolded last year it was looking like it was truly the year for the Pirates. The team had been in the shadow of Tahoe Truckee for the previous four years. But with Truckee’s dismal season last year, the Wolverines were taken out of contention early in the season.
Then came the Green Wave of Churchill County more commonly known as Fallon. The Wave took advantage of eight Pirate turnovers and came away with a ten point 34-24 win and a state title chance against Faith Lutheran in Reno. Of course, Faith Lutheran won and the rest is history.
But that brings us back to that same question: how do you shake that off? Moapa is in a position to help ease last year’s pain. They will be highly motivated, perhaps more than ever, for the state title.
With the beginning of the season being this Friday night, the team will play host to Spring Valley High School of Las Vegas. Spring Valley is one of three teams dropped from the Division I after last year.
The Pirates will return starting quarterback Zach Hymas who already has a scholarship offer from Weber State in Ogden, Utah. Last year Hymas threw for 1,812 yards, 25 touchdowns with 13 interceptions in 232 pass attempts. He completed 122 passes.
Moapa Valley wants to be even when it comes to the run and pass. They are known as a running team with an average of 211 yards rushing per game and 146 yards through the air last year.
The Pirates return two of four running backs from last year. These include Andrew Huerta with 432 yards and 5 touchdowns, and Kaleb Bodily with his 681 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Trystin Deal, a junior this year, will also get a chance to use his speed and get a few carries as the Pirates bolster several backs to run the ball.
Also returning is the Pirates third leading receiver from last year. Cole Mulcock caught 21 balls for 257 yards and one touchdown. On defense, Mulcock had 6 interceptions to lead the Pirates.
The secondary is going to be strong this year with Mulcock and R.J. Hubert to counter the opponent’s air attack. Hubert who came up from the JV for the playoffs last year will play an important role on offense as Coach Brent Lewis will look to use Hubert’s speed from different spots on the field. Hubert had the tenth fastest time in the 100 meters last year in the Division IA with a time of 11.23.
Beside the secondary, on the defensive side of the ball Moapa will continue to be strong. The Pirates will miss Justin Hughes as he graduated leaving a huge hole to fill. Huerta and Bodily will work as linebackers filling holes and stopping the run.
The Pirates will have to rebuild their lines, too, as they lost the likes of Mat McDermand, now at UNR. They are inexperienced on the lines but they have depth as there is not a real standout allowing a rotation of players to work in giving breaks and keeping players fresh on the line. That depth will be a strength the Pirates will have this year.
“We have depth and will have ten spots that we can rotate on both sides of the ball,” said Head Coach Brent Lewis. “The only spot that won’t rotate will be at quarterback. We may have fewer in numbers this year, but we have some depth.”
As far as teams to look out for Coach Lewis figures last year’s state champion Faith Lutheran is the top team. Sunrise Mountain should improve this year with new Head Coach Chris Sawyers bringing his spread offense to the athletes there.
“The league is going to be closer than in past seasons,” Lewis said. “It is getting tougher.”
Hurricane, Utah has been added back to the Pirates schedule this year. The Tigers won the Utah state title three years ago with an undefeated season of 13-0 and has been a contender including three consecutive state runner ups the three years before their title. Two years ago they finished 9-2. But last year they dropped to 2-10.
The Tigers started the season last week by hosting Skyline where they were beaten 24-14. They will travel to Moapa Valley next week for the Pirates second game and Hurricane’s third. The Tigers host Stansbury from Tooele, Utah this Friday night.
There was some excitement a couple weeks ago when Maxpreps came out with their Nevada state rankings. In those rankings, they had Moapa Valley as the 1# team in the Division IA. A week later Faith Lutheran took the top spot. Their rating had come out one tenth of a point higher than the Pirates.
Maxpreps rankings are based on the strength of schedule. It takes where a team finished last year and who they play. Computers then calculate the rankings. The tougher the team’s strength of schedule, the higher the ranking. If you play a team with a lower strength of schedule your ranking can drop.
In the end, these rankings are just opinions. They are just tools used to create more interest in the sport. Maxpreps is, after all, a CBS sports site.
Here’s the ranking for the top ten for the first week. Faith Lutheran, Moapa Valley, Mojave, Desert Pines, Fallon, Virgin Valley, Lowry, Clark, Fernley and Cheyenne.
Here’s the bottom five starting with the lowest and moving up. South Tahoe, Western, Truckee at 22nd, Sunrise Mountain and Chaparral.
The three new members of the Division IA and their rankings: Spring Valley 13th, Sierra Vista 18th and Del Sol 19th. Top team in the north is Fallon with Lowry, Fernley then Elko.
The Las Vegas Sun has ranked the Pirates as their favorite to win it all and have ranked them 10th in the state. Moapa Valley is the only Division IA team ranked in that top ten state rankings. Moapa Valley football starts this Thursday night with the freshman and JV teams playing, starting at 4 PM. The Varsity will play Friday night with the kick off at 7 PM.
MVHS Varsity Football Roster
Trystan Deal, 2 RB,LB Jr.
Kaleb Bodily, 4 RB,LB Sr.
Andrew Huerta, 5 RB,LB Sr.
Cole Mulcock, 7 WR,DB Sr.
Jay, Mortensen, 8 TE,DB Jr.
Derek Cope, 9 WR,DB Jr.
Zach Hymas, 10 QB Sr.
RJ Hubert, 11 WR,DB Jr.
Nate Cox, 12 QB, DL Jr.
Sterling Simmons, 21 RB,LB Jr.
Justin Gentry, 23 WR,DB Sr.
Damon Bush, 24 WR,DB Sr.
Chace Traasdahl, 25 TE,LB Jr.
Jose Rios, 28 RB,LB Jr.
Kayden Griffiths,29 WR,DB Sr.
Dalton Jones, 33 TE,DL Sr.
Bo Reddd, 44 RB,LB Jr.
Austin Leavitt, 45 WR,DB Sr.
Garrett Rose, 50 OL,LB Jr.
Markus Enosa, 52 OL,DL Sr.
Garrett May, 53 OL, DL Jr.
Tanner James, 54 OL,DL Sr.
Brendon Larsen, 55 OL,DL Sr.
Takota Batemon, 56 OL,DL Jr.
Spencer Baker, 61 OL,DL Sr.
Hunter Soderquist, 64 OL,DL Jr.
Talan McClure, 66 OL,DL Jr.
Justin Hardy, 69 OL,DL Sr.
Dennis Whitmore, 75 OL,DL Jr.
Dakota Shyface, 76 OL,DL Sr.
Stephen Graves, 86 TE,DL Sr.
Jestyn Postma OL,DL Jr.
Moises Ramirez OL,DL Jr.
Varsity Football 2014 Season Schedule
Aug 29 7 PM Spring Valley
Sep 05 7 PM Hurricane
Sep 12 7 PM Desert Pines
Sep 19 7 PM Sunrise Mtn.
Sep 27 7 PM Del Sol
Oct 02 7 PM Chaparral
Oct 10 7 PM Virgin Valley
Oct 17 7 PM Boulder City (Homecoming)
Oct 24 7 PM Chaparral
Oct. 30 Region Quarterfinals
Nov. 8 Region Semi-finals
Nov. 15 State Semi-finals
Nov. 22 State Championship
Home games in bold
JV Football 2014 Season Schedule
Aug 28 6:30 PM Spring Valley
Sep 11 6:30 PM Desert Pines
Sep 18 6:30 PM Sunrise Mtn.
Sep 23 6:30 PM Rancho
Oct 01 6:30 PM Del Sol
Oct 09 6:30 PM Virgin Valley
Oct 15 6:30 PM Boulder City
Oct 23 6:30 PM Chaparral
Home games in bold
Freshman Football 2014 Season Schedule
Aug 28 4 PM Spring Valley
Sep 11 4 PM Desert Pines
Sep 18 4 PM Sunrise Mtn.
Sep 23 4 PM Rancho
Oct 01 4 PM Del Sol
Oct 09 4 PM Virgin Valley
Oct 15 4 PM Boulder City
Oct 23 4 PM Chaparral
Home games in bold
