By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Varsity Football team continued its home dominance with a 34-19 win over winless Mojave High School on Friday night, September 16.
Jacob Leavitt scored 3 touchdowns with 223 yards rushing on 22 carries to catapult the Pirates to the victory. Daxton Longman who played his best game of the season was 12-18 for 151 yards passing; with 2 touchdowns. But he also threw 2 interceptions.
The Pirates scored first when Longman found Dayton Wolfley in the front corner of the end zone. Wolfley jumped higher than the defender for the touchdown midway through the first quarter. Leo Rios kicked the extra point giving the Pirates a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter Longman found Derek Reese for a 6 yard touchdown pass with 11:11 to play in the first half. Rios’ kick missed giving the Pirates a 13-0 lead. Moapa Valley was looking good as they were moving the ball and not allowing the Rattlers much yardage on the ground. But that was before the second quarter.
As the second quarter began it became a different story. Mojave moved the ball down the field and finished a drive. Quarterback Taiwan Braden found Antonio Wayman on a 20 yard touchdown pass and closed the Pirate lead to 13-7 after DeQuincy Mitchell made the extra point.
“Sometimes we are our worse enemy!” said Coach Brent Lewis after the game. “We still have a ways to go on both offense and defense.”
The second quarter let-down which was suffered by the Pirates helped the Rattlers tie the score by half time.
The third quarter is where Jacob Leavitt took over. With 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter Leavitt found the end zone from 2 yards out. Rios’ kick was good for a 20-13 Moapa Valley lead. Three and a half minutes later Leavitt found the end zone again from 16 yards away. After the PAT Moapa Valley had a 27-13 lead.
Leavitt would score again in the fourth quarter when he found the end zone from 16 yards one more time. With Rios’ kick the score was 34-13.
Mojave scored 2 minutes later with 4 minutes to play in the game on a 2 yard run. The 2 point conversion failed for the final score of 34-19.
Moapa Valley finished with 391 yards total offense, 240 yards of it rushing. The Pirates had 151 yards total passing with Jacob Leavitt catching four passes for 60 yards. Leavitt alone had 283 yards of total offense for the Pirates. Leavitt and Reese also had an interception apiece for the Pirates.
Mojave finished with 313 yards total offense: 206 yards rushing on 45 carries and 105 yards passing on 7-15 attempts. Taiwan Braden threw for a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Blake Fitzgerald ran the ball 20 times for the Rattlers gaining just 69 yards. Braden ran 7 times for 51 yards and a touchdown while Tawee Walker finished with 6 carries for 26 yards and a touchdown. Mitchell caught 4 passes for 52 yards while Antonio Wayman had 3 catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The Pirates will host Boulder City this week. The Eagles have won just one game this season. They have run the football rushing for 610 yards so far this season. Taylor Hatchel is 18-46 passing for 154 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception this year. Thorston Balmer is their leading rusher for the Eagles with 209 yards.
Boulder City has hosted the Pirates the past two years and were 63-14 losers to the Pirates last year.
Last season the Eagles lost four of five league games 64-0 to Desert Pines, 65-7 to Chaparral, 63-14 to Moapa Valley and 70-13 to Virgin Valley. The Eagles’ only win came this year against Lake Mead a 2A school 42-0.
The Pirates are 2-2 this season.
