By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Junior Varsity football team went into its second game of the year against Hurricane with confidence on their side. But about halfway through the first quarter, it was the Tigers that struck first.
On one of their early drives, Hurricane was backed up into a fourth and long and elected to go for it around midfield. A screen pass completion to the Tigers’ running back turned into a touchdown. But Hurricane couldn’t make the two point conversion.
The Pirates responded with a slow and methodical drive down the field that got them into Tiger territory. With just over a minute left in the opening period, Kashten Frei connected on a 41-yard touchdown pass to Carson Traashdahl. It tied the game at six apiece.
Later in the first half, with just 45 seconds on the clock, Hurricane responded. RB Christian Haynes took it into the endzone from four yards out to give the Tigers a 14-6 lead.
In the second half, just under two minutes in, the Pirates punted to Hurricane after their first drive went three and out. Ray Cordova of the Tigers took the punt all the way back for a touchdown.
Trailing, the Pirates responded with a touchdown of their own just a minute later, as Carson Traasdahl caught the ball and ran the Pirates inside the 25. Will Uri then scored from 22 yards away. The Pirates closed the gap to 22-12, but struggled to make the leap.
Despite many opportunities to start possessions from opposing territory in the fourth quarter; one of which was set up by a Thomas Bellevance fumble recovery; the Pirates couldn’t punch it in. They eventually fell 22-12.
“I thought our physical effort was great,” said MVHS head coach Dallas Larsen. “They really put it all out there. We just have to take care of some mental mistakes we make. We just have to execute.”
In the freshman B-team game, it was Carson Heiselbetz who reached paydirt. And he didn’t stop at just one touchdown.
In the first quarter, Luke Wright of the Tigers rushed for the first touchdown of the game to take an early lead. But with just under 5 minutes on the clock in the second quarter, Heiselbetz hauled in a short pass from QB Cameron Reese and went for a touchdown.
Just twenty seconds later, Reese leaped to intercept a pass and gave the Pirates the ball. Less than a minute later, Reese completed a pass to Heiselbetz once again, who went 39 yards for six more.
Kaleb McClaws of the Tigers scored to tie the game at 12-12 with 43 seconds left in the second quarter.
On the first play of the next possession, Cameron Reese threw off his back foot and found Heiselbetz for yet another touchdown to give the Pirates a 20-12 lead at half.
“In practice, we’ve recognized that was a combination that seemed to work,” said Moapa B football head coach Stuart Humes. “Cam and Carson seem to have a good rapport with each other, so we try to get the ball in Carson’s hands as much as we can. It’s something I’ve never seen before at the freshman level, so it was fun to watch.”
Despite a close finish, the Pirates held on for a victory which included another Heiselbetz touchdown. The final score would be 28-18.
