By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
Last year the Moapa Valley High School Varsity Football team finished the season earlier than they had in a long time.They had a first-round exit in the playoffs to a team they hadn’t lost to before, the Sunrise Mountain Miners.
This year the Pirates will use that as motivation to push through the season in hopes of a chance at another state championship.
The Pirates are ranked 1# in the 3A by Maxpreps.com. This year Moapa has experience, size and athletes who can carry the team to a title.
When the realignment changed, removing state champion Desert Pines and runner-up Mojave from the 3A it appeared to make the challenge a little easier for everyone in the 3A. Desert Pines has dominated the 3A over the past three years while Mojave appeared to have turned the corner in their program, making the title game for the first year in their history. Chaparral a team who had made the state semi-finals for a few years also was moved up to the 4A for football.
Moapa Valley finished the season last year with a 6-3 regular season record. They finished 2-1 tie with Virgin Valley and Chaparral for the top spot. But they became the second seed after a head-to-head loss to the Bulldogs.
Last year two quarterbacks split the season for the Pirates with Daxton Longman starting the season. He was replaced by Luke Bennett in the second half. Longman finished 51-97 for 889 yards throwing 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He graduated last eyar. Bennett finished throwing 41- 69 also with 4 touchdowns but had 5 interceptions. Bennett returns to the team.
The Pirates had four strong runners last year with sophomore Hayden Redd leading the way with 579 yards and scoring 5 touchdowns. Redd is returning.
So is Braeden St John who ran 78 times for 353 yards and 4 touchdowns last year.
Trystin Lehman split time last year with the JV team as a sophomore. He ran 33 times for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns.
With St John, Redd and Lehman returning; and the addition of Will Uri and senior running back/linebacker Jessop Lake;, the Pirate running game can be huge.
Speaking of huge, the Pirate offensive and defensive lines are big guys. And they have experience. Jessie Robison, Kaleb Frankford and Kele Henderson among others will be the ones who allow the offense to move.
Derek Reese, the big receiver, will be key in the Pirate passing game.
But the big question heading into this season is: Can the quarterback be effective throwing the ball? This could be the difference in a state championship or not.
On the defense side, Leo Rios led the Pirates in tackles last year with 109 total. He will return to help lead the defense.
The Pirates will start the season in a hall of fame game on Friday night at Green Valley High School in Henderson. Admissions collected from this game goes to the NIAA hall of fame.
Last year, Green Valley finished with a 10-2 record. They lost to only one team, the state runner-up in the 4A, Liberty 49-14 in the regular season and 32-10 in the third round of the playoffs.
Green Valley had 4352 total yards of offense last year, 2075 rushing with a three-man combo including Julian Hulse (841 yards 6 touchdowns), Desmond Bowers (527 yards 9 touchdowns) and Noah Hawthorn (465 yards and 4 touchdowns) running the ball. All three are returning.
Their passing game had 2277 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions on 327 attempted passes completing 176 of them. Their quarterback last year graduated.
Moapa Valley will play five of their first seven games at home, all before the month of November.
On September 28 the Pirates will host Sunrise Mountain for the Homecoming Game.
The top seeds from the Sunrise and Sunset will receive byes in the first round of the playoffs this year.
A lot of potential and expectations stand in front of this year’s Pirate Football team. It could end up being magical! Go Pirates!
Varsity Football 2018 Season Schedule
Aug 17 7 PM Green Valley
Aug 24 7 PM Democracy Prep
Aug 31 7 PM Valley
Sep 07 7 PM Eldorado
Sep 14 7 PM Cheyenne
Sep 21 7 PM Rancho
Sep 28 7 PM Sunrise Mtn.
(Homecoming)
Oct 05 7 PM Boulder City
Oct 12 7 PM Clark
Oct 19 7 PM Virgin Valley
Oct. 25 Region Quarterfinals
Nov. 02 Region Semi-finals
Nov. 10 State Semi-finals
Nov. 17 State Championship South
Home games in bold
Schedule subject to change without notice
Varsity Football Team Roster
Luke Barlow WR/CB Junior 1
Chase Hoy WR/CB Senior 2
Joshua Cox WR/DE Senior 3
Carson Traasdahl WR/CB Junior 4
Luke Bennett QB Senior 5
Leonardo Rios RB/MLB Senior 7
Kashten Frei QB/S Junior 8
Samuel Jolley WR/DB Junior 9
James Lake RB/DE Senior 10
Braeden S. John RB/FS Senior 11
Dallas Larsen WR/CB Senior 12
Russell Bodily RB/OLB Junior 14
William Uri RB/OLB Junior 20
Destry Jones TE/OLB Junior 21
Derek Reese TE/OLB Senior 23
Devyn Collins RB/MLB Senior 24
Coby Longman RB/MLB Senior 25
Hayden Munns RB/OL Senior 29
Tristan Lehman RB/CB Junior 32
Bronc Barlow RB/OLB Senior 33
Hayden Redd RB/DE Junior 42
Florian Heider WR/OLB Junior 44
Thomas Bellavance C/MLB Junior 50
Milo Farnsworth OL/DL Senior 51
Adrian Huerta OL/DL Junior 52
Matt Fay OL/DL Junior 53
Jesse Robison OL/DT Senior 54
Cinjin Freeman OL/DL Junior 55
Julian De Luna OL/DL Junior 56
Kaleb Frankford OL/DL Senior 60
Jackson Mills OL/DL Senior 62
Jairo Rubio OL/DL Senior 64
Zackery Zobrist OL/DL Junior 71
Kele Henderson OL/DL Junior 72
Odin Lyman OL/DL Senior 76
Kellen Wallace OL/DL Junior 78
Nathaniel Dalley WR/FS Junior 80
Mitchell Lyon TE/DE Junior 88
