Pirates Return Home Without “The Hammer”

By DAVE BELCHER

Moapa Valley Progress

Sometimes to learn the true value of something, it needs to be taken away.
The legendary “Hammer Game” took place in Mesquite on Friday night, between Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley. The Pirates lost the hammer for the first time since the game was reinstated in 2008. The Bulldogs won the game with a score of 14-7.
The famous “Hammer” was created in the 50’s ground in a metals class. It was engraved, not professionally but by an unsteady hand, with the word “Victory” near the top then “Virgin Valley-Moapa Valley” below.

For a long time it was treasured as the schools traded it back and forth depending on who won the football game in the fall. It was a coveted trophy. The losers would even devise ways to steal the “Hammer” from the school who owned it for the year causing fights in defense of or protection thereof.
In the early 1970’s, it was decided to retire the tradition due to the problems it created. It was placed in a case inside Virgin Valley High School behind glass and displayed as you would walk into the gymnasium.
When the new high school was built in Virgin Valley the “Hammer” became lost/forgotten about. In fact, most people didn’t even remember much about it.

But in 2008, then-MVHS Principal Grant Hanevold and VVHS Principal Delios Perkins, agreed to resurrect the “Hammer Game” tradition. They introduced it back to both schools and a new generation of Pirates and Bulldogs.

Since that time the “Hammer” has been in a window case at Moapa Valley High School. Over the last decade the “Hammer;” never really seen by Virgin Valley and an everyday decoration in Moapa Valley; was only brought out when the game was played then returned to the case made for it at MVHS.
The players who played in the game Friday night were 8, 9 and 10 years old when the Pirates first won it back in 2008.

Now, with the results of last Friday’s game behind them, the Moapa Valley team is reminded of the value of the “Hammer” now that it is gone. And they want it back.

At the end of Friday’s game, MVHS Principal Hal Mortensen of Moapa Valley handed the “Hammer” to Virgin Valley Principal Cliff Hughes on Friday. Hughes raised it high above his head igniting the Bulldogs in a roar. Quarterback Hogan Fowles then grabbed it from Hughes’ hand and raced it to the Virgin Valley sideline raising it high in the air running the length of the field celebrating the trophy they have never held, never seen; except in pictures maybe.

Moapa Valley holds a 62-25-1 record over the eighty years these two teams have played against each other including last Friday night’s game.

The Pirates came into Friday’s game a little beaten up and inexperienced. They had lost two starting linemen from last week. Gavin Henrie broke his femur and Cameron Larson rolled his ankle at practice last week. This meant a shift was needed to happen for the Pirates in the “Hammer” game.

Easton Dalley a 155 lb. junior was moved in as starting center and was forced to handle Jaden Dalton, a 6’2” tall, 250 pounds senior, who is debateably Virgin Valley’s best player at nose guard and left tackle.
Virgin Valley came into this game as the favorite due to a 4-1 record. If the Dawgs were going to beat Moapa Valley this was the year they were going to do it.
Virgin Valley received the kick-off and drove 69 yards for the first and only offensive touchdown of the game for Virgin Valley. It was a 24-yard pass to Cesar Zarate who also kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

The Pirates were flat and struggled to move the ball in the first quarter.
It wasn’t until the second quarter when Jacob Leavitt put the Pirates on the board for the only time after a 25-yard touchdown run. The Pirates sputtered the rest of the night.
Late in the second quarter Virgin Valley tried to take advantage of a fifth down given to them by officials who weren’t keeping track. The rubber band used to indicate a down by being moved from finger to finger as a down was completed was missing. But the incompleted pass made that extra offensive play a waste of time, taking only time from the Pirates. The score was knotted 7-7 at halftime.

It was Jayden Perkins, the Bulldog runningback who had 112 yards rushing on 22 carries Friday night, that won the game for the Dawgs. And he did it on defense. Perkins broke through the Pirate offensive line on a punt, deep in Moapa Valley territory. He blocked the punt then returned it 7 yards for the game winner in the third quarter. Zarate kicked the PAT for the final 14-7 Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs move to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in league play with a date against Del Sol in Las Vegas this Friday night.

The positive is Moapa Valley stayed close with the inexperience they have.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot tonight” said a very somber Coach Brent Lewis. It was the first time Lewis’ team had lost to Virgin Valley in Virgin Valley. “But we are not done. We need to win out and we are still in this thing.”
The offensive line struggled to keep the Bulldogs contained most of the night making the passing game ineffective.
Jacob Leavitt ran for 95 yards and a touchdown.

The Pirates will host homecoming this week as they play the Rancho Rams. Rancho is 0-5 this season and 0-1 in league play in the 4A northwest.