By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
3A South – Sunrise
Virgin Valley
Last year the Bulldogs won the Sunrise with a perfect 4-0 record in league play. That included a 14-7 win over Moapa Valley which gave them ownership of the “Hammer” for the first time in a decade.
Head Coach Yori Ludvigson starts his fourth year guiding the Bulldogs with a record of 17-14 in the previous three years.
Virgin Valley lost 28 seniors from last year’s team. That left just a handful of veteran players.
Their leading runner Jayden Perkins returns to start this season. Perkins was voted as a preseason all-city player by the Las Vegas Sun. Perkins ran for 1.369 yards and scored 18 touchdowns for Virgin Valley last year. He will be the main source for their offense.
Perkins will also be a solid linebacker alongside Cresent Crandal. This should provide stability on the defense.
Cade Anderson will start as the quarterback, a role that Hogan Fowles played last year.
Last year’s season ended when the Bulldogs played Chaparral in the Dawg pound. On that day Virgin Valley collapsed in the fourth quarter allowing three Cowboy touchdowns after holding a 16-14 lead heading into the final quarter.
Virgin Valley will open their season against Canyon View of Cedar City Utah.
Chaparral
The Cowboys have made the state semi-finals in each of the past two years. But this year, they will be starting a sophomore quarterback and replacing many of last year’s skilled players with relatively inexperienced players.
Chaparral ended their season last year in Spring Creek in the state semi-final with a 36-7 loss to the Spartans.
Del Sol
The Dragons last year finished with a 4-6 overall record and 1-3 in league play. Their lone win came against Boulder City 39-7. They were beaten by Moapa Valley 66-19.
The Dragons will rely upon runningback Taariq Flowers who will be a senior this year. Flowers ran for 1250 yards and 9 touchdowns last year.
The Dragons have a new head coach, Mike Valenzuela who was the head coach at Mountain View having 2 state championships from the 2A league.
The Dragons return 18 from last year’s team and will start sophomore quarterback Maalik Flowers behind center.
Del Sol starts the season against Mojave this Friday night.
Boulder City
The Eagles have lost a lot of players over the past few years. So in an effort to restore the program, they have decided to go independent. That means they belong to no league and will end the season in October.
Boulder City has won just one game in each of the last two seasons.
Chris Morelli starts his third season as head coach with a 2-16 record. They return 15 from last year’s team. Two of them are receivers: Briggs Huxford and Zach Trone, who are both seniors.
3A South – Sunset
Desert Pines
The Jaguars are the defending state champions. They lost just once last year with a team who had been together for three years with a few exceptions. That team is gone, graduated with several of its players playing Division I football around the nation.
What is left is quarterback Tyler Williamson who has been projected as a top 5 quarterback in southern Nevada. Last year in the state championship game against Spring Creek he was 17-21 for 283 yards passing with 3 touchdowns and an interception.
As usual Desert Pines has acquired a few transfers from other Vegas schools. That means the Jaguars will have the challenge to defend their title.
MaxPreps.com has the Jaguars ranked 1st in the state, followed by Spring Creek, Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley.
Cheyenne
The Desert Shields finished in second place in the Sunset last year with a 4-1 record, their only loss was to Desert Pines. Overall, they finished 5-5. They were beaten by Chaparral 29-26 in the first round of the playoffs to end their season.
Gone from last year’s team is Quarterback Matthew LaBont. Cheyenne will be young, looking to rebuild.
Pahrump Valley
The Trojans may have the best team they have had in years. Last year they finished with a 3-2 league record with losses to Cheyenne and Desert Pines. They ended the season in Moapa Valley in a first round playoff loss to the Pirates by a score of 40-14.
The Trojans have lost half of their team to graduation but return several who played last year.
Mojave
The Rattlers won just one game last year it was a 41-8 win over Western. They lost 17 from that team but also return many.
Sunrise Mountain
The Miners finished 2-3 in the Sunset last year and were the fourth seed in the division. They were beaten by Virgin Valley 20-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
Last year Stephen Wright was a Junior who threw for 2174 yards. He was 165-276 in passing. He ran the ball 53 times for 418 yards. He passed for 22 touchdowns and ran for 4 more. He will return a senior.
Tyree Hayes returns as a junior wide receiver. Last year as a sophomore he caught a team leading 47 receptions for 619 yards with 5 touchdowns.
If there is a team who can challenge Desert Pines in the Sunset this year, it will be Sunrise Mountain.
Western
The Warriors were winless again last year. That shouldn’t change by much this year.
3A North
Spring Creek
The Spartans made the championship game last year for the first time since 2001. But they are going to have a hard time repeating as league champions let alone state champions. They lost 24 seniors including quarterback Jon Jund who threw for 3315 yards last year.
Dakota Larson returns as a senior receiver. He was an all-state receiver last year. If they can find someone to get the ball to him, he will be a threat.
They also return their leading rusher Jason Painter who ran for 867 yards on 148 carries.
The Spartans will also have a new head coach this year as Joel Jund retired. The new coach is Michael Tournahu.
Truckee
The Wolverines finished 8-2 overall and finished 8-1 in league play, in second place in the north. They were beaten by South Tahoe in the second round of the playoffs 28-20.
The Wolverines lost most of their team to graduation last year but bring an undefeated JV team up.
Truckee is hurting as they lost their legendary coach Bob Schaffer. They have dedicated their season to him.
Fallon
The Green Wave was once the top program for the north. But they now appear to be struggling with participation. They had only 31 players on last year’s team.
They were 6-5 overall and 5-4 in league play last year. They were eliminated from the Playoffs 38-8 in the second round.
They lost their quarterback, and top three rushers all to graduation last year. This could be a tough year for Fallon.
Fernley
The Vaqueros finished 4-6 overall and 4-5 in league play last year. They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by South Tahoe 35-7.
Quarterback Zach Burns returns to run the offense with his 938 yards passing from last year.
Willy Pritchard also returns as the leading rusher with his 605 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Lowry
The Buckaroos have struggled the past couple of seasons. They finished 1-8 in both league and regular season play last year. They do return Victor Rosas from last year who was their leading rusher with 632 yards on 133 carries.
Quarterback Ren Mattson returns after just four starts to begin last season.
There is a lot of work needed if Lowry is going to compete for a playoff spot this year.
Dayton
Dayton didn’t win a game last year and were 0-20 over the past two seasons. Furthermore, they have graduated 19 of last year’s 30 players.
South Tahoe
The Vikings may be on the verge of the league title this year. They have one of the best receivers in the state in any league: McCallan Castles, who caught 65 passes for 1193 yards and 15 touchdowns last year. The 6’5” senior will be tough to contain.
With Castles along with Payton Galli behind the center, the Vikings may have the best quarterback/receiver combo in the state.
Sparks
The Railroaders won twice last year the first against Dayton 20-10, the second against Lowry 18-12.
Cody Mcabee returns at quarterback after throwing for 112 yards and ran for 269 yards last year.
Jorge Dominguez also returns with his team leading 595 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns.
Wooster
The Colts will be playing their final season in the 3A this year as they will return to the 4A next year. North Valley will take their place as they will move down in all sports. Wooster once again failed to make the playoffs last year with a 3-6 league and overall record. They return half of the team from last year including Hunter Vetter under center.
