Pirates Fall To 4A Gators In Opener

By DAVE BELCHER

Moapa Valley Progress

Finally, an end to the summer is here as the 2018 high school football season started last week. Well, at least it is a dream that summer is ending. This football season has started two weeks earlier than what we are used to with the earlier school start times from Clark County School District. It was a warm evening as the game started with a temperature hovering around 106 degrees.

Moapa Valley was at Green Valley High School playing the Hall of fame game in this first game of the season. It was also the one and only preseason game the Pirates will have this year.

What a game it was! We saw the reason why the larger schools have such an advantage against smaller schools. Green Valley has around 3,000 students compared to roughly 500 at Moapa Valley. With the difference comes depth and rotating of quality players for breaks during the game.

Moapa Valley was in their white helmets. That’s right, it is a big change from their traditional blue.
Green Valley came into this game as a huge favorite, ranked in the 4A top ten. Nevertheless Moapa Valley had several chances during the game to pull off the upset. Unfortunately, tackling issues and a couple of turnovers took the Pirates out.
“We had some good things happen tonight,” said head coach Brent Lewis. “One thing for sure is we are out of shape.”

Moapa Valley played several players on both defense and offense, while Green Valley switched players from offense to defense as well as substitutions on each side of the ball throughout the game.

Green Valley received the opening kickoff and started in their spread offense. They moved the ball to midfield where a pass was picked off by Moapa Valley’s Josh Cox on the eighth play of the game. Cox picked it at the line of scrimmage and ran 65 yards for the first Pirate touchdown of the season.

Green Valley’s next possession ended in a touchdown ten plays later. It was highlighted by a 4 down and 6 yard pass completion on an inside slant which ended seven yards down field. The receiver went through three arm tackles and pushed his way another five yards for a first down extending the drive to an eventual touch down.

The Pirates followed on their next possession with a fourth and three toss around the left to Braeden St John. After a couple of third down conversions Moapa Valley found themselves at the Green Valley 40-yard line; fourth and two yards to go. Bennet dropped back and found Hoy running across the field on a slant. Hoy had the ball in his hands then dropped it when he hit the ground turning it over on downs at the 25-yard line.

Green Valley started the next drive with a huge run, with three broken tackles, taking the ball from the 25 to the Moapa Valley 28. Green Valley eventually scored on a flat pass giving the Gators the lead for good, 13-7.

On their next possession, the Pirates gave the ball back on the second play when the ball was stripped at the 48-yard line.
It then took just three plays for Green Valley to score on a 28 yard run and go up 20-7.

An onside kick by Green Valley allowed them to recover the ball at the Moapa Valley 42. Four plays later the Gators found themselves in the endzone again after 14 yard run taking a 27-7 lead.

The Pirates didn’t give up. Their next possession ended in a 50 yard screen pass for a touchdown from Bennett to Tristin Lehman. Moapa then held the Gators forcing a punt. The half ended with a Bennet interception running out the clock. The Pirates trailed 27-14 at halftime.

The second half didn’t start well as Green Valley recovered another onside kick, but were forced to punt.
Moapa Valley would then have their best drive of the game. Six plays and Jessop Lake pounded through an open hole from the 4-yardline for the Pirate’s final touchdown of the game.
The Pirates stripped the ball from the Gators twice at the 1-yardline stopping two scores. Green Valley scored their final touchdown on a 56-yard pass over the top.

Moapa Valley finished with 259 yards total of offense; 120 yards were on the ground while 139 yards came from passing. Green Valley finished with 413 yards of total offense; 198 rushing and 215 passing.
Bennett was 8-19 passing for the Pirates with a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Braeden St. John ran the ball 13 times for 65 yards. Hayden Redd ran 5 times for 30 yards while Trystin Lehman ran 4 times for 17 yards. Lake had one run for 4 yards and a touchdown. Derek Reese caught 3 passes for 46 yards, Hoy had 2 receptions for 21 yards and Lehman had the 50 yard reception for a touchdown.

Green Valley was lead by Garrett Castro who threw for 215-yards 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 16-32 pass attempts. Maaliek Duncan ran 22 times for 139-yards and a touchdown. Julian Hulse ran 16 times for 68 yards and a touchdown. Desmond Bowers ran 4 times for 15 yards and a touchdown. Kalyja Waialae caught 7 balls for 133 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Moapa Valley will host Democracy Prep this Friday night. The Blue Raiders upset Coronado last Friday 12-10 at Coronado. Game time is 7 pm.