Pirate JV/B Teams Beat Cheyenne

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School B and JV Football teams played as separate squads on their home field last week: a first for the season. Taking on the Pirates was Cheyenne High School.

The freshman B team started off with a dominant first half. The game was never close as the Pirates just kept coming. Austin Heiselbetz and Jayme Carvajal paved the way for a huge afternoon on offense. Defensively, it was the same pair, alongside other critical tackles by Sam Wheeler and Jud Rose, that kept things at a distance on the scoreboard.

In the third quarter Austin Heiselbetz broke tackle after tackle and looked more like a freight train than a receiver on a key touchdown play. He ultimately crossed the endzone and the team led 39-6.
The Pirates won with a score of 45-6, and the B football squad moved to 2-0 on the season.

The JV Pirates stepped onto the field next to take on a much older Desert Shields team. After a quarter of play, the Pirates had reason to be nervous. The game appeared to be a defensive battle in the opening minutes. Knotted at zero, neither side was willing to give an inch.

Perhaps the biggest storyline for the Pirates came on the defensive side of the 22 where Moapa has yet to surrender a touchdown through three games. That streak continued in the second quarter.

But the Pirate offense that sputtered earlier continued to struggle to reach the endzone. The first scoring was not provided by either side’s offense. It came via Steele Skinner of the Pirates, courtesy of a lengthy punt return touchdown. Skinner weaved through defenders to bring his team an 8-0 lead.

With just two minutes left in the game, a Garrett Clove interception stopped a Desert Shields drive in the red zone and opened up the opportunity to get on the scoreboard before halftime.

Stuck on third down, the Pirates reached deep in their bag of tricks. Quarterback Cameron Reese lateraled the ball to running back Steele Skinner, who then cocked back and launched a thirty-yard pass on target to Carson Heiselbetz. Inside the twenty-yard line, the Pirates were finally knocking on the door.

A sack with thirty seconds left on third down seemed to erase all likelihood of a score at the end of the half as Moapa had no time-outs. But Reese hurried his troops to the line of scrimmage and got a fourth-down snap off just in time. He heaved to the right side where tight-end Justin Proffit made a reception over the defender’s head and leaped over the pylon for a Pirate touchdown. The sideline celebrated accordingly and the Pirates ended the half 16-0.

“I think Cam Reese made the smartest decision to throw it to his biggest target,” said Head Coach Dallas Larsen. “And Justin Proffit went a little bit ‘Rob Gronkowski’ and muscled his way in for a touchdown.”

In the third quarter, the Pirates continued their momentum and cleared the runway for take off. Before the Desert Shields could blink, the Pirates led 36-0 early in the fourth quarter.

Late in the game, Cheyenne put up one last drive for a shot at a touchdown to end the Pirates’ scoreless defensive streak at three games. After a long drive down field, the Desert Shields hoisted a pass into double coverage in the corner of the endzone. The pass deflected off a Moapa defender and was caught for a score, ending the game at 36-6.