Lady Pirates Prepared To Hit The Field Running

The Moapa Valley High School Girls Flag Football team will start its season this weekend in Mesquite in the Lady Bulldog invitational.

The defending State Championship Pirate team played a Flag Football season last year, despite COVID-19, and finishing with a 8-0 record. But the team graduated most of its players last spring.
“We will have many inexperienced girls this year on the varsity team,” said Head Coach Dave Belcher. “We have only two girls who had playing time the past two years on varsity.”

But even so, Belcher said that there is plenty of untapped depth on this year’s team. The Pirate team has held open field since last summer to give an opportunity for the girls to keep skills sharp.
“We have plenty of talent that just needs some game experience,” he said. “We had just one team with 30 girls playing last year. The younger girls on that team, practiced every day against the seniors and gained some experience playing the best every day.”

The Pirates will return All Region corner Alexis Gould and safety Paige Fairchild who will help lead the team.

The Pirates have 44 girls in the program filling three teams. “The juniors and sophomores have tons of talent that will make us competitive this year,” Belcher said. “We will contend and hope to gain experience as the season moves along, peaking during the region and state tournament. We will be an exciting team this season.”

The Pirate team will open up against Clark on Friday at 3:30 at the Mesquite Sports Complex. With a win the Pirate will have a possible match up against two-time defending 4A champion Green Valley Saturday. Admission to the tournament will be $5 each day.

“The tournament is a great way to start the season this year,” Belcher said. “We will play at least three games this weekend which will test us. We are so excited for the season to start.”