By DAVE BELCHER
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Football team travelled to Las Vegas on Friday, Sept. 9 and came away with a 29-13 victory against SLAM.
The game figured to be a good test for the young Pirate team. SLAM is an athletic team and came into the game with a 1-2 record. The team surprised many with a very close loss a couple of weeks ago to Palo Verde.
SLAM started last week’s game strong, moving at will against the Pirates in their first drive of the game. They ran and passed for six plays, moving into Moapa Valley territory. Then on the seventh play, SLAM fumbled the ball.
“That fumble on the opening drive was huge,” said MVHS head coach Brent Lewis after the game.
With the fumble recovery, it was Moapa Valley’s ball from their own 25 yard line.
The Pirates would be the first to get on the scoreboard. It took until the middle of the second quarter for Degan Jones to do it, running to the endzone from five yards. On the PAT, Matheson put the ball on the ground then picked it up and raced around the left diving into the endzone for the 2-point conversion. The score was 8-0 at halftime.
SLAM would score their first touchdown on their first possession of the second half. The Bulls had taken over the ball on down at the Pirate 37. Bulls quarterback Donnell Colbert found an open receiver at the five yard line. Three plays later Colbert went around the end for the touchdown. With the extra point, the Pirate lead narrowed to 8-7.
The wheels appeared to be coming off the Pirate wagon after returning the kick off to their own 20 yard line. The first snap sailed past an unexpectant Matheson as the ball was snapped early. Matheson recovered the fumble at the 10. But a procedure call against the Pirates took the ball back to the 5.
After Matheson ran for some room to the 17, Landon Wrzesinski took the hand off and ran left, making a cut back and stepping out of a tackle. He raced down the Pirate sideline 83 yards for the touchdown. The extra point missed for a score of 14-7.
“That run by Landon broke the game open in the second half,” Lewis commented. “This team is motivated by big plays.”
A terrible snap to the SLAM punter resulted in the Pirates getting the ball at the SALM 41. On the sixth play of the series, Stankoski took a counter hand-off into the endzone from 9 yards.
Wrzesinski lined up in wildcat formation and ran for the 2-point conversion and a 22-14 Pirate lead.
The next Pirate drive highlighted Matheson and his running ability. He made three runs for first downs driving into Bull’s territory. Wrzesinski finished with a 3-yard plunge for the final Pirate touchdown. The extra point gave the Pirates a 29-7 lead late in the fourth quarter.
Colbert found the endzone for the Bulls once again for the final score, 29-13.
Colbert was 12-18 passing for 142 yards. He also led the Bulls in rushing with 80 yards and both touchdowns.
The Pirates used a run-dominant offense as the Pirates were 4-8 passing with Matheson throwing 1-3 and Katich 3-5 for 29 yards. Wrzesinski carried the ball 20 times for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jones had 28 yards on 6 carries and a touchdown. Stankoski had 37 yards on 3 carries and a touchdown. Matheson ran for 48 yards on 5 carries.
Stankoski led the team with 12 tackles while Grant Henrie had 11.
The Bulls are now 1-3 overall while the Pirates are 4-0 headed into Pahrump Valley next week.
The Trojans are 2-1 having beaten Rancho last week 26-8. Their only loss came in Virgin Valley 14-6.
