Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

high school football:

The hammer stays with Moapa Valley once again

1014moapafootball

Steve Marcus

Moapa Valley High School Principal Grant Hanevold holds the “Victory Hammer,” a rivalry trophy, during a game between Virgin Valley High School and Moapa Valley High School in Overton on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. The Moapa Pirates shut out the Bulldogs 18-0 to retain the hammer.

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It’s a good thing Moapa Valley got off to a hot start in the annual Hammer Game Friday night at Virgin Valley.

Virgin Valley actually outscored Moapa Valley over the final 30 minutes of the game, but the Pirates were able to post an impressive 53-35 win by virtue of a 20-0 lead built at the beginning of the night.

“It was just a momentum game,” Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis described. “They kept fighting. Just when you’d think we had them locked up, they’d break a tackle, make a play and be right back in it.”

Virgin Valley rallied to make the score 20-14 before the end of the second quarter, just in time for Moapa Valley to pull off arguably the most significant play of the night. The Pirates ran a double-pass where Lance Hilton found a streaking Jeremy Waite for a 41-yard touchdown.

Moapa Valley was able to keep at least a two-touchdown cushion for the rest of the contest.

“I think we’ve been really good about putting a score up right before halftime all year,” Lewis said. “It’s kind of a momentum thing where you can demoralize the other team a little bit.”

Jared Repp and Kaleb Bodily each had two touchdown runs for the Pirates. Lewis said Bodily’s second score was one of the highlights of the season, as he broke a handful of tackles and dragged defenders on his back to the end zone.

Waite and Cole Mulcock had big nights catching passes from Zach Hymas, who finished with nearly 200 yards through the air.

The Hammer will stay in Overton for an eighth straight meeting between the rivals as Moapa Valley shifts its attention to Desert Pines ahead of next week’s regular-season closing showdown between undefeated teams.

“It was nice to see so many kids have big games tonight,” Lewis said. “One thing about us, you can’t just key on one single guy.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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