Moapa Valley Pirates, from left, Dennis Whitmore (75), Nate Cox (12) and RJ Hubert (11) during Las Vegas Sun’s High School Football media day, Monday, July 27, 2015.
Friday, Oct. 23, 2015 | 11:48 p.m.
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Moapa Valley smothered Chaparral 35-6 to claim the Division 1A Sunrise regular-season title Friday night in Overton.
The Pirates held the Cowboys out of the end zone until the final minutes of the game to win their third straight league championship since realignment set up the current structure. The achievement looked next to impossible a couple of weeks ago, but Desert Pines’ forfeiture of two wins, including a 34-20 victory over Moapa Valley, changed everything.
“We would have liked to have earned the league title but it’s not like we’re going to turn down a gift,” Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis said. “Everyone knows what happened with Desert Pines.”
It’s not as if Moapa Valley didn’t have a great regular-season defending its state championship. The Pirates would have finished 7-2 even without the overturned Desert Pines result, which bumped them to 8-1.
Senior receiver and Utah commit R.J. Hubert, who had four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown Friday, led Moapa Valley all year but it was senior running back Trystin Deal who starred against Chaparral. Deal had 10 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Senior quarterback Nate Cox had 109 yards and a touchdown pass on 7-for-14 passing. Moapa Valley will meet Sierra Vista in the first round of the playoffs next week.
“We didn’t play very good against those guys the first time,” Lewis said. “So we’re hoping to redeem ourselves a little bit.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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