Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

high school football:

Despite losing to Utah school, Moapa Valley takes steps forward

High School Football Media Day 2015 Steve Marcus

Steve Marcus

Moapa Valley Pirates, from left, RJ Hubert (11), Nate Cox (12), and Dennis Whitmore (75) during Las Vegas Sun’s High School Football media day, Monday, July 27, 2015.

It was a tale of two halves today for the Moapa Valley High football team against visiting Hurricane of Utah.

In the first half, Moapa Valley gained 11 first downs and had a one-point halftime lead. In the second half, it had just one first down to lose 17-14 after Hurricane kicked a 24-yard field goal with 3:40 to play.

The night, though, wasn’t a total loss for the defending Division I-A state champs. After some sloppy play in the opener last week against Sierra Vista, the Pirates were much improved.

“It was night and day in terms of how we played and how we competed,” Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis said, comparing his team's performance to last week's effort. “I thought we took a step forward.”

RJ Hubert returned the opening kickoff of the second half 83 yards for a touchdown and a 14-6 Moapa Valley lead. He returned another kick for a score later in the half, but the touchdown was called back for a penalty. Moapa Valley had 11 penalties for 101 yards.

Lewis has never beat Hurricane at home in Overton in his 14-year coaching tenure. But, like tonight's outcome, it’s been close.

“Those guys are always tough,” he said. “You will never get something easy against them. You have to battle for every square inch with those guys.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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