Columnist Nick Christensen: Moapa will dim another star

Nick Christensen

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

Nick Christensen covers high school athletics for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at nick.christensen@lasvegassun.com.

Nevada's most accurate passer comes to Las Vegas this week as the Truckee Wolverines (9-1) play Moapa Valley (11-1) for the 3A championship Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Paul Tierney went 105-for-151 in the regular season for 1,664 yards and 19 touchdowns, completing 70 percent of his passes while throwing two interceptions. But don't expect the Pirates to worry about big-number players.

Last week, the state's most prolific rusher, Spring Creek's James Edwards, came to Overton for the 3A semifinal. He got the state's single-season rushing record, but didn't help his team score as the Spartans were shut out 31-0.

It was the biggest test in a while for the Pirates, whose last loss came Sept. 10 against Dixie, which lost last week in Utah's 3A semifinals. Since that game, Moapa has been dominating opponents, to the point where Lewis was concerned about his starters' ability to play a whole football game after sitting out so many fourth quarters.

But it wasn't an effort to keep in shape that had the Pirates' defense bearing down late in the game last week when the Spartans had first-and-goal within the Moapa 10-yard-line.

"Our kids were a little disappointed we let the Edwards kid get his record. Maybe that was their point," Lewis said. "That put an exclamation point on that game. I don't know. We give them free pizzas for shutouts, so that was a little incentive too."

Truckee also shut out their opponent last week, a 42-0 victory against Virgin Valley from Mesquite. There won't be a shutout this week, with Moapa averaging 37 points per game and Truckee piling on an average of 45 weekly. And don't expect this to look like the last time the two teams met in the championship, when Truckee beat Moapa 14-7 in 2001 at Sparks. It was Truckee's sixth state championship, fifth since 1990. The Wolverines' one loss this year was their season opener, which they lost 21-34 to eventual 4A Sierra League champion Hug.

"Truckee's got a great tradition up there," Lewis said. "Other than Manogue in that 3A Northern group, they've been the team to beat. This team really isn't any different from any of the really good teams they've had in the past. They're very disciplined, very well coached, and excellent on both sides of the ball."

Lewis said he expects a sizable contingent of Pirates fans to make the hour-long drive from Overton and Logandale -- combined population, 6,404 -- to Sam Boyd Stadium for the 3 p.m. game.

"You can count on that. That's one good thing about our town, we have excellent support from our community," Lewis said. "I would expect a packed house -- as packed as our little town can get."

The 1A championship, featuring Wells from Elko County and Pahranagat Valley, from the town of Alamo in Lincoln County, kicks off at noon Saturday, also at Sam Boyd Stadium.

On to the weekend's picks, with 4A games slated for 7 p.m. tonight and the smaller schools' start times stated above.

Sunrise Region Championship

Both teams seem to think their lucky charm is being picked to lose in this space. This really is the more intriguing of the two games down South tonight, with October's blowout still fresh in the Vikings' minds. For that reason alone, we're picking Valley to be McQueen's next victim.

The call: Valley 24, Vegas 20.

Sunset Region Championship

The call: Palo Verde 42, Cheyenne 26.

Northern Region Championship

The call: McQueen 26, Reed 14.

3A Championship

The call: Moapa Valley 30, Truckee 27.

Off the uprights: 2A championship game between Battle Mountain and Pershing County at Winnemucca, and the 1A championship game between Wells and Pahranagat Valley at Sam Boyd Stadium.