Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 9:37 a.m.
Fed up with being on the losing end of his team's rivalry with Moapa Valley, Jeff Pickton took charge.
Pickton, a senior at Boulder City High, ran for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, then played a key role in the Eagles' stellar pass defense as Boulder defeated Moapa Valley 27-16 in both teams' 3A South openers.
His 80, 60 and 66-yard runs for touchdowns weren't just clean breaks through the Pirates' defensive line. They were imitations of human pinball, with Pickton bouncing left and right as he broke tackles and blocks before ending in a sprint for the end zone.
"Some games I get the big breaks, and some times I've got to put my shoulder down and get as many yards as possible," Pickton said. "When I get those breaks all I gotta do is just get in that end zone."
And with a 4.5-second 40-yard-dash speed, that was easy once he cleared the various baubles and paddles that were the Moapa Valley defense.
The win was Boulder City's first in the series in three years.
Eagles coach Jeff Knutson said Friday's game was par for the course for Pickton.
"That gives him 13 (touchdowns) in four games," he said. "That's a lot of touchdowns in four games. He has that speed. But boy did he make some determined runs. Those weren't always just big holes, two of those runs he really broke some tackles and kept working hard and finally broke it."
Just as key as Pickton's first-half runs was smothering pass defense. Pirates quarterback Michael Davis had 133 passing yards, but was completed just nine of his 27 pass attempts. He was intercepted once.
"Our defense, we just worked our butts off this week," Pickton said. "I've got to give it to the team. I've got to give it to everybody, the coaches. We came out and we practiced and came out and had our defense against passing is just unstoppable."
The loss left Moapa Valley winless in five games, but it was the Pirates' first loss against a fellow 3A team.
Boulder City hosts Arbor View next week. Moapa Valley travels back to the valley to face Faith Lutheran.
Once around town
NORTHEAST: Three of Chaparral's four season-opening losses were by a touchdown or less, so it figured to be about time the Cowboys came out winning a close one.
That finally happened as Chaparral defeated league rival Desert Pines 26-23 on Friday.
"It was tremendous," Cowboys coach Fernando Carmona said. "The kids were starting to feel dejected after losing three games by less than 10 points. It was huge for morale."
It was also a fairly poor showing by Chaparral's defense, which had given up 20 points once -- in a 27-7 loss to now 4-0 Western.
But the Cowboys' offense came through for the first time this year, despite a halftime switch where Carmona sat quarterback Alex Woolridge in favor of an understudy.
"I think it might have put a little fire under him, help him step up a little more," Carmona said. "We haven't been giving him much protection."
Chaparral didn't need the passing game Friday, as running back Tyler Morris got 268 yards on 14 carries.
Valley travels to Chaparral on Friday. Desert Pines will host defending 4A North champion Reed.
SOUTHEAST: Green Valley entered Friday's game at Cimarron-Memorial as unlikely underdogs on a two-game losing streak. The Spartans came in as the surprise of the year at 4-0.
Not much changed, as Cimarron cruised to a 42-7 road victory, sending the Gators to their third-straight defeat.
"They beat us up front," Green Valley coach Greg Murphy said. "We've got to rebound and get ready for Foothill."
Yes, that Foothill, ranked second in the state and still undefeated after beating Del Sol on Friday. The two will play at Foothill at 7 p.m. on Friday.
"We're looking forward to it," Murphy said. "If you want to get some respect, you've got to play the best and beat the best. It's not usually what the doctor orders, but hey, we'll take it."
DeAngelo Jones is back for the Falcons, and Southern Nevada's most prolific running back had over 100 yards last week.
SOUTHWEST: At the start of this season, Spring Valley was looking like the weakest of the three second-year schools. Taking out their 39-0 win against first-year Arbor View, the Grizzlies were outscored 54-7 in games against Canyon Springs and Rancho in their non-league contests.
But with a win Friday, the Grizzlies can be one of the first teams in Nevada to all but clinch a playoff spot. Spring Valley beat Clark 19-14 to improve to 2-0 in Southwest Division play. The Grizzlies host Durango (1-4, 0-2) on Friday.
"I think the best thing that could have happened to us was at the end of last season, dropping that game to Del Sol, being that close but that far," coach Johnny Macon said. "The guys have bought into that philosophy, working hard and learning how to overcome the adversity that comes about throughout the season."
NORTHWEST: Early last week, Arbor View's first-year squad had a glimmer of hope that things might not go badly.
Work continued on their artificial turf field, and by midweek, there were questions as to whether the field would be ready for Friday night's home opener against Pahrump Valley. The Aggies had decided not to seek a neutral-site or travel to Pahrump if the field wasn't done.
By Thursday afternoon, everything was ready to go. Then some local dopes nearly ruined the fun.
"A couple kids went out in a vehicle" and ran over the field, coach Russ Malloy said. "They could see the occupants drinking and smoking marijuana."
While Metro Police worked on enhancing the license plates of the Nissan picked up on a surveillance camera, the Arbor View crew worked on patching up the field for Friday's game.
While the muckrackers nearly tore up the field, they evidently gave it some good vibes in the process. Arbor View shocked the Trojans when the Aggies' Matt Girone broke up a two-point-conversion attempt in the closing minutes to preserve a 21-20 victory, the first in school history.
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