Moapa Valley takes down Truckee

By Brett Okamoto (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 11:27 p.m.

The players of the 2004 Moapa Valley High School football team have probably put the 28-0 loss to Truckee in the Nevada State Championship game that year behind them.

Finally, their younger brothers can too.

The Pirates avenged that shutout loss with a 35-16 win over the Wolverines in the 3A state title game Saturday night, giving them their first back-to-back state championships since the school won three consecutive 1A titles from 1966 to 1968.

"Four years ago Truckee beat us at state 28-0, a lot of us had older brothers on that team," said Pirates running back Brad Weiss. "We knew we had to come out and get them back for it."

Pirates coach Brent Lewis, who was also the head coach during the loss four years ago, admitted he may have had something to do with his team's focus on revenge.

"I told them the story about how we got our butts handed to us that game," Lewis said. "I reminded them of how Truckee has had our number, the last two or three times we've played them they've really got us. I think I got in their head that it was time to show them they we could beat them and that it was our time."

It was obvious that something had ignited the Pirates early as the team scored touchdowns on five of its seven first-half possessions.

The Wolverines did an admirable job of trying to keep up. Senior Ryan MacKen took in an 85-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and junior Jordan Deiro added a 50-yard touchdown run in the second, but by then the Pirates were too far up.

Neither team scored in the second half as Moapa Valley locked down on defense and ran out the clock.

"They were the better team tonight, they outplayed us," said Wolverines coach Bob Shaffer. "They took us out of what we do well and we just didn't have enough answers tonight. My hat's off to them. They came out very prepared and played well."

The Pirates were expecting another big night from Weiss, who entered the game with 1,688 yards and 20 touchdowns on the season. Weiss didn't disappoint as he finished with 120 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries.

What they may not have expected was a breakout game by junior receiver Matt Newton, who caught five passes for 143 yards and two scores.

"Last year in the state championship I was barely in the game, this year I had my chance to be in there the whole time," Newton said. "[Quarterback Max Jenkins] and I watched film a lot together this week and talked about what we were going to do against them. It was an amazing feeling to get it all together."

It was a tough night for the Truckee offense as the players tried to play from behind for the first time since the postseason started. The Wolverines entered Saturday's contest outscoring their last two opponents 92-7. Quarterback Justin Vosburgh completed just four passes in 16 attempts for 19 yards and two interceptions.

Toward the end of the game, Shaffer decided to pull the starters and run the football to keep the clock moving.

"I don't know if we ever felt completely under control," Lewis said. "But in the second half we started feeling pretty good. We were pretty surprised they didn't air it out a bit. Real surprised they brought their subs in at the end instead of throwing it up a bit. But we hit them pretty hard, maybe that was it."

The Pirates will lose a good group of seniors, including Weiss, who has been a dominating force for the program in its recent history. Returning players said they will miss their graduating teammates, but look forward to competing for another state title next year.

"I'm going to have a lot of fire next year," Newton said. "We'll come back out here and do this again. I like this feeling."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com.