Defense keys Moapa Valley

It didn't take Moapa Valley's defense long to set the tone Saturday.

The Pirates stuffed visiting Fernley time and again in the first half on the way to a 35-7 win in the Class 3A state football semifinals.

"That's what we talked about before the game was that our defense would win this game," Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis said. "That's exactly what it did."

The Pirates (9-2) will play Truckee in the 3A state title game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Arbor View High School.

Moapa Valley stopped Fernley for a loss on 14 of 24 first-half plays. The Pirates held the Vaqueros to negative 24 yards of offense in the first half. Fernley didn't hit positive yardage for the game until the fourth quarter, when the Vaqueros broke through against Moapa Valley's reserves.

"Our defense stepped up probably the best I've seen all year," said senior linebacker Travis Ozaki, who was in on two sacks and had four other tackles for loss. "We shut them down, and we brought intensity."

The Pirates sacked Fernley quarterback Bryce Baker seven times, six in the first half.

Moapa Valley's Brad Weiss finished with 184 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries. He has 1,688 yards rushing on the season, topping the previous school record of 1,603 set by current assistant coach Shane Hickman in 1995.

• Truckee (Calif.) 35, Virgin Valley 7 -- At Truckee, the North's No. 1 seed had little trouble knocking off the Bulldogs (9-3) to advance to the 3A state title game.

CLASS 2A

• The Meadows 23, Battle Mountain 14 -- At The Meadows, the Mustangs held the Longhorns to 78 yards after their initial drive and forced three turnovers on the way to the 2A state semifinal victory.

The Mustangs (10-2) advance to the 2A state title game against Pershing County at 3 p.m. Saturday at Arbor View.

Battle Mountain (9-3) was averaging 242 rushing yards per game, and its large offensive line looked as if it would dominate The Meadows after William Wolf's 1-yard TD run capped the seven-play, 50-yard opening drive.

The Mustangs' defense controlled things from there, limiting Battle Mountain to 111 rushing yards for the game.

Mustangs defensive back David Liu flew to the ball on two occasions in the second quarter to set up Mustangs touchdowns. He blocked a Longhorns punt, deflecting it out of bounds at The Meadows 25-yard line. Four plays later, Pat Kenny scored on a 1-yard run. On the following Battle Mountain possession, Liu intercepted a pass and returned the ball 42 yards for a score.

• Pershing County 28, Mountain View 22 -- At Lovelock, Dylan Bloyed's 4-yard touchdown pass to Udy Gonzales with about seven minutes left allowed Pershing County (11-0) to reach the Class 2A state title game.

Mountain View (5-7) trailed 22-14 entering the fourth quarter but tied the score on Raymond Velarde's 12-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Van Kempen and a 2-point conversion pass from Velarde to Dylan Martin.

The Saints moved to the Pershing County 40-yard line with less than two minutes to play but were stopped short on fourth down.

CLASS 1A

• Tonopah 71, Carlin 30 -- At Carlin, Tonopah quarterback Scott Thibodeaux ran for seven touchdowns and threw for two as the Muckers (8-3) pulled away in a rematch of last year's Class 1A state title game.

Tonopah will meet Pahranagat Valley for the state crown at noon Saturday at Arbor View.

Thibodeaux's seven rushing touchdowns came in the first half. He carried 17 times for 268 yards and was 9 of 18 passing for 170 yards.

Carlin (10-1) pulled within 26-22 on Kyle Meacham's 14-yard touchdown pass to J.D. Thuringer in the first quarter.

Thibodeaux then scored on runs of 59, 4, 7 and 50 yards as the Muckers grabbed a 54-22 halftime lead.