Moapa Valley opens with stunning win over Show Low

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It wasn’t a state championship. But season-opening wins don’t get much sweeter than the one Moapa Valley’s football team earned on Saturday.

The Pirates downed Show Low (Ariz.), Arizona’s defending Class 3A state champion, 28-26 in the Sollenberger Classic at University of Phoenix Stadium.

“It’s right up there, let me tell you,” Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis said, comparing the win in the NFL stadium to a state title. “But in the big goal of things it’s just another game. But it’s pretty special to come down here, (with) not a lot of people giving us a chance and come down and knock off a pretty good football team.”

Moapa Valley took a 21-20 lead with 1:28 left in the third quarter after a drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock.

Dakota Watters hit Jacob Rebman with a 10-yard scoring pass, and Dylan Mortensen hit the extra point to give Moapa Valley the lead.

“We were able to control the clock, keep their offense off the field and move the ball downfield slowly, bump by bump,” Lewis said.

The Cougars took over near midfield with 4:12 to go, but the Pirates stopped them on four plays, with Kasen Hughes sacking Zach Winn to end the drive.

On the next play, Sean McConnell blew through a huge hole on the left side and ran 32 yards for a touchdown, and the extra point put the Pirates up 28-20.

“The linemen blocked, and the hole opened up, so I just took it and ran with it,” said Mortensen, who finished with 64 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

Show Low had a chance to tie after Winn hit Brian Johnson with a 5-yard TD pass with 1:07 to play, but the pass on the 2-point conversion try was incomplete.

It didn’t look like it would be much of a game early as Show Low marched down the field and scored on its first two possessions to take a 13-0 lead.

Cougars star Josh Weeks scored on a 16-yard run on a reverse with 9:05 to go in the first quarter and then streaked past the Moapa Valley defense and caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Winn with 5:07 to go in the quarter.

But Moapa Valley marched 61 yards on 10 plays on the ensuing possession, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by McConnell, and Dylan Mortensen’s extra point made it 13-7.

Show Low didn’t get the ball to Weeks on the next two possessions but decided to change that when it got the ball back midway through the second quarter.

Weeks took three snaps as a wildcat quarterback and turned them into three big running plays, capped by a 35-yard TD run seven minutes before halftime.

Moapa Valley cut its deficit back to six when Kasen Hughes capped a seven-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds left in the half.

“It was key,” Lewis said. “That one right before the half really kept us in the game.”

Conner Mortensen rushed for 81 yards on 18 carries for Moapa Valley, and Watters completed 7 of 11 passes for 125 yards.

“We don’t have one single go-to kid,” Lewis said. “We feel like we can spread the ball (around).”

Weeks, who has committed to Brigham Young, finished with 105 yards and two TDs on nine carries and caught 10 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.