OVERTON, Nev. – Jacob Leavitt rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns as Moapa Valley defeated Hurricane 25-14 on Friday night. Leavitt also had 68 yards receiving and a score as well as a late-game interception for the Pirates, who avenged last year’s 17-14 loss to the Tigers.
Moapa had 342 yards total offense while limiting Hurricane to 228 yards. Turnovers were also a problem for the visiting Tigers, who gave the ball away four times to the Pirates.
Hurricane went 57 yards in 13 plays to score its first touchdown. Jaron Cordova went the final two yards and Trevor Stackhouse added the point-after to give the Tigers what would be their only lead of the game with 4:23 to go in the first quarter.
Moapa scored twice, on Leavitt runs of 2 and 6 yards, to lead 13-7 at the half. The Pirates picked up their first touchdown after Daxton Longman completed a 65-yard pass to Dalton Wolfley.
In the third quarter, Moapa Valley upped its advantage to 19-7. The Pirates had just stuffed Hurricane on fourth-and-14 at the Moapa 39-yard line. On the very next play, Wolfley took a pitch from Longman and hit Leavitt on a halfback pass that exploded into a 61-yard touchdown.
two minutes into the fourth quarter, Longman ran one yard for Moapa’s final score, making it 25-7. Josh Parker completed a 30-yard pass to Joe Armijo and passed two yards to Cordova for the Tigers’ final points.
But that would be the lone offensive highlight of the second half for Hurricane and it came with just 3:29 left on the clock. The Tigers got the ball one more time, but Leavitt intercepted Parker with 2:18 left in the game and Moapa Valley was able to run out the clock and record the win.
Riley Ballard had another good game catching the ball for the Tigers. The senior wide receiver had seven grabs for 59 yards.
Hurricane, 1-2, will lick its wounds and get back to work in preparation for next week’s road game at Carbon. The Tigers then open region play on Sept. 16 with a home game against Snow Canyon. Moapa Valley improves to 1-1 with the win.
For more stats, quotes and insight from the game, see the Saturday Breakdown Saturday morning on St. George News.
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