Trojans football team set to play home in opening playoffs game
The Trojans will play at home in the first round of the regional playoffs after the team won back No. 4 in their league’s rankings.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association put the Pahrump Valley football team in the No. 4 spot after the Trojans defeated the Boulder City Eagles and No. 5 Mater Academy East Las Vegas lost their final game of the season. Placing No. 4 allows the Trojans to play at home for the first round of the Class 3A Southern League Football Playoffs.
Pahrump Valley finished off their regular season with a standing of 3-3, and on Friday, the Trojans will gear up to play MAELV in the quarterfinals in Pahrump at 6 p.m.
But the Trojans wouldn’t get to play at home if the team didn’t win their last game of the regular seasons.
Here’s how the team fared against Boulder City.
Seven touchdowns
No. 7 Boulder City had one last game to play in the season and they gave it their all against the Trojans on Thursday night.
After the Trojans’ Randal Murray (10) received the ball he ran it down to the Eagles 15-yard line. And as Kayne Horibe (8) attempted to throw the ball, he decided it was easier to run the ball into the left side of the end zone for the first touchdown within a minute.
Later in the first quarter, Horibe would throw two separate passes to Murray and Austin Alvarez (33) for two more touchdowns. The Trojans would end the quarter up 21-0.
But the Eagles wouldn’t leave Pahrump without scoring a single touchdown. As the Trojans applied pressure on their quarterback, Greg Hopkinson, Pahrump would force some challenging third-down plays.
On a third down, Hopkinson would quickly throw the ball to Gavin Flake (35) for a first down. Then the Eagles had momentum to make a run before being stopped near the line. And after nearly being sacked, Hopkinson was able to secure a first down to later make a touchdown pass to score their first touchdown and bring the score to 28-7.
As the Eagles had possession of the ball near the end of the first half, Boulder City was slowly working their way upfield. On a pass from Hopkinson, the Trojans were unable to hold off the team with just 36 seconds on the clock. But the Trojans were able to block the kick to bring the score to 35-13.
The Trojans would add two more touchdowns in the second half to secure the win at 55-20 and a third win for Pahrump Valley.
Playoffs
The Trojans needed to win their last game in order to finish in No. 4 but only if MAELV lost their game against Sports Leadership and Management.
After winning their game, Pahrump Valley was relying on SLAM to defeat MAELV to give them their fourth loss of the season. Pahrump Valley and MAELV were tied right before their last games and MAELV had a steep hill to climb if they wanted to hold onto No. 4.
On Friday the Bulls came out on top after defeating MAELV in a tight finish 33-21.
This allowed the Trojans to move up the leaderboard and to get home field advantage for the first playoff game.
Pahrump Valley has already defeated the Knights but Trojans head coach Thom Walker, is always concerned about the next game.
“I’m always worried about every game,” Walker said. “We’re gonna get to work, take the next couple of days off, break down film and just grind.”
Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.
