Sports Roundup: Beatty football holds off Indian Springs

Noel Gutierrez rushed for more than 100 yards and Brayden Lynn threw two touchdown passes as the Beatty High School football team defeated Indian Springs 40-32 on Oct. 24 in Indian Springs.

“They’ve got 18 boys out, which is more than they’ve had in a few years,” Beatty coach Leo Verzilli said of the Thunderbirds. “New coach, pretty good team. They had some pretty good athletes who played well. Offensively and defensively, they were well coached.”

Verzilli said the Hornets threw the ball a little more than usual, noting that Lynn’s touchdown passes were for roughly 40 yards. But they also ran well, and Verzilli said Lynn, Gutierrez and Fabian Perez all had good nights rushing.

“Defensively, we still need to get things ironed out on our pass coverage,” Verzilli said. “That’s still letting us down. As a whole, they played all four quarters, which was nice to see.”

The win in Indian Springs served as a nice rebound from the previous week, when the Hornets were routed 48-18 by Spring Mountain.

“It was a typical Spring Mountain game,” Verzilli said. “You come out, you get a couple of scores, they tighten up and take control. They’re just bigger, stronger, faster, and you can’t match up. You never have enough athletes to match up In the long run, they’ll get you.”

Sophomore quarterback Masiah Pagota did much of the damage for the Golden Eagles, a team that usually is dominated by juniors and seniors. Pagota completed 6 of 8 passes for 162 yards, including touchdown passes of 39, 43 and 34 yards. He had 7 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown while passing for one 2-point conversion and running for another. Pagota capped the scoring with a 74-yard kickoff return with 11:40 to go in the third quarter.

Junior Jimmy Smith caught all three of Pagota’s touchdown passes and finished with 4 receptions for 130 yards. He also returned a second-quarter interception 44 yards for a touchdown for Spring Mountain, which finished with 5 sacks.

The Hornets (3-3, 2-2 Class 1A Southern) will close their season tonight at home against league-leading Pahranagat Valley (9-0, 4-0).

“They are what they usually are,” Verzilli said of the Panthers from Alamo. “They were down a little bit last year, if you can imagine Alamo ever being down, but they’re back this year. It will be interesting. They have a good senior class, they have a lot of experience.

“Just watching them come to the line and get set, they are absolutely perfect. They play solid football. They do not make mistakes. Those kids are where they’re supposed to be. It’s just solid football.”

Girls volleyball

Pahrump Valley finished Sunset League play at 9-3 after a 25-7, 25-21, 25-17 loss to Western on Wednesday in Las Vegas, a result that left the Warriors at 9-3 in the league as well.

Because each team swept the other, the total points tiebreaker was used. Western scored 129 points to 121 for Pahrump Valley, giving the Warriors the No. 3 seed in the Sunset for the region tournament and giving the Trojans the No. 4 seed.

Moapa Valley has clinched the No. 2 seed in the Sunrise, meaning the Pirates and Trojans will meet in the opening round of the region tournament at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Mojave High School. The winner likely will meet Sunset No. 1 seed Mojave on Thursday at Moapa Valley.

As the No. 2 seed, Western draws a team to be determined Tuesday, with the winner of that match most likely playing Sunrise No. 1 seed Boulder City on Thursday.

Meanwhile, over in the Class 1A Southern League, Beatty, Green Valley Christian and Pahranagat Valley went into the final day of the regular season tied at 5-1 in league matches. The Hornets meet the Panthers at 5 p.m. today in Beatty, while Green Valley Christian travels to Arizona to meet Beaver Dam (4-2).

A Beatty win would give the Hornets the top seed in the South no matter what Green Valley Christian does, as the Hornets have beaten the Guardians. A Beatty loss would leave them in the playoffs with their seed pending the Green Valley Christian-Beaver Dam match.

Beatty will open Class 1A Region II play Nov. 8 in Alamo.

Girls soccer

Maddy Souza scored 4 goals, Makayla Gent tallied 3 and Kaylee Vega scored twice as Pahrump Valley finished Sunset League play with a 12-0 romp over Del Sol.

The Trojans (16-2-3) went 10-0 in league play and will go into the postseason as the No. 1 seed out of the Sunset. They outscored league opponents 79-3, with only Western (twice) and Mojave putting the ball into the net against them.

Sofia Castro, Kaylee Mendoza and Kiara Ramos also scored against the Dragons (2-10, 1-8 Sunset), while Adryanna Avena-Caraballo assisted on two goals.

Pahrump Valley’s first-round opponent is yet to be decided. In the far more competitive Sunrise League, Boulder City will be the top seed, but Virgin Valley (7-2-2 Sunrise), Sunrise Mountain (7-3-1) and Moapa Valley (7-3-1) have not settled the second, third and fourth seeds.

The Trojans have defeated Moapa Valley 4-0 and tied Virgin Valley 1-1 this season.