Trojans rushing game stopped cold by Moapa

This year, the Pahrump Valley Trojans no doubt have the best team in years, but are still 1-3. They lost their third game in a row to probably the best team in the Division 1-A, the Moapa Valley Pirates. Going into Friday’s game the Pirates were undefeated and remain so, taking the Trojans 41-0.

The Pirates put a stop to Scott Maughan and the Trojans rushing game which had averaged close to 200 yards per game. The Trojans were limited by Moapa to just 48-yards rushing.

Against the Pirates’ Trojans Coach Joe Clayton had to turn to the passing game.

“We spread them out because we couldn’t get anything on the ground and passed for 108 yards,” Clayton said. “Moapa defense was so tough and I don’t know what offense would have been good against them. Their defense was averaging 46 yards per game and only allowed 14 points in four games.”

Clayton believes the Pirates were well disciplined and well coached. He agreed the Pirates might be the team to beat this year for the state title game.

“This team has gone to the title game the past five years,” he said.

Against the Trojans, Moapa quarterback Zak Hymas threw for 235 yards and the Pirates rushed for 167 yards. The Pirates scored 28 in the first quarter, 6 in the second and 7 in the third.

On the Trojans defense the lead tackler was once again Sam Tuscnak who led the team with eight tackles during the night.

On offense, quarterback TJ Milk was 4-8 and threw for 78 yards passing.

For this week’s homecoming game, the Trojans face the Clark Chargers. The Chargers have a viable offense and are 2-2 on the year with wins against Rancho and El Dorado. They are coming off a loss to Virgin Valley who beat them 48-21. Clark likes to pass and has 398-yards passing on the year and 380-yards rushing. This makes for a balanced attack.

Clayton believes his team can run against the Chargers.

“We have the same game plan. We just have to block and tackle,” he said.

The coach believes he lost to the better team against Moapa, but he firmly believes his team should have won the Boulder game. “Our team was flat against Boulder City. If we play them again we beat them nine times out of 10. We ran for 201 yards and scored only eight points.”

The coach feels to win against the Chargers his team must play like they played against Chaparral or Desert Pines.

“We played our two home games tough and didn’t play our two away games that way. We are hoping to bring it back home and play like the way we did early in the year and we should be fine,” he said.

Kickoff is on Friday at 7 p.m. and it’s the homecoming game for the Trojans.