The Virgin Valley High flag football team will host rival Moapa Valley Thursday, Feb. 14, in a 3A South Region playoff game at Evan Wilson Stadium. Game time will be at 5:30 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs (18-3 overall) finished in second place in the 3A Southern League at 14-2 behind Del Sol Academy, which ran the table to go 16-0.
Moapa Valley (7-14) finished seventh in league play at 5-11. The two teams played three times during the regular season with Virgin Valley winning all three contests – twice in league play and once in the preseason Lady Bulldog Invitational. The last game, however, was a battle with VVHS scoring in the final quarter to prevail, 18-14.
The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to the 3A State tournament semifinals against the winner of Thursday’s Valley (6-12) at Boulder City (11-6) contest. The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19, with the championship contest set for Thursday, Feb. 21 at Cimarron-Memorial High School in North Las Vegas.
Virgin Valley has reached the past two 3A state title contests only to come up short against Cheyenne both times.
In Thursday’s other regional games, Mojave (1-17) will be at No. 1 seed Del Sol Academy (17-4) and Sunrise Mountain (7-10) plays at Chaparral (10-7).
Virgin Valley has three of the top five running backs in 3A. Junior Shaylee Feltner leads the way with 1,698 yards on 243 carries while scoring 20 touchdowns. Junior Nikita Eskelsen is second with 1,395 yards on 188 carries and 14 TDs. Senior Julia Ramirez is fifth with 828 yards on 115 carries and seven touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Ally Wright has thrown for 1,568 yards and 13 touchdowns. Her favorite targets are juniors Taylor Marshall – 49 receptions for 500 yards and eight TDs – and Autumn Boatright – 37 receptions, 368 yards and four TDs.
On defense, sophomore Alley Shaner leads the 3A in sacks with 13 while junior Nataly Serna is third in interceptions with six, including three for touchdowns.
Serna (81), senior Macee Bundy (78), junior Kiara Swanson (76) and Ramirez (73) are third through sixth, respectively, in flag pulls on the season.
