By: Breven Honda
It has been a challenging eight games for the reigning four-time 3A State Champion Virgin Valley High School flag football team.
For a team a season ago that only lost once, and three times across the last two seasons, the Bulldogs lost three of their first six games, all to 5A competition.
“Some of the girls are a little upset,” head coach Joey Bowler said. “We played the number one team in the state, the number two team in the state, and the number four team in the state.
“I wanted to play those teams because they play flag year-round.”
However, competing against the top teams was not only to get Virgin Valley better before league play, but because of some new rule changes and realignment to Nevada flag football this season.
Since being in the 3A once flag football became a sanctioned sport, Virgin Valley, along with the rest of the 3A schools, are moving up to the 4A Division.
There are 10 teams that represent the 5A Division and the other 36 schools are separated into four, nine-team leagues. Virgin Valley is in the Lake Division with Desert Pines, Eldorado, Las Vegas, Mater Academy East, Moapa Valley, Rancho, Sunrise Mountain and Valley.
“Defense, I think it’s a little easier for us,” Bowler said of the new rules and the realignment. “But offense, we basically had to throw the playbook that we’ve pretty much perfected for over a decade, basically throwing most of it in the garbage because you can’t run the plays anymore. So, it’s a learning curve.
“I wish they would have given us, say, ‘Hey, these are the rules. (We’ll) give you a year to prepare for them.’ But basically, we got, ‘Here’s the rules. You’re playing them this next season.’”
The biggest change is how a defense stops opposing offenses, most notable how opposing defenses go after the quarterback.
“On offense, they can blitz. You used to blitz two max, five yards from the line of scrimmage. Now they can blitz all seven, one yard off, and you can’t block them,” Bowler said. “You can get in their way, but you can’t block them.
“You got to get the ball out really quick. Your quarterback has no time. Those deeper routes are really hard to throw because they have no time.”
As a result, Bulldogs senior quarterback Davie Slack has had to adjust to the new rules.
“She’s an amazing quarterback. But there’s times where she’s really been frustrated,” Bowler said of Slack, who has completed 50% of her passes, which is lower than her 58% completion rating over the last two years. “It’s hard to move the ball a lot of times against a good defense.”
Although Slack has been adapting to the new rules, she is finding success. On Dec. 6, Virgin Valley defeated Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon and Green Valley, 31-7 and 39-6, respectively. Between those two games, Slack threw seven touchdown passes and no interceptions while also adding a rushing touchdown in each game.
Also in the first eight games, Bowler has seen impact from three freshmen, including backup quarterback Ryleigh Woods.
Woods first got substantial snaps against Bishop Gorman and two days later against Moapa Valley.
Instead of taking Slack off the field, offensive coordinator Robert Nelson decided to move Slack to wide receiver. Woods completed 14-of-31 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown while Slack recorded team-highs with seven receptions for 100 yards with a touchdown.
Against Moapa, Woods completed 12-of-26 passes for 174 yards while Slack completed 13-of-18 for 123 yards and also caught seven passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
“What happens when you put Davey out on the field is she’s one of the most dynamic, not only is she a dynamic quarterback, but she’s one of the most dynamic receivers in all of flag football in Nevada,” Bowler said. “(Davie and Ryleigh) work well together. A lot of times when you’re putting someone in the position that the other one has, sometimes that can cause friction, but not with those two.”
Although it might have been a two-game experience, it was a rewarding experience on all fronts to see how dynamic Virgin Valley offense could be if they decide that during the league season.
As the first eight games came in a 16-day stretch, Bowler has a designed three-week break for everyone to either decompress from the first eight games or get mentally prepared for league play and the playoffs.
“Maybe five years ago, six years ago, I just got with coaches, and I said, ‘We’re tired, they’re tired.’ Let’s try to make this two seasons where we have that first half of the season, we give them the two weeks off, or close to it. We come back and refresh and we’re ready to go,” Bowler said. “Nelson’s been watching a lot of film. I’ve been watching a little. I don’t watch nearly as much as Nelson does. That man is a film guru.
“It gives us time, especially now with new rules to put some offense together, look at where we need to get stronger, look at our strengths, look at some of the younger girls, maybe giving them opportunities.”
