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Sunrise Mountain nabbed the first playoff win in school history Friday night, and the Miners did it in style.
They defeated Class 3A power Moapa Valley 30-28 on the road, holding on to secure the victory after a big third quarter gave it a lead.
“It’s enormous for us,” Sunrise Mountain coach Chris Sawyers said. “I can’t overstate that.”
Sunrise Mountain trailed 14-7 at halftime, but Sawyers implemented some adjustments for the second half. Noticing that Moapa Valley was playing soft coverage, Sunrise Mountain tweaked its game plan to get the ball out to its explosive wide receivers in space.
“We broke a few tackles, took a couple to the house and made a couple really nice throws over the top,” Sawyers said. “We kind of baited them by throwing hitch, hitch, hitch and then running by them. That really worked to our advantage.”
Junior quarterback Tyree Hayes wound up with around 250 passing yards, with more than 100 each going to senior Te’andre Love and junior Xavier Kyles. Love and senior running back Trayvon Ward, who had 125 rushing yards, each had two touchdowns.
The victory avenged a 13-12 loss to Moapa Valley in the first week of the season. Sunrise Mountain will look for revenge against another team next week, as it fell to second-round opponent Desert Pines 35-7 three weeks ago.
“We played the worst game we could possibly play the last time we played them,” Sawyers said. “They’re a good team and we give them all the respect they deserve but we’re looking forward to redemption.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.