Hughes brothers help buoy Pirates’ potent defense

Siblings on high school sports teams often have a special chemistry together. When they play a similar position, the results can be scary.

Moapa Valley’s football team is using a stingy defense to make its maiden voyage in the Division I-A Sunrise League one to remember, and two big reasons for the ship staying on course are senior linebacker Kasen Hughes and junior linebacker Justin Hughes.

“Those two guys, I’ve never had a brother combination at both my middle linebacker spots,” Pirates coach Brent Lewis said. “I thought Kasen was going to be the big leader, and he has been, but his little brother has been phenomenal.

“(Justin) reads really well. He can find those cracks to slip through.”

Moapa Valley (6-1, 2-0) will put its defense on display when the Pirates visit Boulder City (6-0, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday with first place in the I-A Sunrise up for grabs. Both communities are buzzing over the showdown between longtime foes from the old Class 3A.

Moapa Valley has shut out two opponents and allowed a total of 44 points in its past six games against in-state competition.

The Hughes brothers are the Pirates’ leading two tacklers, and they make more plays than simply stopping the run.

Justin Hughes has 68 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions, while Kasen Hughes has 64 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

“Defensively, we’ve gotten better and better every game,” Lewis said. “I think when somebody scores on us, it ticks us off a little bit.”

The Hughes brothers are part of what Lewis called a “family affair” that has helped keep Moapa Valley among the state’s best programs.

Junior twins Jared and Jake Repp are standout running backs and linebackers for the Pirates, and their older brother, senior Josh Repp, plays quarterback and linebacker.

“It’s interesting to see how competitive each of them is, not just toward our opponents but each other,” Lewis said. “There’s that camaraderie, and they feed off each other. It’s pretty cool.”

The Pirates have backed their defense with a powerful ground game led by running backs Conner Mortensen and Sean McConnell. Moapa Valley had 463 yards rushing in a 57-12 home win over Chaparral last week.

“Our kids really worked hard in the offseason. You can see it from our guys up front,” Lewis said. “In our backfield, our kids have been so tough to tackle. One of the biggest things is how many (runs) we’ve broken.

“Last year, we had to ground it out bit by bit. This year, we’ve had dozens more big plays.”

Boulder City also has used an impressive rushing attack and strong defense to emerge as a contender in the I-A Sunrise, and the Eagles’ progress hasn’t been lost on Lewis.

“I’ve noticed Boulder City building their program over the last few years, and I see a lot of great improvements from them,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be a good challenge for us.”

Boulder City rallied for a 15-12 victory at Virgin Valley last week, winning on a 25-yard field goal by Chris Nilsen on the final play.

“It was great to see the kids come back,” Eagles coach Alex Kazel said. “You have to overcome adversity. Being down 12 points, battling back like they did and not giving up, the kids responded.”

Boulder City’s rushing attack has been tough to stop for most teams, as D.J. Koopman, Xavier Steel, Billy Viera and J.D. Owens each have more than 260 yards rushing on the season.

But the Eagles also have relied on a steady hand at quarterback in senior Joe Miller, who passed for 85 yards and a touchdown against Virgin Valley.

“He knows his assignments,” Kazel said of Miller. “He’s in his second year, and he knows where the ball’s going. He’s done a good job distributing the ball and keeping things running.”

Kazel said Moapa Valley, as expected, has been impressive on film.

“They run hard, they block hard, they tackle hard and they play hard,” Kazel said. “We’ve got to match them.”

The combination of the Eagles being one of the state’s few remaining undefeated teams plus first-place being on the line between the longtime rivals, has upped the excitement surrounding Friday’s game.

“It should be a great game,” Kazel said.