Halfway through, it’s time for Fieldies

In case you’ve forgotten, the Fieldies are my midseason awards. Normally they come with a trophy, but Eric, Skeet and I were too busy watching the live stream of “Utopia” and forgot to put in the order.

The envelopes, please …

■ Most Valuable Player (Division I) — Russell Booze, Bishop Gorman. I know everyone is gushing about Gaels sophomore quarterback Tate Manziel, err, Martell, but Booze has given Gorman the home run hitter in the running game it lacked last season. The 5-foot-10-inch, 180-pound senior is second in the area with 797 rushing yards — granted, that’s in six games — after gaining 886 yards a season ago.

■ MVP (small schools) — Zach Hymas, Moapa Valley. The senior quarterback has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 13-to-1, and the Pirates are the only undefeated team in the wildly entertaining Division I-A Southern Region. That alone deserves some recognition, if not a vote in the Southern Nevada Football Coaches Poll.

■ Best argument after a successful extra-point attempt — Spring Valley’s special teams. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t want to stay on the kicking tee, right guys?

■ Most inspirational performance — Junior Paongo, Virgin Valley. After attending his father’s funeral Saturday, the senior rushed for 143 yards and four touchdowns that night to help the host Bulldogs beat Sunrise Mountain 54-18. The fact former Virgin Valley coach Chris Sawyers was on the Miners’ sideline added another layer to Paongo’s emotional day.

■ The Las Vegas Posse award — Liberty’s public-address announcer, who made a reference to the “53-yard line” during the game against Palo Verde. Blame Canada.

I still have plenty of room to improve my record against the spread, and I should do better now that league play is starting. The majority of this week’s games are tonight, so you have one fewer day to see the rest of my picks on Nevadapreps.com.

■ Canyon Springs at Liberty — Having this game at the start of Northeast League play rather than the end is a shame. It would be like NASCAR opening with the biggest race on its schedule. Oh, wait, NASCAR does that.

The Patriots have been a bogey team for Canyon Springs with six victories over the Pioneers since 2009. And I know Liberty coach Rich Muraco is treating this as the biggest game of the season, so his defense will be ready. … Liberty by 3.

■ Green Valley at Basic — The Henderson Bowl meant something when the Gators were hanging out in the Northeast League the past two seasons. Now that these schools are back to being league rivals, the intensity should get turned up even further.

Green Valley has won three straight over the Wolves and is coming off a bye. That means the Gators are rested and likely armed with a few trick plays, too. … Green Valley by 7.

■ Spring Valley at Mojave — They call Saturday “Moving Day” on the PGA Tour, and today is “Moving Day” in the Division I-A Sunset League, which has five teams tied for first at 2-1.

The Rattlers didn’t have much time to wallow in Saturday’s last-second loss to Faith Lutheran. That could be a good thing. … Mojave by 2.

■ Las Vegas at Coronado — The Wildcats will be without running back Elias Miller for this game, which is a problem. The bigger problem for Las Vegas is that the Cougars are much better than expected.

Coronado had Arbor View on the ropes last week, and I’m pretty sure the Cougars are the best two-loss team in the area. A win here would convince me. … Coronado by 6.

Last week: 5-3, 4-3-1 (with points)

Season: 25-14, 20-18-1 (with points)

Contact Fielder at Fielder@nevadapreps.com. Follow @FielderNVP on Twitter.