Fallon's T.J. Mauga still has the game ball from intercepting a game-ending lateral while his teammates celebrate.
It’s not the flashiest part of the game given the nature of today’s offensive schemes and trickery.
But when a defense can adjust, make plays and stifle opposing teams, boy, is it pretty.
The Greenwave football team’s path to its first state championship in 37 years started with a strong focus on turning the defense into terrorizing monster in the region. The main staple of the program for the last three seasons powered the Greenwave through its Division I-A competition as they have won all but one regular season game since 2013. The defense gave Fallon a chance to win state in 2013 but the offense self-destructed, trying to come from behind all game.
But the narrative changed this year as the defense made adjustments in the second half against Moapa Valley, shutting down the Pirates completely in the fourth quarter to allow Fallon to win, 34-27, on Saturday in the Division I-A state championship at Reno High School.
“We put some smaller guys inside to give us some pass rush,” Fallon coach Brooke Hill said. “We changed up coverage a bit. Obviously, when (R.J.) Hubert went out, that changed the coverage a little bit in terms of how we were going to play it. Our kids were able to handle it.”
Take away four big plays of at least 30 yards, the defense stayed true to itself like it had all season. Take away the second and third quarters and Fallon has a shutout over one of the most talented teams it’s faced since dropping down to the state’s second-biggest class in 2011.
“That’s a good team we’re playing and they had good schemes,” Hill said. “We kind of didn’t play some things right but we battled. We just wanted to win by one (score) and we got it done.”
Moapa Valley’s first touchdown of the game came on a 90-yard run by Utah-bound Hubert, who left in the second half with an injury. In the first play of the third quarter, quarterback Nate Cox executed the read option after pitching out to Sterling Simmons, who sprinted 55 yards to give the Pirates their first lead of the game at 20-19 only 18 seconds into the half. Derek Cope’s 31-yard reception toward the end of the third quarter completed Moapa Valley’s scoring.
“The big plays don’t really affect us,” Fallon senior Johnny Mayo. “We know it’s going to be whatever the score is at the end of the game. It has to come down to the end.”
Creating turnovers, including two interceptions and two fumble recoveries, help Fallon get off to a fast start to open the game and end the state championship drought.
Senior Riley Williams stripped Hubert in the first quarter for the first turnover and Conner Nelson intercepted Cox in the end zone to end a threat in the first half. No turnover, however, mattered more than junior Brock Uptain’s interception when he jumped out in front of the receiver after reading Cox look toward the Fallon bench.
“Nothing’s been bigger than that in my life,” Uptain said of the interception. “I got a good drop and saw the quarterback looking at the receiver and he overthrew it a little bit. I was just trying to think let’s go for a touchdown.”
It was only fitting that the game would end with the defense coming up big again. Lineman T.J. Mauga, also a junior, intercepted a last-attempt lateral with no time left and then fell to the ground as his teammates swarmed him near midfield.
“That last play, I really didn’t see it coming,” Mauga said. “We were really prepared for them during the week. We just needed to do our job and do it right. We already knew coming into the game it was going to be a grind.”