A turnover and a savvy quarterback squashed a Overton Moapa Valley rally Thursday night, as Mesquite Virgin Valley toppled their rival, 34-14 in a Southern Nevada Class 3-A League football game played Thursday in front of a large, raucous crowd, the Web site, nevprep.com reported.

The Pirates were down 14-0 at halftime, but it only took 33 seconds for them to get back in the game. Senior Bobby Vallet returned the second-half kickoff for an 85-yard touchdown.

The Bulldogs answered with an eight-minute drive, capped with a 3-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Doug Hafen.

But the Pirates answered right back as junior quarterback Max Jenkins connected with senior Joseph Rebman for a 63-yard touchdown, making the score 21-14 after the extra point.

Then disaster struck for the home team.

The Pirates were driving early in the fourth and had marched to the Bulldog 33. But as Jenkins went back to pass on third and 5, the ball trickled from his hands.

His throwing-arm did move forward as the ball fell, but the play was ruled a fumble with Virgin Valley recovering.

The officials then convened to discuss the play while Moapa fans and coaches frantically pled their case that Jenkins had attempted a pass.

The call stood.

"I thought we had momentum at that time," Moapa coach Brent Lewis said. "It's a tie ballgame if we finish that drive off."

Lewis added he wasn't sure if Jenkins fumbled or not.

"I don't know. I'll have to look at it on film," he said. "Talking to Max a little bit, it probably was. I thought his arm was moving forward, but, I don't know, it's hard to say seeing it live."

It appeared Moapa would get another chance to tie, as Virgin Valley soon faced third and 23 at their own 45. But senior quarterback Doug Hafen scrambled out of the pocket, rolled right, and fired an off-balance pass down the sideline to tight end Spencer Planck.

The 6-foot-5 senior reached over the defender for the grab, then turned and ran in the 55-yard touchdown.

The play zapped the energy from the home crowd and overjoyed those wearing green on the east side of the field.

"They did have the momentum going there and Doug rolled out and threw a strike and Spencer came down with it, which I was glad to see," Bulldog head coach Doug Hafen said. "He made some real good catches there at the end of the game."

Virgin Valley finished things off with a 6-minute drive ending with a 15-yard touchdown from senior halfback Colton Teerlink late in the fourth.

The defending state champions showed few flaws as they racked up 291 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs took care of the ball, methodically moving up the field with their running game. Virgin only had one turnover to Moapa's five.

"We put ourselves in a hole with all those turnovers early," Lewis said. "We kind of got off our game plan a little bit, because we were playing from behind."

Teerlink led the way for the Bulldogs with 162-yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Junior Brad Weiss led Moapa with 43 yards on 9 carries.

Virgin Valley's linemen were dominant. The offensive line held the pocket for Hafen and created nice holes for Teerlink throughout the night.

"I think our kids wore them down a little bit," Coach Hafen said. "They were rotating in players that hadn't played in the game on the defensive line."

The Bulldog defensive line recorded four sacks and constantly hounded Jenkins, who threw for 227 yards but had two interceptions.

"They kicked our butt in the trenches, that's for sure," Lewis said. "They controlled us at the line of scrimmage. We really didn't have an answer for their power game."

The win gave Virgin Valley the first seed in the Southern 3-A and set up a first-round playoff meeting with Boulder City in Mesquite Saturday. Boulder City defeated Pahrump Valley 51-7 to earn the fourth playoff spot.

The plan is pretty simple for Hafen. "Just keep doing what we're doing," he said.

"Good thing about it is we've been there the last three or four years," Hafen said. "These kids have kind of grown up into it. They have a good idea of what needs to get done."

Moapa has the second seed and will host Faith Lutheran.

"Our season's not over by any stretch," Lewis said. "It's going to be a tough one to swallow for a few days, but I think we can rebound."