By DON McDERMOTT

PVT

In the 2009 season, T.J. Engel accounted for more than 2,000 yards as Las Vegas Mountain View Christian won nine games and advanced to the playoffs in only its second campaign in Nevada Class 2-A football.

Friday night, Engel showed why he is one of the more feared quarterbacks in 2-A, as he guided the visiting Saints to a 36-25 victory against Pahrump Valley. The win was achieved despite Mountain View having to deal with a loud, raucous crowd watching the Trojans open not only their 2010 campaign, but perform on a new artificial turf playing field.

“In the second half, we knew we had of control the ball … we couldn’t let Pahrump have the ball. We couldn’t stop them in the first half,” said Ray LeBeouf, the Saints’ veteran coach.

The Saints had the football for almost 20 of the 24 second-half minutes and scored twice. Pahrump Valley never had a legitimate shot at maintaining possession after scoring 25 first-half points, including 19 in the second quarter.

The Trojans have now lost 19 consecutive game since defeating Mountain View 23-18 in the 2008 opener.

Engel threw an 12-yard touchdown pass to Justyn Anderson in the third quarter, then directed a 97-yard, 17-play scoring drive as the Saints prevailed.

Anderson’s touchdown gave the Saints a 30-25 lead. Following a 70-yard punt by Pahrump’s Carlos Sawtelle to the Mountain View 3, Engel guided a clock-consuming drive capped by Elijah Armstrong’s 9-yard run with 10:39 to play.

Engel finished with 107 yards on 21 carries and 182 yards passing on 10-of-16 accuracy.

Mountain View had to rally after wasting a 16-6 lead in the second quarter. Pahrump Valley erupted for three touchdowns and led 25-24 at the half.

“We had no quit in us,” said Leo Verzilli, the Trojans’ coach. “We did a lot of things right, but in the second half, we couldn’t get the football.

“I think we were in the right mindset,” said Verzilli. “Mountain View is a good football team … they played an 11-man game out of basically an eight-man formation.” Until 2008, Mountain View played the 1-A eight-man game and was in the Southern Nevada League.”

As for the crowd that came not only to see the game and watch the Trojans cavort on their new turf, they also watched the PVHS Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2010 be inducted — and created some deafening noise.

“The crowd was outstanding, the way they cheered for us,” said Verzilli. The fans will get another chance Saturday, when the Trojans host Sierra Vista in a Sunset Region Southwest Class 4-A division game; kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The Saints generated 383 yards total offense, while the Trojans gained 252. Wideout Brandon Murphy made three catches, two of the spectacular kind, and gained 68 yards for the Trojans.

* In games involving Nye County football teams, Beatty stunned Tonopah 20-18 and Round Mountain crushed Lund 60-6. Beatty is 1-0, Tonopah 1-1 and Round Mountain 1-1 two weeks into the season. Sierra Vista lost 32-0 to Rancho and is now winless and scoreless in its first two starts this season.

THE GAME STATS

Mountain View 36,

Pahrump Valley 25

MtnView 8 16 6 6 –36

Pahrump 6 19 0 0–25

First Quarter

MV–Engel 12 run Engel run .

PV–Jackson 1 run run failed .

Second Quarter

MV–Van Kempen 29 pass from Engel Anderson pass from Engel .

PV–Harvey 1 run Sawtelle kick .

PV–Murphy 33 pass from McGuire run failed .

MV–Anderson 55 pass from Engel Anderson pass from Engel .

PV–Mitchell 3 run pass failed .

Third Quarter

MV–Anderson 12 pass from Engel run failed .

Fourth Quarter

MV–Armstrong 9 run pass failed .

Individual Statistics

RUSHING–Mountain View, Engel 21-107, Duldulao 10-73, Anderson 3-30, Armstrong 5-21. Pahrump, Mitchell 7-56, Harvey 9-73.

PASSING–Mountain View, Engel 10-16-0 182. Pahrump, McGuire 3-8 68.

RECEIVING–Mountain View, Anderson 7-138, Van Kempen 3-44. Pahrump, Murphy 3-68.