ARIMO – Even after nine seasons as West Side’s head coach, Tyson Moser still lends a listening ear to his teenage football players.

It paid off in the way of a 62-yard pass play that set up the first touchdown of a 21-6 win Friday at Marsh Valley, where offensive production was sparse.

West Side's Enoch Ward asked Moser to call a wheel route for the receiver. When Moser granted his request a play later from the Pirates’ 10, the junior caught a pass behind the defense at his own 35-yard line before getting tackled 26 yards from the end zone.

“It was his idea, it was his play call,” Moser said. “He was right, he got back there. And that was huge. To that point, the game was basically a standstill for both teams. That was really the first big play of the night.”

West Side could have avoided the aggressive play calling on a drive that started 90 yards away from the Marsh Valley's end zone with 2 minutes left in the half, but Moser welcomed the deep route and diagrammed things around it, adding a play-action component with a fake sweep that may have been the key, possibly drawing in the defense. While Ward ran to the sideline before a sharp curl to get separation to catch the ball, a West Side outside receiver on Ward's side of the field used a dig route.

Ward capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown catch with 17.5 seconds left in the first half, hauling in a pass just inside the left sideline after running in stride with quarterback Stockton Brown, who was rolling out.

“I know we had to score on that drive,” said Ward, who had all 129 of West Side's receiving yards on four catches. “It was a big drive. It kind of gave us the momentum to win the game, really. I mean, it was 0-0. Someone had to do it.”

West Side ended second quarter with 1st scoring drive of game, going ahead 7-0 thanks to two big catches by Ward. #idpreps pic.twitter.com/XA99n9BvWT

— Jeff Papworth (@JeffPapworth) September 9, 2017

Brown and Ward delivered a deathblow to Marsh Valley in the fourth quarter with a 50-yard pass connection for a touchdown, putting the Pirates (3-0) ahead 21-0 with 9:33 left in the game. The score came two plays after the Eagles were stuffed at the line of scrimmage on fourth down and five at midfield.

The Eagles (2-1) added a touchdown less than a minute after falling behind 21-0, but moving the ball down the field twice more was asking too much.

In a matchup where scoring chances were few, Marsh Valley may ruminate about a second-quarter drive, where a mix of luck and effort placed the Eagles at West Side’s 4-yard line with first and goal and the game still tied 0-0.

On the drive, Marsh Valley survived two fourth-and-longs because of a pass interference penalty and a 16-yard run by Damon Kelly, but the Eagles had a turnover on downs at West Side’s 10. Ward and the Pirates, who hosts Soda Springs next Friday, answered on the following drive, which turned out to be monumental.

“We had moments on several drives that were successful. We just couldn’t sustain it,” said Marsh Valley coach Doug Armstrong, whose team hosts Sugar-Salem next Friday. “If you don’t finish your drives, you’re going to be in trouble at the end of the game.”

Follow @JeffPapworth