Nate
Moore:
Mavs’ hard-nosed defender welcomed
his role as team’s
defensive standout
By Bruce Smith
Matchup
Nate Moore was a quiet guy who let his play do the
talking.
Even though he was just a 5-foot-9, 165-pounder, he was one
of the biggest hitters on the football team. He played cornerback on the SIC’s
best defense. As soon as basketball started, he made the transition quickly and
coach Jon Nettleton had him in the starting lineup.Moore brought a spirit to a team that would be sorely needed. Mountain View was the state’s defending champion and would need to play hard every game to have a chance to repeat.
“The coaches told us right at the start that there would be a target on our backs,” Moore said. “We ran a lot in practices and it was pretty intense.”
Nettleton made Moore a starter right away.
“One of the toughest, hard-nosed type kids I’ve ever coached,” Nettleton said. “He was a great on-ball defender and always gave 100 percent.”
Moore wasn’t counted on as a scorer. He had just 32 points all season, with a high game of four against Caldwell. His defense, however, was nothing short of special.
That was evident in football. Moore anchored the Mavericks’ secondary. He finished with 54 tackles, an interception and 17 pass breakups in the team’s 7-3 season. He later was named to the all-SIC team.
Moore said football was his favorite sport, and he told local radio host Riley Corcoran that his time on field was “the best of my life.” His consistent gutsy efforts earned him a scholarship to Carroll College.
In basketball, he couldn’t tackle opponents, but his mindset proved helpful. Moore was almost always given the challenge of guarding the opponent’s point guards, including Borah’s super sophomore Isaiah Wright. It was those games where Moore mattered the most.
“Playing defense is what I was good at,” he said. “I liked putting pressure on them and maybe forcing them into turnovers.”
Moore said his best memory came in the A-1 District 3 championship game. The Mavs got off to a horrible start and trailed by as many as 19 points before rallying. In the final minutes, Moore forced Wright into a five-second call that eventually cut the margin to 46-40.
“I got some more stops, but that was my favorite play of the year,” Moore said. “We couldn’t quite finish it that night, but I’ll never forget that moment.”
Nettleton said it was Moore’s smaller accomplishments that made a big difference.
“He was a quick, all-around athlete and he set the tone defensively,” Nettleton said. “He never let his emotions take him out of a game.”
It would have been easy for that to have happened. Moore played on the junior varsity basketball team as a junior, but missed much of it because of an injury. In Mountain View’s home game against Timberline, he took a charge that he felt for a long time.
He felt the pain, but shook it off. The next day, the extent of the injury grew much worse.
“I missed six games with an abdominal strain,” he said. “It hurt pretty bad. I could barely get out of bed.”
Not surprisingly, the Mavericks played about .500 ball during that stretch. Moore returned on “Senior Night” against Rocky Mountain, and his presence was noticeable as the Mavs advanced to the championship game of the district tournament, and then went on to state.
“When he was hurt, you could tell. We sputtered a bit,” Nettleton said.
“I just wanted to help us get better every game,” Moore said. “We wanted to get to the state tournament and then to win it.”
At state, Moore answered the call of guarding the opponent’s top players again, including Wright. At state, he had to face Marcus Slocum of Post Falls, who eventually won the state’s top honor.
In the future, Moore will again battle great players, but with shoulder pads and a helmet. Mountain View’s coaches recognized the value he brought to their teams. Carroll College will now get that same honor.
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