It has taken some 17 matches and almost the entire season, but Lowry High School boys soccer coach Steve Swanson would like to bottle up Tuesday's performance against Dayton and use it for the rest of the year.
The Buckaroos (4-9 Division I-A North, 5-12 overall) used a strong offensive attack to easily beat Dayton 10-2 on senior night.
"I wish I knew where this has been all year," Swanson said. "We did a lot of different things with subs and players on senior night. I am glad I did, because it gave them a chance to play. I wanted to get my seniors out there."
Lowry broke on to the scoreboard in the 16th minute on a penalty kick by Anthony Franco. Dayton quickly scored the equalizer three minutes later, but it was all Buckaroos after that.
Lowry put the match away with four goals in a two and a half minute stretch at the end of the first half. Jesus Escobedo gave the Buckaroos the lead for good in the 35th minute, scoring off a breakaway opportunity. One minute later, Kevin Blanco took pass from Wyatt Snider and connected on the shot for a 3-1 advantage.
Less than two minutes later, Weston Irons headed a ball in the net and off the ensuing kick, Blanco scored his second goal to give Lowry a 5-1 lead at halftime.
"I have to say the team that played today can play with anybody," Swanson said. "When we are bringing the ball down wide and there are five guys in the box that is fun to watch. We have been looking for it all year long and that is the first time I have seen it. It was awesome to see. Dayton was a weaker team and they played hard, but we still did good things. Those four goals at the end of the half changed all the momentum."
Lowry scored four more goals in the first 25 minutes of the second half, starting with Orlando Pardini off an assist by Homero Esquivel. Five minutes later, Blanco crossed a pass to the middle of the field, where Escobedo finished off the shot.
Wyatt Snider scored in the 62nd minute and Stetson Roark made the score 9-1 after taking a pass from Blanco.
"This was by far the best I have seen Kevin play all year," Swanson said. "He played a great game."
Dayton scored in the 66th minute to close the gap to 9-2, when Roberto Sanchez finished out the scoring after receiving a pass from Esquivel.
Lowry was on the road last Saturday in Fernley and came away with a 9-2 win. The Buckaroos outscored the Vaqueros 6-0 in the second half.
"It took us a while to get going," Swanson said. "We played a much better second half."
Pardini scored the first and third goals for Lowry in the first half, with Irons scoring in between to give the Buckaroos a 3-1 lead. The Vaqueros scored the final goal to cut the deficit to one goal.
Jordan Diaz and Sanchez scored early in the second half and Emilio Castillejos added a penalty kick to make the score 6-2. The Buckaroos rounded out the scoring with goals from Sanchez, Blanco and Pardini.
Lowry traveled to Elko on Thursday and results were not available at press time. The Buckaroos travel to Sparks on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. match.
"This team can go out and ruin the lives of some teams," Swanson said. "We are not going to the playoffs, but we can play spoiler to others."[[In-content Ad]]
