The calendar still says we are a month away from Halloween and there was no full moon in Winnemucca on Friday night, but wild is one of the words to describe Lowry's 36-14 win over South Tahoe.
The Buckaroos never trailed in the Division I-A North match-up, increasing their win streak to three games and improving to 3-1 in league play and 4-1 overall.
"It was a crazy night," said LHS coach Tim Billingsley. "South Tahoe was a team that came in without a win but played some close games. It was an important game for us, we can't affords another loss with the teams bunched together for a playoff spot. It started to get chippy, but I thought we held our composure pretty good."
The Buckaroos could not move the ball on their opening possession, but caught a break when the Vikings fumbled the ensuing punt. After a 12-yard run by Beau Billingsley and a pass to Garrett Naveran, Lowry closed out the 39-yard drive as Christian Gray found Naveran in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass and an 8-0 lead with 7:20 left in the first quarter after the made 2-point conversion.
South Tahoe turned the ball over on its next possession as well, but Lowry could not convert, going three-and-out. The Vikings quickly answered as Mason Cain connected with David Kirby on third-and-long for a 69-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 8-7 with 2:45 left in the opening quarter.
The Buckaroos' offense continued to sputter with another punt after the South Tahoe touchdown, but the Vikings were in a giving mood, turning the ball over on their first play after the punt. South Tahoe turned the ball over four times in the first half.
Lowry took advantage of that mistake on converted two fourth downs on runs by Gray and Beau Billingsley. The Buckaroos appeared to increase the lead on a touchdown run by Billingsley but it was called back for an equipment violation. Donovan Brumm dropped his mouthpiece and it was thrown off to the sideline.
Lowry went for it on fourth down once again after the flag and Gray appeared to score again as he hit the pylon on a run to the corner. Lowry could still get a first down without a touchdown, but officials gave the ball to South Tahoe. The Buckaroos coaches requested a measurement and Lowry had enough yards for the first down. After the confusion, Billingsley scored a gain, this time from a yard out to make the score 16-7 with 5:54 left in the first half.
Both teams traded interceptions and punts toward the end of the half, when Lowry looked to score once again. The Vikings were attempting to keep a final play going when Garrett Naveran caught a fumble out of the air and ran it back for a touchdown as time expired. However, an inadvertent whistle blew, stopping the play and ending the half.
Lowry caught South Tahoe off guard with the kickoff to the second half, as Andy Mendoza pooched the kick about 20 yards and the Buckaroos recovered at the Vikings' 41-yard line. A pass from Gray to Kyle Tarr put Lowry inside the 20-yard line and Billingsley closed out the drive with a 7-yard run and a 23-7 lead.
The Buckaroos punted the only other time it had the ball in the third quarter and began to take over at the start of the fourth quarter. The Buckaroo defense held the Vikings near the 20-yard line at the beginning of the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach with a 77-yard drive. Billingsley and Thomas Schwartz had big runs, to place the ball inside the 20-yard line. Billingsley scored his third touchdown, on a 4-yard run to up the score to 29-7 with 8:21 to play.
South Tahoe closed the gap to 29-14 halfway through the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass from Cain to Brandon Erickson on fourth-and-12. Lowry closed out the scoring with 21 seconds to play on a 12-yard run by Schwartz.
"I am happy with the win," Billingsley said. "We got back to running the ball again in the second half. I think we just wore them down. They were stacking the line quite a bit and we were using the pass to loosen them up a bit."
Lowry hits the road on Friday to play Dayton. The Dust Devils are 3-1 in league play, but lost 62-7 to Churchill County on Friday.
"Right now, we are playing well and winning games," Billingsley said. "Dayton runs the ball well and always plays us tough. We have to be ready to go, this is a big game for us."[[In-content Ad]]
