WINNEMUCCA - It took just a little over two minutes for the Lowry High School varsity football team to score its first touchdown of the year. Seven more followed shortly as the Buckaroos opened the 2013 season with an impressive 56-7 victory over Battle Mountain on Thursday night in Winnemucca.
"I thought we played very well tonight," said LHS head coach Tim Billingsley. "Our first guys played well when they were in there and the rest of the guys did a good job. Everybody got a lot of work and nobody got hurt."
The Longhorns, who were fighting the injury bug, suited up just 20 players, half of what the Buckaroos have on their roster. It was also the first game for Battle Mountain with a new head coach. Long-time head coach Tim Knight passed away of a heart attack in July and Mitch Domagala has taken over for the Longhorns this year.
"You know our kids went out there and played hard the entire game," said Domagala. "There were some good things that happened for us. The big thing was speed. Our numbers are preventing us from practicing for high-speed tempos. Lowry came out with speed that we probably won't see all year. They are a very good team and it was good for us to play them. We could have scheduled a weaker team. If you do that, you don't get any better."
Lowry needed only five plays to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter after receiving the opening kickoff. Beau Billingsley gained the first 53 yards, the first coming off an 18-yard pass from Calvin Connors and a second on a 35-yard run. Brandon Okuma took the next carry to the Battle Mountain 2-yard line and Billingsley did the rest from there.
After forcing the Battle Mountain offense to go three-and-out, Lowry was back in business at the Longhorns' 30-yard line after a punt return by Okuma. The Buckaroos were back on the scoreboard in just a handful of plays after a 22-yard pass play from Connors to Tanner Lecumberry for a 14-0 lead with 7:06 left in the first quarter.
Lowry got the ball back late in the first quarter when Battle Mountain was forced to punt. The Longhorns were running a play on fourth-and-one, but an illegal procedure penalty forced them to punt.
It took the Buckaroos just two plays score on their next possession, with Billingsley running for a 32-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead. The game went from bad to worse for the Longhorns, as they fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Lowry made Battle Mountain pay, with Connors connecting with Robert Stepper on the next play with a 12-yard touchdown pass to give Lowry 14 points in 13 seconds.
"You could not ask for a much better start," Billingsley said. "Battle Mountain was in a tough spot with injuries and losing their coach in the offseason. They played tough and they will be OK in their league when they get healthy."
Lowry took advantage of a Connors interception of Battle Mountain quarterback Daniel Itza in the second quarter to increase the lead even more.
With a set of new players in the lineup, running back Thomas Schwartz used a long run to get
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to the 10-yard line. After a penalty, Elijah Frei capped the 32-yard drive off with a 15-yard touchdown run.
"It was good for us to get a look some other kids," Billingsley said. "We are searching for guys to step up in that No. 2 spot. We also got a chance to use Garrett (Naveran) and Christian (Gray) at quarterback for the last three quarters."
Battle Mountain prevented the shutout midway through the second quarter on the strength of Itza. The senior quarterback kept the Longhorns' drive going with a number of scrambles and he eventually found Edim Tovar for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make the score 35-7.
"We played well on defensively," Billingsley said. "Itza is a tough quarterback. He made a lot plays on his own and doesn't have quite the weapons he did last year. We wanted to contain him as much as we could."
What momentum Battle Mountain had was wiped away on the kickoff, as Okuma ran the kick back to the Longhorns' 5-yard line. Three plays later, Schwartz romped into the end zone from a yard out to give Lowry a 42-7 halftime lead.
After sitting out much of the second quarter, the Lowry starters played one series in the second half and made it count. The Buckaroos forced Battle Mountain to punt on its opening possession of the third quarter and Lowry quickly added to the lead. The Buckaroos originally scored on a 42-yard touchdown run, only to have that negated by a penalty. However, on the next play, Connors found Josh Shaver across the middle of the field and the senior wide receiver pulled away from the defenders for a 47-yard touchdown.
Lowry closed out the scoring midway through the fourth quarter on a 48-yard pass play from Naveran to Aaron Nelson. The game was played with a running clock from there due to the 45-point mercy rule.
Battle Mountain is back on the road Friday for a game at White Pine at 7 p.m. The schedule is brutal for the Longhorns, who do not have a home game until Friday, Oct. 4.
"Our season starts Friday in Ely," Domagala said. "Now we know what we need to fix and work on. We will get better as the year goes on. We just need to get a little depth to give our other guys a break here and there."
Lowry opens Division I-A play on Friday when it hosts Truckee, the winners of the last four state championships.
"We are just really excited about Truckee coming to town," Billingsley said. ""It is going to be a big game for us. "They may have a new coach and lost some quality players, but they are always tough. It will be a good test for us."[[In-content Ad]]
