WINNEMUCCA - It is tough to beat the same team two weeks in a row, especially when your season is at stake.
That's what the Lowry High School football team faced this past Friday night in Winnemucca. The Buckaroos beat Churchill County 21-7 on Thursday, Oct. 25, to end the regular season. When the playoff positioning in the Division I-A North was settled, the Buckaroos were set to host the Greenwave once again in the NIAA I-A state quarterfinals.
Lowry quickly made sure the outcome would not be different, scoring 20 points in the first quarter en route to a 47-14 victory. With the win, the Buckaroos improved to 10-1 overall, and in the process set a school record for most wins in a single season.
"After last year no one really gave us a shot after losing the guys we did," said LHS head coach Tim Billingsley. "The kids have a chip on their shoulder and they are playing well right now. This is a great bunch of kids and we have been at it since June, and we don't want it to stop right now."
Lowry will now travel to Overton on Saturday to play Moapa Valley at 1 p.m. The Pirates have ended the Buckaroos' season the last two years, in the state semifinals. Both teams come in with extended winning streaks - as Moapa Valley has won 11 games in a row and Lowry nine.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Buckaroos on the night, was an opening drive interception. However, the Lowry defense held its ground and Churchill County missed a field goal to keep the game scoreless. From that point on it was all Lowry.
The Buckaroos put 20 points up in a four-minute stretch that rocked the Greenwave. Lowry finished an 80-yard drive on a 36-yard touchdown run by Beau Billingsley with 5:23 left in the opening period. Brandon Okuma did most of the damage with three runs and a catch on the drive.
"We expected a much tougher game from those guys, especially playing them in back-to-back weeks," said the coach. "We came out and answered the bell. We gave up that interception right at the start, but our defense held and we came right back and scored a touchdown on Beau's run. From there we were off to the races."
After forcing Churchill County to punt on its next possession, the Buckaroos drove just 30 yards to take a 14-0 advantage after a 6-yard run by quarterback Calvin Connors.
The Lowry defense shined moments later, when Churchill County quarterback Moran Dirickson was hit as he went back to pass and fumbled. On the play, the Buckaroos' Tytin Johnson picked upthe loose ball and scampered 56 yards for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead after the missed extra point.
Churchill County put together its only productive drive of the first half, following its miscue on the previous drive. Dirickson marched the Greenwave 80 yards down the field and connected with Beau Marshall on an 11-yard pass play to cut the deficit to 20-7.
Lowry turned the ball over on downs on its next possession but the defense held once again and the Buckaroos got the ball back after forcing the Greenwave to punt.
The scrambling ability of Connors kept Lowry's next drive going as the junior was able to elude the Churchill County defense and find an open Okuma for a 25-yard gain. Okuma did the rest from there, scoring on a 4-yard run with 29 seconds left in the half, giving the Buckaroos a 26-7 halftime lead.
The ball continued to bounce Lowry's way as Connors fumbled the snap on the Buckaroos' first drive of the second half but was able to turn the play into positive yardage. Lowry fumbled once again on the drive but got it back. Then Lowry was flagged for a penalty but was still able to score a touchdown.
On third and 22 from the 25-yard line, Connors connected with a sliding Robert Stepper in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The Buckaroos missed the extra point and led 32-7.
It took the Greenwave just three plays to answer as Keith Grimes broke loose for a 52-yard touchdown with 6:30 left in the third quarter. That turned out to be all the offense for Churchill County.
The two schools turned the ball over on each of their next two possessions but Lowry made Churchill County pay for its last mistake as Okuma intercepted Dirickson and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown and a 40-14 lead after the two-point conversion.
"Our defense got us two scores tonight and you can't ask for much more than that," Billingsley said. "It is tough to lose a game when you are scoring on defense. The defense played well tonight and they have been playing well all year."
The Buckaroos took advantage of yet another Greenwave turnover late in the game and turned it into seven points on a 2-yard run by Michal Arenas.
Okuma led Lowry with 85 yards rushing on seven carries and also had three catches for 75 yards. Beau Billingsley and Michael Billingsley added 61 and 51 yards, respectively, and Connors and Arenas had 48 and 35 yards on the ground.
Connors was 4-for-9 passing for 100 yards and one touchdown and one interception.
The Buckaroos travel to Overton to play Moapa Valley for the third year in a row in the state semifinals. The Pirates won 35-21 in 2010 and 19-6 in 2011. Moapa Valley's only loss this year was 23-14 to Blue Ridge (Lakeside, Ariz.) in the opening week of the season. Blue Ridge is 12-0 this year and has won 25 games in a row. The Pirates have played in the last six Division I-A state championship games, winning titles in 2007 and 2008. The last time Lowry played in the state championship was 1992, when it lost 17-0 to Moapa Valley in Las Vegas.
"We know Moapa Valley is well-coached and is a very good team," Billingsley said. "We are going to game plan as best we can and try to put something together, win a game and go to the state championship."
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