WINNEMUCCA - With the fall sports season just a couple of weeks away, hopes are being renewed for the Lowry and McDermitt high school sports teams.
Division I-A schools will be entering their second year of realignment and it was not a bad 2012-13 season for the northern teams against the much larger schools of the south. Lowry brought home two state championships - one in wrestling and another in boys golf. No other school has more state championships in either sport.
The Lowry High School football team has seen its season end in the same southern Nevada ranching town (Overton) for the last three years. After enjoying three of its most successful seasons in school history, the Buckaroos would like to end that streak against Moapa Valley or any other school from the south or even the north.
Everyone loves preseason rankings and predictions and they mean nothing until you play. However, as the year gets ready to kick off, Lowry is ranked No. 8 in the state and No. 1 in Division I-A by Max Preps. The Buckaroos are rated No. 13 in the state by USA Today. There will be plenty of games played to figure everything out.
The one matchup you want to circle on the schedule is Friday, Sept. 6. Truckee, the four-time defending state champion, makes a visit to Winnemucca. The Wolverines have lost one game in four years and that was a 7-0 defeat to Fernley last year.
If the Buckaroos get past the Wolverines, there are still games with Elko, Churchill County and Fernley on the schedule and all three of those are on the road.
To say the least, the Lowry High School volleyball season a year ago was one to erase from the memory. It was the only sport at the school that did not make the playoffs.
However, the future looks bright for the squad. There are a number of returning players, along with a strong group of JV players that included a number of freshmen. The JV team went 21-7 a season ago, with five of those losses to varsity squads. The lone JV losses were a controversial defeat to Elko and one to Truckee.
The Lady Bucks also have a strong incoming freshmen class and the team is looking to field a freshmen team for the first time in a few years.
A majority of the young ladies on the team have played club volleyball for the past couple of the years and you can see the improvement. The Lady Bucks have a new head coach in Megan Allen, who moves up from the junior varsity team.
The Lowry girls golf team had another strong season last fall, with a fourth-place finish at the Division I-A state tournament. The Lady Bucks were not that far off from a runner-up finish.
No one was going to beat Faith Lutheran, who shot a state-record 624 for two days. The Crusaders had the top two individual finishers, who are now playing for Division I universities. Faith Lutheran has four returning players and should be tough to beat again.
Lowry loses two players from the team due to graduation but have the returning players that will have a chance to compete for the Division I-A North title once again.
There will be quite a bit of excitement around the Lowry boys soccer team this fall. The Buckaroos were the sixth seed in the regional tournament a season ago with primarily sophomores and juniors.
The Buckaroos were knocked out of the playoffs by South Tahoe, but there were a number of calls that we will say were questionable that swayed the game to one side.
The teams on the eastern side of Nevada have made some gains on the Lake Tahoe schools. Still the likes of Truckee, South Tahoe and Sparks are tough to knock off. The addition of the schools in the south has made the league competitive.
The Lady Bucks' soccer team went on a roller coaster ride in 2012. Lowry was in a majority of its matches it played, but probably let a few get away from them that they shouldn't have.
Lowry ended with the No. 8 seed and had to play Elko in the opening round of the regional playoffs. A couple of those losses put them in that position.
The Lady Bucks graduated eight players off the squad from last year, but the roster also included three sophomores and two freshmen. Those youngsters along with players off the JV team will have to step up this fall if the Lady Bucks want to get back to the playoffs and advance to the second round of the regional tournament.
As for the cross country teams, the quest for the girls to win their sixth consecutive state title and the boys their third straight began last weekend in Minden at the Douglas Invitational.
After being one of the most dominant dynasties in Nevada history from 2000-09, the Lowry cross country team will be looking to get back to those glory days.
The Buckaroos have not won a state championship since 2009, but have individuals shine at the state championships.
After cancelling its football season last year due to a lack of players, McDermitt High School is hoping to bring the program back this fall. The Bulldogs have had a handful of kids out for conditioning and who shown interest. With the course of injuries, you are looking to have at least 10-12 players to play eight-man football. Any less and your season could be in jeopardy.
It will be interesting to see how the McDermitt volleyball season plays out. Last year, the Lady Bulldogs played with four seniors and three freshmen. McDermitt loses the player of the year and another first-team, all-league player.
The freshmen did not play like they were ninth graders and that is encouraging. With dwindling enrollment at the school, here is the hope they can find a handful of players to join that group.
Winnemucca Publishing sports editor Tony Erquiaga can be reached via email at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.
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