RENO - The Lowry High School freshmen football team had the tough task of opening its season on the road against a school twice the size this past Thursday night in Reno.
The Buckaroos took North Valleys and was within 12 points of the Panthers at the start of the fourth quarter, before losing 30-14 to the Division I school.
"We talked with the guys for the past three weeks and emphasized that they needed to be ready to go," said LHS coach Brent Riemersma. "North Valleys will be one of the best teams we will play all year. It is the first game for these guys at freshmen and now they know what game speed is."
The Buckaroos started out on a high note, holding North Valleys on downs in the opening possession of the game. Lowry moved the ball down to the Panthers' 15 yard line but saw the drive end on downs.
North Valleys put up the first points of the contest moments later on the strength of a long run by Anthony Stevens. Joseph Castleberry capped off the drive with a 5-yard run to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
Lowry turned the ball over on downs on its next possession and North Valleys countered with a 2-yard touchdown run by Stevens to cap off a 35-yard drive. The Panthers would maintain the 12-0 advantage in to the half.
"That was a big momentum shift," Riemersma said. "They used two big runs to get most of their yards. For the most part I thought we did a pretty good job on defense. We just could not get anything going on offense."
Lowry gave the ball back on downs on its initial drive of the second half and North Valleys countered with a 57 yard drive, capped off by a 20-yard touchdown run by Jamari Lawson to increase the lead to 18-0 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
The Buckaroos finally hit the scoreboard two minutes later on a 28-yard pass play from Ren Mattson to Gary Coleman to trim the lead to 18-6. Landin Gilman had a long run as part of the drive.
North Valleys added two touchdowns in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter after Lowry turned the ball over on downs. The first score was on a 15-yard run by Jason Williams and Castleberry added a 16-yard scamper to make the score 30-6.
Lowry closed out the scoring with a 57-yard run by Jacob Frazier.
"We came out and did a better job of moving the ball," said the coach. "We talked at halftime and made our adjustments. The kids never quit when they got down. North Valleys didn't make many mistakes and took advantage of ours. All in all it's something we can build on."
Lowry travels to Fernley on Thursday for a 5 p.m. kickoff with the Vaqueros.
"It will be another tough game for us," Riemersma said. "There is not an easy game for us this season. We will get back to practice,. Make adjustments and see what we can do at Fernley."[[In-content Ad]]
