WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School junior varsity football team saw its six-game win streak end Friday night in its final home game of the season.
Spring Creek used a powerful run game to control the clock and line of scrimmage in a 36-14 win over the Buckaroos.
"We didn't bring our physical game and they took it right to us," said LHS head coach Taua Cabatbat. "We had the kids in the right spot, but we just didn't get it done. It was old-school Spring Creek. They punched us here and punched us here. We didn't have an answer. We dug ourselves a hole and could not get out of it."
Lowry picked up one first down on its initial drive of the night but had to punt once it stalled out near midfield. Spring Creek took over at the 32-yard line and took more than five minutes off the clock behind the legs of Jake Davis. The sophomore scored on a 58-yard run early in the possession, but that was called back by a penalty. However, Davis drove the Spartans back down the field, scoring on a 9-yard run to give Spring Creek a 6-0 lead with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
Lowry answered back three minutes later with a 58-yard drive. A 40-yard pass from Omar Guerrero to Kyle Tarr was the big play of the drive and Caleb Ahnefeld closed out the drive with a 7-yard run to give the Buckaroos a 7-6 lead after the extra point by Anthony Silva.
Spring Creek jumped back in front three minutes into the second quarter on a 50-yard run by Davis to close out a 55-yard drive.
The Buckaroos kept the Spartans in their sights, scoring the next time they had the ball. Lowry needed just 56 seconds to move 64 yards. A long pass by Guerrero to Nate Nelson set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Guerrero to Tarr to tie the game at 14-14 with 8:16 left in the first half.
The powerful Spring Creek running attack went back to work, taking nearly six minutes off the clock at the end of the first half and Davis scored his third touchdown of the night, this time on a 1-yard scamper to give the Spartans a 22-14 lead at halftime.
Lowry (5-1 Division I-A North, 6-1 overall) had an opportunity to cut the deficit before the break, but saw a drive end at the Spring Creek 30-yard line after an interception.
The Buckaroos fumbled and punted on their two possessions in the third quarter, while Spring Creek added to the advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The Spartans used up the last two minutes of the third quarter to drive to 47 yards and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Davis scored on a 1-yard run to increase the lead to 30-14.
Lowry used a bit of trickery midway through the fourth quarter on a double pass for a long gain, but the play was called back on a penalty. The Buckaroos were forced to punt after that.
Spring Creek scored on the ensuing drive on another 1-yard run by Davis to close out the scoring and give the Spartans a 36-14 lead.
"I like the way we came out in the second half and got some stops," Cabatbat. "We came out and made some plays. We had a couple of turnovers and some penalties hurt us. We had some momentum going and that just stopped us."
Lowry travels to Fernley on Thursday to play the Vaqueros, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
"We have our two toughest games still to play," Cabatbat said. "We need to come out with some intensity. If we do that we should be OK. We need to see where we are at."[[In-content Ad]]
