WINNEMUCCA - If you are a fan of shootouts, then Lowry High School was the place to be last Thursday night.
The Buckaroo junior varsity football team found themselves in an offensive battle with Churchill County, and needed a touchdown with 80 seconds left in the game to beat the Greenwave 44-39. The game featured five lead changes, with Churchill County holding the biggest advantage at nine points.
With the win, Lowry finished the year at 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the Division I-A North.
"They have beaten us the last two times to end the season," said LHS head coach John Brooks. "This was a fun one and the kids can have the feeling of finishing with a win when they come back next year. We made some horrendous mistakes tonight. The good thing is, the mistakes we made would cost other teams' the game. The guys battled the entire game."
It didn't take long for the scoring to begin, with Churchill County's Nathan Heck running the opening kickoff back 82 yards for a 7-0 Greenwave lead.
Lowry fumbled and had a drive end on downs on its first two possessions, when it punched its third drive into the end zone. The Buckaroos drove just 31 yards, capped off by a 10-yard run by Cody Mecham. Lowry missed the extra point and trailed 7-6.
Churchill County answered with a touchdown of its own on the first play of the second quarter on a 12-yard pass from Joc Pyle to Jordan Schultz for a 13-6 advantage.
The Buckaroos grabbed their first lead of the night 12 seconds later as Thomas Schwartz ran the ensuing kickoff back 77 yards for a touchdown. Schwartz ran in the 2-point conversion for the 14-13 lead.
Lowry forced Churchill County to punt on its next two drives, but the Buckaroos turned the ball over in between the Greenwave possessions with an interception.
When Lowry got the ball back a second time, it made it count with a 63-yard drive. Christian Gray finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The Buckaroos led 20-13 after the missed extra point.
The Greenwave quickly countered as they scored on the next play from scrimmage on a 59-yard pass from Pyle to Heck to tie the game at 20-20.
Churchill County regained the advantage at 23-20, when Bradice Stands made a 44-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in the first half.
Lowry stumbled offensively to start the third quarter with a turnover and another drive ending inside the Churchill County 20-yard line.
The Greenwave converted a fake punt following the Lowry turnover and later turned it into six points on a 44-yard pass from Pyle to Dylan Jabines for a 29-20 lead.
The Buckaroos started the scoring in a wild fourth quarter as Schwartz returned a Greenwave punt 78 yards for a touchdown 90 seconds in to the period. Schwartz added the 2-point conversion to close the deficit to a point at 29-28.
Churchill County added to their lead at 32-28 as Stands made a 40-yard field goalwith 7:07 to play in the contest.
Lowry went to the bag of tricks on its next possession as Gray, Kyle Tarr and Schwartz put together a hook and ladder play that moved the Buckaroos to the Greenwave 18-yard line. Lowry scored three plays later on a 2-yard run by Mecham. Schwartz ran in the 2-point conversion for a 36-32 Lowry lead with 5:15 to play.
The lead was short-lived as Churchill County scored two plays later on a 32-yard run by Heck and led 39-36 after the made extra point.
The Buckaroos took three minutes off the clock on its winning 53-yard drive, with Kelvin Meza scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run. Once again, Schwartz added the 2-point conversion to put the Buckaroos up 44-39.
"We were thinking about taking a knee when we were at the 1-yard line," Brooks said. "We knew Churchill County has the kids to score quickly. We decided to just score and let our defense play it out. It is hard to give up points when you are that close."
The Greenwave were left with 80 seconds on the clock to score the winning touchdown and were driving with the aid of a Buckaroo pass interference penalty. Churchill County was inside the Lowry 15-yard line, when the Buckaroo defense stepped up on fourth down and stopped the Greenwave from making the first down.
"This was a good bunch of kids and I am proud of them," Brooks said. "We were able to vindicate one of our losses and would like to play the other team again we lost to and see what happens. I am looking forward to see what they do when they get to the varsity level."[[In-content Ad]]
