When you look at the schedule and the result from the week before, one might have expected the Lowry High School football team to be a bit off in its home finale this past Friday night.
The Buckaroos saw hopes of hosting a playoff game take a hit with the 21-0 loss to Elko and Sparks, a team that has not won in two years, made the trip to Winnemucca for senior night.
Lowry struggled on offense for much of the first and led just 13-7, before pulling away for a 40-7 victory to improve to 5-2 in the Division I-A North and 6-2 overall.
"It took us a while to get going," said LHS coach Tim Billingsley. "We weren't over looking them. We were just sloppy with the ball and had turnovers."
An early interception by Lowry gave Sparks a chance to go in front early in the contest, but the Railroaders missed a field goal after a bad snap.
The Buckaroos began an 85-yard drive with a 30-yard run by Beau Billingsley and a personal foul penalty on Sparks, which moved the ball into Railroader territory. Additional runs by Thomas Schwartz and Billingsley moved the ball inside the 10-yard line and quarterback Christian Gray capped off the possession with a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:48 left in the first quarter.
Sparks was forced to punt on its next drive, but got the ball right back after Lowry fumbled the punt. The Railroaders could not convert the miscue and punted again three plays later.
The Buckaroos continued to sputter on offense until midway through the second quarter. Lowry moved 74 yards in a little less than two minutes, beginning with a 32-yard screen play from Gray to Donovan Brumm. Billingsley ended the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with his first of four on the night.
Sparks countered with its best drive of the night, moving the ball 70 yards in just under three minutes. Sylis Sanchez scored from one yard out to cut the gap to 13-7. However, after the play Sparks was called for a personal foul, backing the kickoff 15 yards.
Lowry took advantage of the error, starting the drive at the 46-yard line with 62 seconds to play in the first half. As time was coming to an end, Gray found Kyle Tarr for a 37-yard pass to the Sparks 1-yard line with three seconds to go. Brumm scored on the next play, giving the Buckaroos a 19-7 lead at halftime.
Lowry used that momentum and dominated Sparks from that point. The Railroaders ran just nine plays and punted three times in the third quarter.
"Our defense did another good job tonight," Billingsley said. "Sparks had just that one drive and nothing in the second half."
The Buckaroos increased the lead to 26-7 early in the third quarter on a 76-yard run by Billingsley who made a cut to the middle of the field and out-ran the Sparks defense.
Lowry was back on the board in less than three minutes on a 1-yard run by Billingsley. The big play of the drive was a 49-yard pass from Gray to Omar Guerrero, where Guerrero was knocked out at the 1-yard line.
Billingsley, who finished the night with 256 yards on the ground, ended the scoring with a 30-yard gallop, 45 seconds into the fourth quarter.
"Sparks was pretty heavy on our strong side and we went to running the ball on the weak side," Billingsley said. "We came out a little more fired up in the second half. We were able to get some big plays, which we haven't had in a while."
Lowry travels to Spring Creek on Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff and can clinch a playoff spot with a victory.
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