WINNEMUCCA - It was a mixed bag of results for the Lowry High School junior varsity football team, who took to the field for the first time this season on Thursday night in Winnemucca.
The Buckaroos scored 33 points in the first half against Battle Mountain, including touchdowns on their first three possessions of the first half en route to a 40-8 victory.
However, the offense sputtered in the second half, with turnovers and penalties stalling drives.
"We started off great, just the way we wanted to," said LHS head coach Taua Cabatbat. "We went a little downhill in the second half and started playing to the level of our competition. We took it easy after getting the big lead. When we get in battles later in the season against some different schools that will not cut it."
The Lowry defense, which didn't allow Battle Mountain a first down until late in the second quarter, forced the Longhorns to go three-and-out on their first possession of the game.
A 15-yard return on the punt by Sterling Dennis put the Buckaroos at the 50-yard line and the rout was on from there. Jacob Hernandez carried the ball 15 yards on Lowry's first offensive play of the game and seconds later, Buckaroo quarterback Omar Guerrero scored on a 30-yard run to give Lowry a 6-0 advantage after the missed extra point.
Battle Mountain went three-and-out on its next drive and Lowry used its rushing game to score a second touchdown in less than 90 seconds, this time on a 7-yard run by Caleb Ahnefeld to cap off a 56-yard drive.
Lowry was back in business moments later as Nate Nelson intercepted Battle Mountain quarterback Bryan Chavira at the 50-yard line.
The Buckaroos made the Longhorns pay for the miscue, with Guerrero first completing a pass to Dennis to put Lowry inside the 25-yard line. A play later Guerrero scored on a 23-yard run to make the score 20-0 with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
"We did a good job defensively at the start of the game," Cabatbat said. "We made the stops when we needed to and the offense was able to score."
Lowry appeared to add to its lead in the final seconds of the first quarter, but a 52-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Tarr was called back on a penalty. The drive eventually stalled out at the Battle Mountain 33-yard line at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Buckaroos were able to get the ball back after the Longhorns punted for the fourth time in the first half. Behind the legs of Alan Mayorga, Michael Wing and Hernandez, Lowry drove the ball to the 10-yard line, where Guerrero connected with Dennis for a 10-yard touchdown pass and a 27-0 lead.
A blocked punt by Jesus Martinez late in the second half helped the Buckaroos build the advantage to 33-0. With the ball at the Battle Mountain 2-yard line, Wing was able to score a rushing touchdown.
With its offense held down for much of the first half, Battle Mountain recorded its initial first down of the game with less than a minute left in the first half on a run by Arturo Serrano. That kept the drive alive and the Longhorns went on to score their only points of the game on a 21-yard pass from Chavira to Steven George with 19 seconds left in the first half. Serrano added the 2-point conversion, giving Lowry a 33-8 halftime lead.
Lowry struggled to find its offensive rythym until late in the third quarter, when Hernandez scored on a 4-yard run. The Buckaroos had a second touchdown called back, this time in the fourth quarter as Guerrero hooked up with Tarr on the same pass play that was called back earlier in the game. This time a holding penalty negated the score.
Lowry is off this weekend due to Truckee not having a junior varsity team this season. The Buckaroos return to action when they travel to Reno on Friday, Sept. 13, to play Wooster at 4:30 p.m.
"We are going to get back to work and get better," Cabatbat said. "It would be nice to play this weekend, but we have a chance to get a lot of practice in. There are things that we need to clean up. We are nowhere near where we should be. But for week one it wasn't too bad."
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