WINNEMUCCA - It is becoming a November tradition for the Lowry High School football team to travel to southern Nevada to play in a state semifinal game in November.
After three years of traveling to the small farming town of Overton to play Moapa Valley, the Buckaroos get a change of scenery on Saturday and get to play Faith Lutheran in Las Vegas.
The last three trips down the two-lane roads of Nevada have been unkind to Lowry. The Buckaroos had excellent chances to beat the Pirates in 2011 and 2012, only to come up short in the end. Last year Moapa Valley led 14-0 at halftime on its way to a 43-0 victory.
The Pirates have played in seven of the last eight state championships in Division I-A. I am not sure what they are feeding those boys but it is working.
For the first time in many years Moapa Valley will have to advance to the final by traveling north to Fallon on Saturday to play Churchill County. This would be a great championship game in any other year. The weather is suppose to be dicey on Saturday with cold and rain in the forecast.
I am sure a little weather is not going to bother these squads. Look for Moapa Valley to take a page out of the Lowry playbook and pound the ball at Churchill County. The Greenwave are athletic and will have to get back to the team that played in the first eight weeks instead of the team that has shown up the last two weeks against Lowry and Fernley.
Even though the Buckaroos are not playing the Pirates, Faith Lutheran brings in a quality team that can run and throw the ball. The school created fanfare this fall when it hired Vernon Fox, an ex-NFL safety who played with Washington, San Diego and Detroit.
The Crusaders lost their first two games of the season, but have reeled off 10 consecutive wins. One of Faith Lutheran's running backs is related to Shane Victorino of the Boston Red Sox.
With all of this in mind, you would think Lowry would not even make the trip to Las Vegas. I know the Buckaroos have the ultimate respect for the Crusaders. It doesn't matter what I write here, who is in charge at Faith Lutheran or what kids are listed on the roster.
The last time I checked, games were not played on paper. So, Lowry, who has put around 750 miles on the road in the past three weeks, will make the 475 mile trip to Las Vegas in hopes of extending its season another week.
Basketball and wrestling tryouts begin this weekend, but I have a feeling that basketball coach Chad Peters and wrestling coach John Brooks would have no problem missing a few kids for a week while they play for a state championship.
At this time of the year anything is possible and Battle Mountain proved that last week in a 21-12 upset win over Pershing County. While Lowry was finishing off Elko last Friday, I had a front-row seat for the Division III matchup in Lovelock.
The Battle Mountain story goes back to the beginning of July when its head coach, Tim Knight, passed away from a heart attack. The wheels quickly went into motion to find a new coach and Mitch Domagala filled that spot.
It was a rough beginning for the Longhorns, who lost three of their first four games, and went through a rash of injuries.
When Pershing County and Battle Mountain played at the end of the regular season, the Mustangs left Battle Mountain with a 46-20 victory. With just two weeks in between games there is time to make adjustments, but to see a turnaround in the score like that is unusual.
Pershing County, the three-time defending state champion, was without its top running back and had trouble moving the ball against Battle Mountain. It became clear in the second half that it was going to be a defensive fight to the end. Neither team could efficiently move the ball on offense, until the Longhorns used a 41-yard run by freshman Arturo Serrano late in the game to seal the victory.
Battle Mountain plays at Mountain View on Saturday, a team it lost to 7-6 last year. Something tells me there is something special going on with the Longhorns, with a certain coach looking down on them from above.
If everything works out it could be a good weekend for a couple of schools in northern Nevada.
Winnemucca Publishing sports editor Tony Erquiaga can be reached via email at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.
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