BATTLE MOUNTAIN - After beating Yerington 13-0 the week before to take over second place in the Northern 2A - and possibly earn a home playoff game - the Battle Mountain High School varsity football team was in Yerington this past Friday for a non-conference matchup.
The Longhorns were originally scheduled to play Silver Stage, but the Nighthawks are playing as an independent this season. Both teams had open dates on the schedule and decided to play each other again.
The outcome was much different this time, as the Lions picked up a 40-6 win over the Longhorns. Battle Mountain (5-1 Northern 2A, 5-3 overall) pulled its starters after the first series in the second half and went to its full-house backfield to run the ball instead of the spread offense it has used this year.
Battle Mountain committed nine turnovers in the game, including two on kickoffs that saw line-drive kicks go off Longhorn players and be recovered by Yerington.
The Lions scored two touchdowns in the final 1:34 of the first quarter. Mikey Garner scored on a 2-yard run and Alex Brown ran from 43 yards out as time expired in the first quarter, giving the Lions a 14-0 lead. Christian Hazel scored on a 7-yard run six minutes into the second quarter, increasing the Yerington advantage to 20-0 at halftime.
The Lions picked up two touchdown runs from Josh Lauderdale in the third quarter to increase the lead to 34-0. They rounded out the scoring with a 23-yard run by Jean Cota and a 36-yard field goal by Sam Monahan in the fourth quarter. The Longhorns prevented the shutout late in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard run by Cody Suthers with 1:44 to play.
Daniel Itza was 8-of-18 passing for 65 yards with three interceptions on the night. David DeAndreis led the Longhorns with 49 yards rushing on four carries, with Ryan Salazar adding 27 and Suthers 26 yards on the ground. DeAndreis also had two catches for 26 yards. Hank Filippini caught three balls for 13 yards and Joey Cook, Kyle Bryant and Salazar each had one reception.
Battle Mountain closes out the regular season Thursday night when it hosts Rite of Passage at 5 p.m. If the Longhorns win they will play host to Yerington in the opening round of the NIAA 2A State Playoffs either on Friday, Nov. 4, or Saturday, Nov. 5. Rite of Passage then would travel to Lovelock to play Pershing County. A Battle Mountain loss would create a three-way tie for second place and tiebreakers would be used to seed the teams.
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