It seems like yesterday that the high school sports season started. But the year has come to an end.
I have been doing the sports writing thing now for close to 14 years and every season seems to go by quicker and everything begins to become a blur. Here is a look back at some of the seasons for Lowry and McDermitt high schools.
After winning 10 games in a row for two straight seasons, the Lowry High School football team still made the playoffs, but its run of four consecutive state semifinal appearances ended this past fall with a 7-4 record.
The Buckaroos lost to Churchill County in the first round of the playoffs, ending one of the best runs in school history. Since the season ended, long-time coach Tim Billingsley retired and Taua Cabatbat has taken over.
The rest of the Division I-A has improved and it will be a competitive league in the next couple of years. The Buckaroos are in a rebuilding mode and a playoff spot will be hard to come by.
The Lowry volleyball team had one of its best seasons in recent memory, with 27 wins last fall. The Lady Bucks were a fun group to watch that scrapped all over the floor.
It was a tough league at the top with Elko and Lowry and Truckee got better at the end of the year. The Lady Bucks looked poised to reach the state tournament, but lost to Truckee in the semifinals of the regional tournament.
There were just two seniors on the squad and if everyone comes back, this will be the top team in the North in 2015. The JV team went undefeated this past fall. The future is bright for the Lady Bucks. You may see a Lowry/Faith Lutheran battle for the state title in November in Las Vegas.
The girls golf team turned in a fourth-place performance at the Division I-A state championships, falling short to Faith Lutheran, Clark and Elko. Faith Lutheran will always be tough to beat, but it leaves the Division I-A beginning with the 2016-17 school season.
The Lady Bucks lose one senior off the team, but it was their team leader for the last four years. That will be hard to replace. However, the roster was full of sophomores and there are freshmen coming up as well. An attainable goal is getting back to the state tournament. Lowry will need to finish in the top three of the Division I-A North.
The Lowry girls soccer team showed signs of brilliance at the end of the regular season and battled its way into the playoffs under a new coach.
In the past, the Lady Bucks have gotten off to slow starts and it was no different this past fall. Lowry loses its main goal scorer, goalkeeper and a number of other graduating seniors. It’s tough to replace the experience in a tough league. Lowry proved it can play with the likes of Elko, Spring Creek and Churchill County. The next step is to contend with the schools from Lake Tahoe.
Lowry will be young, as four freshmen played last year. If everyone can mesh, this is a playoff team.
Lowry had another successful winter season with the two basketball teams and wrestling.
The Buckaroo wrestling team broke a state record, by winning 108 consecutive duals, a record that dated back to 1979. Lowry was in its home arena for the state championships, but it didn’t go its way. Pahrump Valley came in to Winnemucca and stunned the Buckaroos. Everything went right for Pahrump Valley and it all went wrong for Lowry as a run at a seven straight title came up short. In it worst weekend in seven years, Lowry still nearly won the state title.
The Lowry girls won its second consecutive regional title and did not lose a league game this year. The Lady Bucks were the dominant team in the Division I-A North. It appears that will not end anytime soon. The Lady Bucks lose a number of good players to graduation, but the pipeline is plentiful. The JV went undefeated and the freshman team lost once.
After winning the state title in 2014, the Lady Bucks reached the state semifinals this past year. Lowry had its chances against Faith Lutheran but came up short in the semifinals. The Lady Bucks will still have to contend with the Crusaders and Spring Valley, the defending state champion.
We really didn’t know what we were going to get from the Lowry boys basketball team. The Buckaroos were expected to fall back to the pack in the Division I-A North.
That did not happen. Despite some road bumps along the way, Lowry finished second in the regional tournament to Elko and reached the state tournament for a seventh straight season. That feat in itself is impressive.
The Buckaroos battled the best they could against Clark in the state tournament, but ran out of gas in the second half. Like last year, Lowry will have to answer the same questions this winter.
The McDermitt girls basketball team featuring a group of all underclassmen had a whirl-wind season that was turned upside down right before the regional tournament.
The Lady Bulldogs finished first in the Division IV East, but days before the regional tournament had to forfeit games, because on an ineligible player. That dropped McDermitt to a fourth seed and a first-round match-up against Smith Valley. That should have been the championship game.
Everyone returns for one more run at a state tournament next year. After going through hell the last two years, these girls need a break
Under a new coach, the McDermitt boys basketball team returned to the playoffs and nearly reached the state tournament. The kids bought into the new program and gelled. The Bulldogs lose some key players, but getting back to the playoffs is not out of the question.
For the third year in a row, perhaps the best softball team in Division I-A was not at the state tournament. The Lady Bucks let a 5-0 lead get away from them against Churchill County in the regional playoffs. Lowry beat the Greenwave 14-4 to start the regional tournament. Churchill County went on to win the state championship.
Lowry loses a core of four seniors, but brings back a strong underclassmen group, including three freshmen that played this year.
With the move to Division I-A, the Lowry swim team has flourished the last three seasons. The Buckaroos won the regular season championships in the Division I-A North. With young swimmers in the program the future is bright.
Tony Erquiaga can be reached at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.
