There were a number of questions and unknowns as the Lowry High School football team took to the field for the first time this past Friday in Winnemucca.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Taua Cabatbat, the Buckaroos went into the Division I-A North opener against Fernley, basically with an entire new squad of players.
The Vaqueros, who reached the playoffs a year ago, soundly beat the Buckaroos a season ago in Fernley. Many thought that would happen again, as Lowry featured a number of new players making their varsity debut.
Fernley did make it two in a row over Lowry winning 29-6, but the head coach was pleased with the performance from his young Buckaroos.
“Since we have started (at the beginning of August) we have preached to compete and play your hearts out. These kids never gave up. Once we got down, there was no bad body language. They had it in their minds, they were not going to quit no matter what. That was a top three team in our league that we played with tonight. We wanted Fernley to leave sour if they lost or sour if they were in a fight.”
Lowry looked poised to take the opening drive of the season 80 yards and score, behind the legs of Mason Morrison and Jacob Hernandez. The Buckaroos moved the ball inside the Fernley 20 yard line, but the drive stalled out on downs. Morrison and Hernandez combined for nearly 160 yards on the ground.
Fernley, who beat Hug 34-12 the week before, took advantage of the turnover on downs and drove 83 yards to take an 8-0 lead after a 12-yard run by AC Reyes and the 2-point conversion.
The Buckaroos could not take advantage of a Vaquero fumble late in the first quarter, going three-and-out on the next drive. Fernley made up for its miscue, taking a 15-0 lead midway through the first half on a 9-yard pass from Kyle Throckmorton to Reyes.
Lowry controlled the clock for much of the first half, keeping its final drive of the second quarter on a scramble by quarterback Brady Lange. Morrison and Hernandez continued to find room to run behind the offensive lone, but a field goal attempt with 90 seconds left in the half was blocked.
“Fernley has a great quarterback and a powerful offense,” Cabatbat said. “What we are going to have to do all year is keep the ball away from our opponents. We did that tonight, but we have to learn to finish drives. We can afford to get in shootouts with teams. We are going to have to win on attitude and desire.”
Fernley added to its lead in the third quarter, scoring on a 7-yard run by Throckmorton to make the score 22-0. The Vaqueros attempted an on-side kick moments later that was recovered by the Buckaroos. With excellent field position, Lowry took advantage of two Fernley penalties and scored on a 4-yard scamper by Morrison to cut the margin to 22-6.
The Vaqueros showed off its potent offense, scoring in less than four minutes later on a 25-yard run by Throckmorton. Lowry had a golden opportunity to score in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. Hernandez used a 56-yard punt to pin the Vaqueros at the 5-yard line. Fernley fumbled to plays later, but Lowry gave the ball right back on a fumble of its own.
“That is stuff we have to take advantage of,” Cabatbat said. “We will learn. We have guys that are new to the system. We don’t have that many kids back. I thought we stepped up to the challenge.”
Lowry heads out on the road for the first time this year to play Truckee on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
“That will be a good test for us,” Cabatbat said. “We are in a fortunate position — we can only get better. We have a lot pieces to do well. We just have to improve and we will do that.”
