In a battle of teams looking for their first win in Division I-A North play this season, Lowry hosted Wooster this past Friday night at Jerry Tobin Field.
With their multiple-look offense, the Colts gave the Buckaroos trouble from the start, and went on to win 27-14.
“We just need to be ready to play, and we haven’t been doing that the last two weeks,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “We can’t give teams leads like we have been. We just need to put together a game, instead of one half or one quarter.”
Wooster’s Chosen Gbenjo proved to be the difference on the night, as the junior scored three touchdowns, all in the first half.
The Colts scored the first two times they had the ball, completing drives of 64 and 74 yards, respectively. Gbenjo scored both touchdowns, the first on a 2-yard run and the second from eight yards away.
“They have some nice players,” Cabatbat said. “Their running back is the real deal, and they have a good quarterback and receivers. They are a young team like we are.”
Lowry punted on its initial drive of the night, but got the home crowd excited late in the first quarter, when Brady Lange connected with Nate Nelson on a 40-yard pass down the sideline. However, the drive ended on downs.
The Buckaroos were back in business moments later, as Nelson intercepted a Hunter Triplett pass inside the Wooster 30-yard line. Lowry moved the ball inside the 20-yard line, only to see the drive stall out on downs once again.
“We need to find ways of finishing a drive and scoring points,” Cabatbat said. “We get ourselves in a good spot and can’t do anything with it. We move the ball from the 20 to the 20, then we stop ourselves, with dumb mistakes.”
Wooster capitalized on Lowry’s inability to score and drove 89 yards in four minutes, which included a fourth-down conversion. Gbenjo capped off the long drive with a 1-yard touchdown to give Wooster a 21-0 lead at halftime.
The Buckaroos punted on their first two possessions of the second half, and Wooster added to its lead when Triplett scored on a 25-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Lowry (0-3 overall, 0-3 Division I-A) prevented a shutout when Nelson took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, as the senior followed his blocking down the field for the score.
The Buckaroos defense stepped up in the second half as well, forcing two punts by Wooster in the fourth quarter. Lowry cut the deficit to 27-14, with 27 seconds to play, on a 1-yard run by Mason Morrison. The Buckaroos recovered the ensuing on-side kick to get the ball back, but could not punch another score into the end zone.
For the second time in three weeks, Lowry will head up to Lake Tahoe. This time, the Buckaroos head for the south shore to play South Tahoe, which is 0-3 in league play and 0-4 overall.
“We have to overcome and clean up what we are doing,” Cabatbat said. “We still have six weeks of football to play. I want to see us play hard and improve.”
