High school football fans in Battle Mountain had to wait about a month into the school year to finally see the Longhorns play on their home field.
Battle Mountain and thier opponent, American Falls, Idaho did not disappoint the fans in attendance. The two schools combined for 91 points, as the Beavers held on for a 47-44 win, and handing the Longhorns their first loss of the season.
“We started slow and had to play catch up all night,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “Once we got settled down, the kids played some good football”
American Falls jumped out to a quick 13-0 advantage in the first quarter and never trailed. The Beavers received the opening kickoff and drove down the field on their first possession for a 7-0 lead.
The Beavers kept the momentum going and recovered the ball after an on-side kick on the ensuing kick. Moments later, American Falls was in the end zone once again with a touchdown and led 13-0 after the missed extra point.
Once Battle Mountain was able to get its hands the ball, they were able to move down the field as well. In the middle of the first quarter, Gabe Naveran capped off the drive with a 1-yard run and Arturo Serrano followed with the 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to 13-8.
After the teams traded punts, American Falls was able to find pay dirt once again and pushed the lead back to 20-8.
Battle Mountain opened up the offense in the second quarter and Bryan Chavira connected with Miles Piramide and Bobby Kester on big pass plays. To finish out the drive, Chavira found Piramide for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Serrano added the 2-point conversion to make the score 20-16.
That momentum was short-lived as American Falls returned the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown and an 11-point advantage.
The back-and-forth offensive show continued, as Battle Mountain marched back down the field and was within five points at 27-22, following a 33-yard pass from Chavira to Kester.
The Beavers closed out the first half with another touchdown and claimed a 33-22 lead at the break.
The second half was dominated by the running of Serrano, a senior, who had 129 of his game high 197 yards in the final 24 minutes.
Battle Mountain took the second-half kickoff and scored four players later on a 9-yard run by Serrano. Chavira added the 2-point conversion to cut the margin to 33-30.
As it was for much of the night, American Falls had an answer for every Battle Mountain score. The Beavers countered with a long run to go back up 39-30 after the missed extra point. The Longhorns looked to close the gap once again, but threw an interception on thier next drive.
American Falls returned the favor moments later as DeAndre Powell intercepted a Beavers’ pass. One play later, Serrano broke loose for a 35-yard score to trim the American Falls lead to 39-28 after the 2-point conversion.
American Falls answered back once again and pushed the lead back to 47-38.
Late in the fourth quarter, Battle Mountain quickly drove down field after a nice kick return by Diego Saenz put the ball at the Battle Mountain 43 yard line. Payton Ayers had runs for 2, 17 and 5 yards on consecutive plays. Chavira tossed a 32-yard reception to Naveran, setting up Serrano’s final touchdown from two yards. The 2-point conversion failed.
American Falls got the ball back and converted a third-down play to run out the clock.
Chavira was 17-of-30 on the night, passing for 268 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Kester had a team-high five receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown. Piramide had four catches for 63 yards and Naveran had four catches for 57 yards. Mason Fuller and Serrano each had two catches.
“We hurt ourselves in this game,” Domagala said. “We had a bunch of missed tackles and some costly penalties, but we’ll learn from this, fix the mistakes and move on.”
The fight for the Northern 2A title begins Friday, as Battle Mountain travels to Yerington for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
