The Lowry High School football team was back in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the second time in three weeks.
The Buckaroos made the trek to South Lake Tahoe and scored a season-high 29 points, after scoring just 21 in its first four league games combined. However, a slow start hampered the night for Lowry, whosE second-half comeback came up short in the 42-29 loss.
“The first 10 minutes of the game put us behind the 8-Ball really quick,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “They scored the very first play and scored on a lot of quick and big plays in the first quarter. I liked the way we came back, though. The defense stepped up and made some big plays in the second half. We knew going in, we would have stop their passing game.”
South Tahoe scored 12 seconds into the game when Petyon Galli found Mccallan Castles for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. Castles, who has committed to California, had played only eight plays in the last two games because of injury.
A turnover ended the Buckaroos’ first possession of the night and four plays later, the Vikings extended the advantage to 14-0 on a 35-yard pass from Galli to Matt Cain.
Lowry was driving the ball again midway through the first quarter, but saw a drive end on downs. It took South Tahoe just three plays to score, this time a 36-yard touchdown pass from Galli to Jakob Costley. That gave the Vikings a 21-0 lead seven minutes into the game.
A South Tahoe turnover led to Lowry’s first score at the end of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Victor Rosas broke free for a 42-yard run touchdown run to close the gap to 28-14. Rosas rushed for 70 yards on 12 carries. Fellow running back Anthony Peterson had 12 carries for a team-high 79 yards.
However, the Vikings answered back seconds later on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Galli to Tyler Wattanchinda. Near the end of the first half, Lowry picked up a safety to close the gap to 35-16.
“We made some big plays and cut down the lead and we were feeling good,” Cabatbat said. “But they came back with big plays of their own and that was tough on us. We made some adjustments at halftime and it worked.”
A 49-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Domire to Matthew Souza cut the deficit to 35-29 with five minutes left in the game. The Buckaroos were driving late in the game and was inside the Vikings’ 15-yard line, only to see South Tahoe intercept a tipped pass and end the drive. Domire was 8-of-20 passing for 141 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Vikings proceeded to run the clock out in the last five minutes and secured the victory on a fourth-and-six play from the Lowry 9-yard line. Castles took a pass from Galli and stretched out at the end for the first down. Galli scored on the next play to give the Vikings the 42-29 win.
“We thought we still had a chance if we stopped Castles on that play,” Cabatbat. “He took all of his 6'5" body and stretched out for the first down. I was hoping we had another chance if we got the ball back.”
Lowry (0-5 Northern 3A, 0-6 overall) hosted Dayton on Friday. Results were not available at press time. The Buckaroos travel to Elko next Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Lowry still has an outside chance of making the six-team regional playoffs. The Buckaroos would have to win their remaining four Northern 3A contests to qualify.
Spring Creek and Fernley entered this week as the lone undefeated teams in the league. The Spartans and Vaqueros met Friday in Springs Creek.
Churchill County and Truckee are each 4-1. Churchill County beat Truckee and holds the tiebreaker over the Wolverines. Churchill County's only loss was to Fernley.
