The Lowry High School football team thrilled its home crowd with a 41-40 come-from-behind victory over Pahrump Valley on Friday night in Winnemucca.
It was the first time Lowry won its season-opener since a 33-28 victory over North Valleys in 2014. That was also the last time the Buckaroos made the playoffs.
“It is great to get a win to start off the season," said LHS head coach Taua Cabatbat. "We started the game a little slow, but the boys came back strong at the end of the game."
The victory marked the first win over a team other than Dayton, since 2014. The Buckaroos won one game each in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and those were against the Dust Devils.
Pahrump Valley jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the second quarter, when Lowry got on the board on a 13-yard pass from Chance Huitt to Dorsey Naveran.
The Trojans answered right back to increase the margin to 24-7. However, with :05 left in the first half, Lowry cut the lead to 24-13 on a pass from Huitt to Scottie Smith. A long kickoff return by Preston Snow set up the score.
Pahrump Valley scored on its opening drive of the third quarter to increase the lead to 32-13.
The Buckaroos rallied to cut the deficit to 32-27 in the third quarter. Anthony Peterson trimmed the gap to 32-19 after a 1-yard touchdown run and moments later, Huitt scooped up a Pahrump Valley fumble and scored from 48 yards out to make the score 32-27.
The Trojans led 40-27 in the fourth quarter, when Brendan Domire found Snow for a touchdown to bring the Buckaroos within six points at 40-34.
Pahrump Valley had five rushing touchdowns on the night and five 2-point conversions to amass their 40-point effort
The Trojans led the entire game, but a costly fumble with 1:10 left in the game gave the Buckaroos a chance from 44-yards away.
Lowry drove down the field and scored on a touchdown pass from Domire to Snow to tie the score at 40 with 26 seconds left to play.
The extra point gave the Buckaroos the lead 41-40 and the defense held on to secure the win.
"We were hoping Pahrump would do more passing, but they just ground it out with runs the entire game," Cabatbat said. "We were lucky to recover that fumble at the end of the game, and then the boys took care of business.”
Gina Rackley, the Secretary and a board member of the Winnemucca Century Club (Lowry Boosters) was offering memberships at this first home game.
“It’s $200 for the entire family and that gets you into all home games for all sports," she said
The Buckaroos begin Northern 3A play on Friday against Sparks at 7 p.m. Sparks is coming off a loss to Douglas last week."
