The Lowry High School varsity team traveled to Pahrump for a non-league game last Friday to whet their chops for their upcoming Northern 3A season.
Repeating their results from last year when they mounted a comeback to take down the Trojans at home 41-40, the Buckaroos overcame a 42-13 deficit with six minutes left in the third quarter to shock the Trojans 46-42 with an amazing comeback.
"That is what we were preaching," said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. "It has happened before with a handful of these kids so they know what it is like, but there are another handful of kids that do not know what it is like. We were just hoping that as a team they would respond together and pull it off, and they did. It shows a lot of character and heart with the kids that we have; they are building off of what we did last year. We are taking steps in the right direction and I think it is going to be a good thing moving forward.”
Anthony Peterson ran in a score to give the Buckaroos a 6-0 advantage only two minutes into the game, but Pahrump Valley answered with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to lead 8-6 at the end of the first quarter.
“We had a good kickoff return on the first series and marched down the field and scored easily,” Cabatbat said. “Pahrump came back and had an easy drive of their own to score, and from there it was Pahrump for two and a half to three quarters. They beat us down and we could not respond. Offensively we stalled out, and defensively they bullied us on the field. We could not take care of the trenches and our tackling was poor.”
The Trojans scored 26 points in the second quarter while Lowry could only manage an impressive 75 yard-touchdown pass from Chance Huitt to Kevin Warren for their only score of the period, which left the Bucks gasping at half-time down 34-13.
“We went in at halftime and made some adjustments and we saw some things that we liked as the third quarter went on," Cabatbat said. "But, eventually we threw all of the adjustments out of the window because nothing was working and went back to what we know — the basics. We just let them play and these kids stepped up, that is the bottom line.”
Pahrump Valley scored first in the third quarter with six minutes left in the period, but it was all Buckaroos after that.
An eight-play, 80-yard drive resulted in another Peterson touchdown run, and Warren hauled in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Huitt as time expired in the third to make it a 42-25 contest.
“The boys did a good job of responding, and when we started getting the momentum they went to a new level,” Cabatbat said. “I knew at the beginning of the fourth quarter that it was going to be a repeat of last year. I could tell by the vibe and the way that the kids were responding to each other, both on and off the field. It was obvious that whether we came out with a win or a loss that these kids were at a new level. It was awesome to see.”
In the fourth quarter it was all Lowry. They recovered the on-side kick from the previous touchdown at the end of the third quarter and Huitt found Tyler Neu for a 26-yard pass to make the score 42-33.
“We switched kickers from Jace (Mentaberry) to Caden (Ricci) for the on-side kick," added the coach. "Caden put down the kick and Jace recovered it. It was a trip.”
Pahrump Valley was driving down the field once again in the fourth quarter, when Charles Wiggins recovered a fumble and took it 70 yards to the house to make it a 42-40 game with just seven minutes to play.
“Charles is our starting center on offense, and he filled in at defensive end when Dominick (Kelley) got injured,” Cabatbat said. “He had a game-changing moment when he scooped up a fumble and scored for us.”
The Buckaroo defense held their ground, and Huitt engineered a two-minute drill of 75 yards which resulted in a quarterback keeper with just 22 seconds left in the contest to give Lowry the 46-42 win.
“Huitt was in a zone," Cabatbat said. "He was passing the ball like I have never seen him pass it before; He had a stellar game. Kevin did very well for us and Preston (Snow) played lights out as a linebacker.”
The Buckaroos start Northern 3A play in Sparks on Friday at 7 p.m.
“If we put together a solid week of practice and go down to Sparks and implement what we are trying to do, I think that we will do good things,” Cabatbat said. “It is all about preparation and I think that these kids understand what it is like to travel and play now, even though it will not be as far. Sparks is going to come out and grind, they are gritty. We came out with a “W” against them last year, but it was not easy by any means, and we expect the same from them this year. We have to hunker down and play our brand of football for four quarters I am proud of these kids. They showed a lot of heart and grit to come back like that, it tells a lot about them.”
