ELKO — Perhaps the Lowry High School football team could have done without its bye week.
The Buckaroos had a week off after scoring 48 points against North Valleys and 61 at South Tahoe. Lowry was scheduled to play Dayton on Oct. 11 for its original homecoming game, but the game was canceled. The Dust Devils did not field a football program this year.
Lowry was back on the field this past Friday night in Elko, with a home playoff game at stake for the Buckaroos. However, Elko celebrated its homecoming game with a 32-21 win, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter in a 58 second span.
“It is what it is,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “We had some miscues that hurt us tonight. It was senior night for them and homecoming. We knew what they were going to bring to the table. I was a little worried about shaking off the rust. You could see we were rusty at the start. We have not made those kind of turnovers all year.”
After starting the game at the 50-yard line, Elko began the game with a trick play on a reverse pass and later scored on a 2-yard run by Jake Zeller to take a 6-0 lead, with less than three minutes gone in the game.
It went from bad to worse for Lowry, as on its second offensive play of the night, Chance Huitt was intercepted by Max Schurtz and he ran 14 yards for a touchdown and 12-0 advantage for Elko with 8:28 left in the first quarter.
The early-game miscues continued for Lowry, fumbling on its next possession in Elko territory. That turnover did not hurt the Buckaroos, as the Indians punted after getting the ball back.
Lowry finally got on the scoreboard late in the first quarter on a 65-yard drive.
Anthony Peterson and Huitt had runs to get Lowry into Elko territory. A pass by Huitt to Preston Snow, put the ball inside the 30 yard line.
The drive stalled until fourth down, when Huitt connected with Peterson for a 22-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone. The missed extra point cut the deficit in half to 12-6.
Both teams had trouble finding an offensive flow for the remainder of the second quarter. Lowry had an opportunity to take the lead at the end of the first half, but the drive end at the Elko 10-yard line after a fumble and the Buckaroos’ third turnover of the night.
The Indians were able to maintain a 12-6 lead at halftime, with all the points scored in the first quarter.
After struggling on offense in the first half, Lowry took the opening possession of the third quarter 61 yards to take its first lead of the night.
The Buckaroos used four straight running plays to get in Elko territory. On third down, Huitt hit Peterson for a 14-yard touchdown pass and a 14-12 lead after the 2-point conversion.
The lead was short-lived, as Elko took advantage of excellent field position after an unsuccessful on-side kick attempt. The Indians quickly drove 42 yards, capped off by a 1-yard run by Rolando Acosta to go back in front 18-14 with 4:20 left in the third quarter.
Lowry bounced right back and scored two minutes later on a 53-yard pass from Huitt to Peterson to put the Buckaroos ahead 21-18. The Indians used its running game to chew up nearly five minutes on the clock and retake the lead with 10:17 left to play on a 1-run by Zeller.
The turnover bug hit Lowry on the next possession with a fumble, but it did not cost the Buckaroos, as the Indians gave the ball right back.
Lowry got the ball back with eight minutes to play and drove deep into Elko territory on the strength of a juggling catch by Jordan Parker.
However, the drive stalled out on downs and Elko scored an insurance touchdown with 1:26 to play on a 23-yard run by Rolando Acosta.
Lowry takes on league-leading Churchill County on Thursday 7 p.m. in Winnemucca.
The Greenwave have locked up the No. 1 seed for the postseason in the Northern 3A. Fernley is second at 6-2 and Lowry and Truckee are tied for third at 5-2, with the Wolverines holding the tiebreaker. Elko is fourth at 4-3 and Spring Creek (3-4) is sixth.
Elko and Spring Creek play each other on Thursday in Spring Creek. A loss by Elko would ensure Lowry of a home playoff game on Friday, Nov. 1 against Spring Creek.
A win by Elko would mean Lowry making a return trip to Elko in the first round of the playoffs and Spring Creek would travel to Truckee. Spring Creek lost 28-27 at Truckee on Saturday.
“We still got things to prove and build on,” Cabatbat said. “It’s a learning experience for us and we have to learn from our mistakes. We are still a good football team. We have the No. 1 team in the state coming to our house. We are going to get ready and see what we can do against them.”
