Playing only two games this year, many were unsure what the Lowry High School football team would see in its Thursday Homecoming opponent in Fernley.
The Vaqueros, the reigning 3A state champion, played only two games this season, while the Buckaroos had played six.
The lack of on field experience didn’t hurt Fernley, in the Vaqueros 45-19 win at Jerry Tobin Field. Lowry dropped to 5-2 on the season and 1-2 in the Northern 3A East and Fernley improved to 2-1 and 1-0 in league play.
“Fernley has some good athletes out there,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “The bottom line is we came out and was not ready to play in a big game. As a coach, I am going to have to put that on me. I don’t know, we are going to have to go back to the drawing board and get these guys ready for the next two weeks.”
Fernley scored touchdowns on five of its six possessions in the first half to build a 32-7 lead. After holding the Buckaroos on their first drive, the Vaqueros drove 66 yards in just under five minutes and led 6-0 after a 6-yard run by Traven Cassinelli.
Lowry went 3-and-out on its next drive and Fernley quickly made it 12-0 on a 38-yard pass play from Julian Mcintyre to Carson Kingston.
The Buckaroos bounced back into the contest on its next play from scrimmage, as Jordan Bills connected with Giovani Sapien for a 62-yard touchdown.
The cut the deficit to 12-7 with 3:25 left in the first quarter. That was as close as Lowry got and were the only points of the first half.
Fernley came right back on its next possession and used its read-option offense to drive 58 yards. Mcintyre capped off the drive with a 12-yard run to give the Vaqueros a 18-7 lead with 91 seconds left in the first quarter.
After trading fumbles at the start of the second quarter, Lowry appeared to get back in the game on a touchdown run by Bills, but it was called back on a penalty.
The drive eventually stalled on downs and Fernley took control from there. In the final six minutes of the first half, the Vaqueros added an 18-yard run by Cassinelli and a 5-yard run by Mcintyre to lead 32-7 at the break.
It took Fernley less than four minutes to drive 89 yards at the start of the third quarter to go in front 39-7 after a 2-yard run by Jr. Reyes.
The Buckaroos were able to answer back on its initial drive of the second half, as Bills found Jessie Jeronimo for a 19-yard pass to make the score 39-13.
With 1:56 left in the third quarter, Fernley added its final score of the night on a 14-yard run by Emiliano Alonzo to go back up 45-13.
Lowry closed out the scoring 29 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by Joe Garcia.
Lowry looks to get back on the winning track on Friday with a trip to Spring Creek.
“We got to get ready for these next two games and win them,” Cabatbat said. “It is not going to get any easier. Our season comes down to the next two games to end the season. What we have done to this point means nothing. If we want to get to the playoffs, we need to win two games.”
