It almost felt like the season-opener all over again.
The Battle Mountain High School football team was back on Tim Knight Field, nearly a month after playing Lincoln County on Aug. 20.
The Longhorns had their game with Needles, Calif., canceled the next week and Battle Mountain and White Pine tried to play in back-to-back weeks, only to see that contest knocked off the schedule.
Battle Mountain showed signs of rust as it hosted North Tahoe this past Friday but cruised to a 40-13 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“You could see we were a little rusty and were still missing some kids,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “The kids played hard and had some guys step up off the bench and did some good things. It was a good chance for them to get some game experience. It felt like we were starting all over again after not playing for so long.”
The Longhorns went 3-and-out quickly on their first possession of the night but got the ball right back as the Lakers fumbled the Battle Mountain punt.
Two plays later, Brice Domagala, filling in as quarterback, connected with Anthony Silva on a 48-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead.
That would be the first of three touchdown catches for Silva on the night.
“We threw him in there and that was his first varsity game as quarterback,” said the coach. “He did okay for the first time out there. We will put him back at his regular spot for Incline as we get our guys back.”
After North Tahoe was forced to punt on its next drive, it took Domagala and Silva just one play to hook up for a 46-yard touchdown pass and 13-0 advantage with 9:23 left in the first quarter.
It went from bad to worse for the Lakers, who fumbled on the first play on its next possession and one play later,
Domagala scampered in from five yards out for the 21-0 lead.
Battle Mountain had an opportunity to put the game out of reach midway through the first quarter with another long drive, however it came to an end with an interception.
One play later, North Tahoe’s Skyler Sakrison broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run to cut the Battle Mountain lead to 21-6 with 2:13 left in the first quarter,
Early in the second quarter, Battle Mountain fumbled the ball away, which resulted in seven points for North Tahoe, when Sakrison connected on a 24-yard pass play with 10:42 to go in the first half.
The Longhorns regrouped after the back-to-back miscues and increased the lead to 28-13 at halftime on a 2-yard run by Domagala.
After turning the ball over on its initial possession of the third quarter, Battle Mountain put the game out of reach when Domagala found Jr. Vazquez for a 15-yard touchdown.
With just under two minutes left in the third quarter, the Longhorns closed out scoring on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Domagala to Silva.
Domagala finished the night 21-of-37 for 296 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Silva caught seven passes for 129 yards and the three touchdowns.
Vazquez had six receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown and Anthony Molina had one catch for 13 yards.
“A lot of kids stepped up and did good things,” Domagala said. “We still have a few things we need to clean up. It looked like at times we didn’t play for a month and other times we looked like dynamite in a bottle and we did some good things. It was a tale of two stories.”
Battle Mountain had just two yards rushing, despite Terrance Fetterly running for 28 yards. Domagala had two touchdown runs but rushed for minus 24 yards.
Battle Mountain hits the road for the first time this season, with a road trip to Incline on Friday at 7 p.m.
“We have to be ready to go and see how we adjust to our first road trip,” Domagala said. “This group we have now, has never beaten Incline. We have our work cut out for us.”
