A season ago the Lowry High School football team beat two 5A opponents in Douglas and Galena and finished the season 6-3.
However, those three losses came in Northern 3A East play and the Buckaroos were left out of the playoffs.
With a majority of that group back, Lowry is looking to make a return trip back to the postseason this fall.
The Buckaroos opened their 2022 campaign at home this past Friday against Fernley in style.
The match-up was a non-conference meeting, as both teams filled the scheduled after having teams back out of games.
Lowry raced out to a quick lead and never looked back in beating Fernley 34-14.
“It was a good way to start the season,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “We didn’t show a whole lot since we will play them alter at their place. They will be a lot better when we seem them later in the year. We have things to work on and get better but I was pleased with how we played.”
The Buckaroos wasted little time, scoring on their opening possession of the season in just under three minutes.
Running backs Jesse Jeronimo and Braden Hammargren and quarterback Jordan Bills used big runs to move Lowry inside the Fernley 20-yard line.
On the fifth play of the drive, Hammargren broke through the Vaquero defense and scampered in for an 18-yard touchdown. Hammargren added the extra point to make the score 7-0.
The Vaqueros fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, leading to a 34-yard field goal by Hammargren to make the score 10-0 with 7:21 left in the first quarter.
Fernley looked to stop the momentum but its initial first down of the game was called back on a holding penalty and the drive stalled out with a punt.
That left Lowry at the Fernley 44-yard line and after runs by Bills and Hammargren, the Buckaroos jumped in front 17-0 with :30.9 seconds left in the opening quarter on a 13-yard run by Hammargren.
After another punt by Fernley, Lowery got the passing game going, as Bills connected with Anthony Guzman on a couple of passes to move the Buckaroos into Vaquero territory.
Six minutes into the second quarter, Lowry increased the advantage to 24-0 on a 3-yard run by Jeronimo.
Fernley looked poised to get on the scoreboard, as Marciano Montano broke free for a long run was brought down just before the goal line.
The Buckaroo defense took charge from there and held the Vaqueros out of the end zone and took over at the 3-yard line.
On the next play, Lowry reversed the field and Jeronimo broke free for a 90-yard run before getting caught from behind.
Bills finished the drive off with an 8-yard run to give Lowry a 31-0 lead at halftime.
The Buckaroos added their final points of the night, late in the third quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Hammargren.
Fernley found its way on the scoreboard with 11:03 left in the game on a 1-yard run by Montano. The Vaqueros added one more score in the fourth quarter — on a 27-yard run.
“It was a good chance to get everyone out on the field in the opener,” Cabatbat said. “It was good to get out and hit someone else. We are taking this as the first step to get better.”
Lowry will be back at home to host Battle Mountain on Friday at 7 p.m.
This is the first meeting of the two schools since 2017. The Longhorns will be making their season debut.”
“These first two games are about us getting better and getting ready for our league games,” Cabatbat said. “There is still a lot of work to do.”
