Separated by just a little over 50 miles, Lowry and Battle Mountain high schools have played just one football game since 2014, with that taking place in 2017.
After a long break in the series, the two squads got back together this past Friday night in Winnemucca.
The Buckaroos, with a game under their belt, a 34-14 win over Fernley, knocked off the Longhorns 51-21, who were making their season debut with a new coach in Tucker Vezina.
Battle Mountain scored all 21 of its points in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we hung in there well,” Vezina said. “We are not going to see that kind of size or depth the rest of the season. We talked and want to be able to play teams like that. We knew what we were getting into and know. They have a lot of guys that like to play football. It showed they were a little more polished and we made some mistakes in our first game. I am proud of how our guys played.”
Despite having two holding penalties, including one that called back a touchdown, the Buckaroos eventually scored on the initial drive of the game.
Jordan Bills dropped a 42-yard pass in the arms of Anthony Guzman three minutes into the contest to make the score 7-0.
“We had a couple bad nights of practice and it showed at the start of the game,” said LHS coach Taua Cabatbat. “We were undisciplined and had some penalties. We were a little sluggish. I think we had a little bit of a Fernley hangover. Battle Mountain came to play, they were not going to back down from us.”
The Longhorns went 3-and-out on their opening possession and the Buckaroos quickly drove 53 yards.
Jesse Jeronimo, who had over 170 yards rushing a week ago, moved Lowry to the Battle Mountain 9-yard line with a 44-yard run.Bills capped off the quick drive with a 9-yard run. Lowry missed the extra point to lead 13-0 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.
Battle Mountain moved the ball into Lowry territory on its next drive, but that ended with a punt.
After the Buckaroos turned the ball over on downs early in the second quarter, the Longhorns gave the ball right back as Anthony Silva was intercepted by Frank Davis.
After a Lowry 3-and-out, Davis intercepted Silva for a second time on the night.
That turnover led to another Buckaroo touchdown. On the ensuing drive, Lowry had a touchdown called back on a holding penalty but kept the drive going and scored again, this time on an 8-yard pass from Bills to Guzman. Lowry added the 2-point conversion for a 21-point advantage.
The Buckaroos went for two points on its touchdowns, after kicker Braden Hammargren left the game early with an injury.
The turnover bug hit Battle Mountain again, as Jacob Woolsey intercepted Silva on the next drive. One play later, Bills hit Guzman for a 35-yard touchdown and a 29-0 lead at halftime.
“We wanted to work on some things and throw the ball a little more,” Cabatbat said. “We have to clean some things up, because we all know the Northern 3A is going to be pretty rugged. We have to be ready for anything.”
Battle Mountain turned the ball over on its first possession of the third quarter, leading to a 67-yard drive and touchdown. Bills began the drive with a pass to Joseph Vankuiken and Jeronimo capped the drive with a 21-yard run and 37-0 lead after the 2-point conversion.
“We were moving the ball but turnovers just hurt us,” Vezina said. “Those miscues added up and a lack of getting turnovers on our part added up. Our kids worker their butt off. We just have to take better care of the ball. When those turnovers happen, it just snowballs from there.”
Later in the third quarter, Christopher Gildone intercepted Silva, leading to a 3-yard run by Jeronimo and a 45-0 advantage.
Battle Mountain got on the board early in the fourth quarter after avoiding disaster. Silva had to recover a snap that went over his dead deep in Lowry territory. On third and 24 yards to go at the 19-yard line, Silva dropped a pass into the hands of Jr Vazquez, who ran the rest of the way for an 81-yard touchdown to make the score 45-8.
Lowry quickly countered and was back in the end zone moments later, as Vankuiken scored on a 49-yard run for the final Buckaroo points on the night.
Battle Mountain kept pressing on offense and were back in the end zone on its next drive off a 42-yard pass from Silva to Vazquez.
After a Lowry fumble with less than a minute to play, Silva threw his third touchdown of the night, this time a 40-yard completion to Blake Stuart for the final points of the night.
“It is all stuff we can work on,” Vezina said. “We won the fourth quarter and is something to build off. “We have been stressing on finishing strong and we did that. We are looking forward to being back home and playing White Pine.”
Lowry (2-0) hits the road for the first time this season with game in Reno against Wooster on Friday at 7 p.m. Battle Mountain (0-1) hosts White Pine on Friday at 7 p.m.
“It starts for real now and we have to be ready to play Wooster,” Cabatbat said. “This is what we have been working all summer for.”
