Lowry's Donovan Walker looks for room to run in the Buckaroos' 38-20 win over South Tahoe on Friday night in Winnemucca.
After a tough stretch in the middle of the season, the Lowry High School football team got back on the winning track with a 38-20 win over South Tahoe on Friday night in the Buckaroos’ home finale and homecoming game.
Lowry snapped a four-game losing streak and clinched a playoff berth in the process.
It is the Buckaroos’ first playoff berth since 2019. Lowry is 2-4 in the Northern 3A and 3-5 overall.
The Buckaroos put the contest away early, with 28 points in the opening quarter, firing on all aspects of the game.
Lowry took the opening drive of the night 63 yards and capped it off in just over two minutes on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Joesph Vankuiken to Luke Fentress.
Jesse Jeronimo added the 2-point conversion, after the Vikings were offside on the initial kick attempt.
Special teams stepped up minutes later for Lowry, as Anthony Guzman broke free for a 70-yard punt return, giving the Buckaroos a 15-0 lead.
Moments later on the next South Tahoe drive, Lowry intercepted a pass and started at the Viking 14-yard line. Two plays later, Jeronimo was in the end zone on a 7-yard run.
South Tahoe quickly went 3-and-out on its next drive and one play later, Guzman turned in his best PlayStation moves, weaving through the South Tahoe defense for a 56-yard run and a 28-0 advantage with 1:26 left in the first quarter.
The Vikings offense continued to go nowhere in the first half, as the Buckaroos added a fifth touchdown to lead 35-0 at halftime after a 23-yard touchdown run by Jeronimo.
With its offense struggling on offense in the first 24 minutes of the night, the Vikings used their special teams to get on the scoreboard, as Allen Aparicio ran the second half kickoff back for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 35-7, 13 seconds into the third quarter.
Guzman nearly returned the favor on the ensuing kickoff, returning the ball to the South Tahoe 30-yard line.
The Buckaroos appeared to increased the lead but a touchdown run by Jeronimo was called back on a holding penalty. A couple plays later, the drive ended with an interception in the end zone by South Tahoe.
South Tahoe was driving for a second score of the half on the ensuing drive, but saw it end as Bosten Dennis intercepted a pass near the ground after the ball was tip a couple times.
However, the Buckaroos gave the ball right back with a fumble and the Vikings countered with a 17-yard pass from Elias Aguilar to Vicent Gangitano to make the score 35-14.
Lowry scored its lone points of the second half on a 27-yard field goal by Rigoberto Esquivel, seven seconds into the fourth quarter.
South Tahoe added its final score with seven minutes left in the game on a 5-yard run by Aguilar.
Lowry will likely be the No. 6 seed in the Northern 3A Regional Playoffs, which start on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Truckee has clinched the No. 1 seed and Elko is second at 5-1 after beating Churchill County on Friday night.
Churchill County and Spring Creek are both 4-2, with Churchill County owning the tiebreaker. Fernley will be the fifth seed in the playoffs.
Lowry closes out the regular season Friday in Fallon to play Churchill County at 7 p.m.