Lowry's Roan Hornbarger and Logan Jonas fight their way through the Sparks offensive line in the Buckaroos 33-13 win on Thursday in Winnemucca.
The Lowry High School football team overcame a slow start and early miscues to beat Sparks 33-13 in the Northern 3A opener on a rare Thursday night game in Winnemucca.
The Buckaroos led 7-0 at halftime and got the offense going in the second half to improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Northern 3A.
Lowry misfired on its first three drives of the opening quarter, fumbling on its initial play on offense and then went 3-and-out on its next drive.
The Buckaroos’ third drive ended quickly with another fumble on the first play of the drive.
Lowry's Donovan Walker shes the tackle of a Sparks defender.
The Lowry defense held its ground despite the miscues and forced Sparks to punt on three possessions in the first quarter and ending a Railroader drive on downs.
The Buckaroos broke through three minutes into the second quarter when Erick Valencia connected with Anthony Guzman and the senior did the rest, breaking tackles for a 54-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Sparks had its best drive of the opening 24 minutes, driving down to the Lowry 2-ayrd line, when Lowry’s Donovan Walker knocked the ball out of Max Hendrix hands before he could get into the end zone.
The Buckaroos looked to increase the lead late in the first half but had a long catch called back on an offensive pass interference call, ending the half at 7-0.
After struggling on offense for much of the first half, Lowry quickly got going in the third quarter on its opening drive, going 69 yards on a handful of plays.
Runs by Valencia and Walker moved the ball to the Sparks 34-yard line.
Two plays later, Valencia threw a short screen pass to Jesse Jeronimo and the senior running back barreled his way into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 9:35 left in the third quarter.
It was the first action on the field for Jeronimo this season.
Lowry's Luke Fentress finds room to run after making a catch.
That was the start of a wild couple minutes in the third quarter, as Sparks’ Mekhi Brown took the ensuing kickoff back 91 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 13-6.
One play after the Railroaders kicked off, Valencia took the snap from center and made his way through the Sparks defense for a 78-yard touchdown and a 20-6 advantage after the missed extra point. The teams combined for three touchdowns and 19 points in 41 seconds, with the three scores coming off of four plays on the field.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Buckaroos were poised to add to their lead but fumbled in the end zone and the Railroaders recovered to end the drive.
However, one play later, Sparks fumbled giving the ball right back to Lowry.
Moments later, Valencia hit Luke Fentress across the middle of the field for a 24-yard touchdown and a 26-3 lead.
Lowry capped off its scoring late in the fourth quarter, as sophomore Bosten Dennis gained all 68 yards on the drive and finished with a 19-yard run.
Sparks got back on the board with 37 seconds to play, as Hendrix connected with Brown for a 12-yard pass.
Lowry is back home on Friday to take on Spring Creek at 7 p.m.