Battle Mountain's James Spealman outruns the North Tahoe defense on his way to scoring a touchdown against the Lakers on Friday night.
BATTLE MOUNTAIN — In its first two games of the season on the road, the Battle Mountain High School football team was still looking to mesh with a young squad against Needles, Calif., and Dayton.
The Longhorns have just four seniors this season, with most of the roster as underclassmen.
Battle Mountain made its home debut this past Friday against North Tahoe and got some players back from injury in a 46-0 win to improve to 1-0 in the Northern 2A and 1-2 overall.
Battle Mountain's Isaac Martinez looks for room to run.
Battle Mountain’s defense came up big on North Tahoe’s initial drive of the game as James Spealman picked off pass. Three plays later, Jake Perrone capped off a short 35-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run and a 6-0 lead with just three minutes gone in the game.
Following a North Tahoe punt, Battle Mountain drove 79 yards quickly and scored on a 2-yard run by Spealman to go in front 12-0.
The Longhorn secondary came up big on defense once again, as Perrone intercepted a pass on the next Laker drive. He made his way through the field to the North Tahoe 6-yard line.
One play later, Battle Mountain was back in the end zone a 6-yard touchdown run by Aden Payzant and a 19-0 lead with 3:01 left in the opening quarter.
The North Tahoe offense continued to go nowhere in the first quarter and were forced to punt again. This time, Balke Stuart took the kick back deep in to Lakers territory.
On the first play of the second quarter, Edgar Nunez ran in for a touchdown from six yards out to give Battle Mountain a 25-0 lead. Those would be the final points of the first half.
The Longhorns’ next two drives ended on punts in the second quarter and the Lakers had a drive end on downs and another on a punt.
After the halftime break, Battle Mountain was right back in the end zone with a quick two-minute, 60-yard drive, capped off by a 38-yard run by Perrone to lead 32-0.
North Tahoe passed midfield and into Battle Mountain territory for the first time mid-way through the third quarter but the drive ended on downs at the 31-yard line.
The Battle Mountain defensive line gets ready for the next play.
The Longhorns gave the ball right back on an interception and the Lakers could not do anything with, moving the ball just yard.
Moments later, Battle Mountain quarterback Kail Bengoa, a sophomore, dropped in a 55-yard pass to Matthew Farr for a touchdown and 39-0 advantage to make the game a running clock.
Battle Mountain added a late touchdown on a 5-yard run by Payzant.
Battle Mountain travels to Incline on Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Highlanders own a 42-0 win over West Wendover and a 21-14 victory over Pershing County.
The Longhorns are scheduled to travel to Silver Springs on Saturday, Sept. 30, to play Silver Stage. However, the Nighthawks had to cancel their game with Pershing County this past weekend.
Battle Mountain will be back home on Oct. 6, to play Yerington for Homecoming.