Lowry's Randy Patterson pins a Spring Creek opponent at the Kiwanis Invitational in Spring Creek.
The fun and games are now over, as the postseason began this past weekend at Fernley High School for Lowry High School wrestling team, with the Northern 3A duals.
The Buckaroos went undefeated (11-0) at the league duals for the first time since 2019 and positioned its wrestlers in good spots for the Northern 3A Regional Championships this Friday and Saturday at Wooster High School in Reno.
Pete Bengochea at 106 pounds, Carlos Gomez (120) and Jhett Harber (175) earned No. 1 seeds for the regional championships. Each wrestler went undefeated at 11-0.
Odyn Santos at 138 pounds and Jose Villagomez (190) finished the weekend 10-1 and Ethan Garcia (113), Teyo Gomez (130) and Randy Patterson (160) were 9-2.
“All in all, a pretty good showing,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “It was two days of grinding. We have proved that we are a solid dual meet team, with a record of 23-1 this season. Now, we need to show that we can be a good tournament team, which means everyone needs to stay alive and continue to score points. It should be a fun couple of weeks. We got to want it.”
Lowry had four freshmen at the duals and the foursome was a combined 39-5.
The only dual loss this season was to Spanish Springs, who later surpassed the Buckaroos state record dual streak at 108.
Lowry 60,
South Tahoe 13
Lowry gave up just two matches to South Tahoe — one by decision and the other by pin. Both teams forfeited at 215 pounds.
The Buckaroos won eight of the eight matches by pin — Jhett Harber, Jose Villagomez, Pete Bengochea, Ethan Garcia, Teyo Gomez, Giovanni Monroy and Erick Valencia. Jayden Howard won 12-0 over William Causing at 144 pounds.
Lowry 54, Spring Creek 29
Patterson, Villagomez and Harber opened with pins to give Lowry an 18-0 lead. The Buckaroos forfeited at 215 pounds but got back on the winning track with pins from Logan Jonas, Bengochea and Carlos Gomez to go in front 36-6.
The Spartans cut the deficit to 36-17, when Teyo Gomez, Santos and Valencia finished off the dual with pins.
Lowry 69, Sparks 4
There was just to matches that were contested, as Harber beat Emilliano De La Torre by a 10-5 decision. The lone win for the Railroaders was a 14-2 decision at 126 pounds. The remaining 12 matches were forfeits.
Lowry 59, North Valleys 15
Lowry scored the first 23 points of the dual, starting off with a forfeit for Monroy and pins from Valencia and Harber. Randy Patterson also won by tech fall in that stretch.
The Buckaroos dropped the next three matches to the Panthers but finished on a high note with seven straight wins. Carlos Gomez collected an 8-5 decision against Uriah Webber at 113 pounds and Jayden Howard won 11-2 over Rylan Bussard at 144 pounds.
Bengochea, Kruz Gomez, Teyo Gomez and Santos won by pin and Garcia had a tech fall against Allan Ayala.
Lowry 72, Dayton 6
Lowry lost just one match to Dayton, while Howard, Monroy, Harber, Villagomez and Garcia won by pin. All the other matches were forfeits.
Lowry 44, Elko 33
In one the most anticipated duals of the weekend, Lowry overcame a 30-24 deficit to win four of the last five bouts.
The two rivals traded the lead in the beginning, with Villagomez and Harber putting the Buckaroos in front at 24-18 with pins over Treagan Hansen and Chaddrick Cappes at 165 and 175 pounds, respectfully.
Elko won the next two bouts to lead 30-24, when Bengochea tied it at 30 with his pin at 106 pounds. Ethan Garcia won by forfeit at 113 pounds, Gomez won by tech fall and Kruz Gomez battled to a 1-0 win over Gabriel Flores at 126 pounds to secure the dual win.
Lowry 70, Truckee 5
There were just five bouts in the Truckee dual, with Monroy, Bengochea and Garcia winning by pin. Garcia collected a13-4 win at 120 pounds.
Lowry 48, Fernley 27
A forfeit by Kruz Gomez and a pin from Teyo Gomez gave the Buckaroos an early 12-0 advantage. The Vaqueros tied the dual 15 with three wins in the next four matches, when Lowry took the lead for good with wins from Patterson, Harber and Villagomez.
Fernley put a scare into Lowry and cut the lead to 32-27, when Bengochea won 15-2 and Carlos Gomez and Ethan Garcia won by pin.
Lowry 54, Churchill County 22
Lowry built a 36-5 lead over Churchill County and were never threatened, as Bengochea, Carlos Gomez, Harber, Logan Jonas and Patterson won by pin.
Lowry 62, Wooster 12
Lowry scored the first 62 points of the dual and lost only one match on the mat, with the other by forfeit.
Lowry 77, Hug 0
Lowry finished the weekend by blanking Hug with pins from Garcia, Carlos Gomez, Teyo Gomez and Valencia. Santos won by tech fall.
Lowry travels to Reno and Wooster High School this weekend for the Northern 3A Regional Championships. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state championships in Fallon at the Rafter 3C Arena on Feb. 7-8.