By Stephanie Cochrane Posted September 15, 2008
For the first time in about 19 years, Truckee’s freshman football team suffered a loss. Lowry fought hard to shut Truckee out 32-0 in the season opener on Thursday.
Lowry coach Ron Beck modestly stated, “It’s been a long time since beating Truckee, 19 years since I’ve been coaching, but it’s a whole new group of kids each year so this win can’t be called revenge.”
Lowry started the game with a lot of intensity; quarterback Jace Billingsley set the pace early, running in a touchdown in the first three minutes of the quarter. Lowry’s defense forced Truckee to punt the ball away only minutes later. Gus Duncan received the punt and ran it back for a 65-yard touchdown making the score 14-0. As if they weren’t on a good enough start, Lowry’s Johnny Hernandez turned a Truckee fumble into a 37-yard touchdown leaving Truckee scoreless at 20-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started a little rocky with both teams tugging the ball back and forth and making some mistakes.
When Lowry seemed to hit a roadblock, coach Beck ensured, “The game isn’t always about winning or losing, but about improvement throughout the season.”
Halftime seemed to refresh the Bucks as they opened the scoring when Gus Duncan raced 60 yards up the sideline. On the next play, Johnny Hernandez carried it in for the score with a 32-yard touchdown run of his own. The third quarter ended with the Buckaroos up 26-0.
Jace Billingsley ran the ball from the 11-yard line picking up another touchdown and suffering a hard tackle that resulted in a broken foot.
With just under three minutes left in the game and the ball in Truckee’s hands, Lowry was determined for Truckee to leave town scoreless. Ryan Nelson intercepted a Truckee pass at the Lowry 35-yard line to finish the game with the ball in Lowry’s possession.
