By Dave Belcher

Moapa Valley Progress

Lowry is the favorite in the northern 3A to win the league championship.

And when you speak of Lowry there is only one name that needs to be spoken: Billingsley. There’s Head Coach Tim Billingsley. Then Sr. runningback and three time state wrestling champ Jace Billingsley. Then there’s also quarterback, and two time state wrestling champ, Michael Billingsley. These people represent the heart and soul of the Buckeroo’s football team.

Last year, Jace lead the 3A in rushing with 2382 yards. He had 27 touchdowns to lead his team to a semifinal matchup with the Pirates. They were beaten in that game, 35-20. Jace had 30 receptions for 465 yards and 2 more touch downs.

Jace is a 170 pound quick speedster who gets past the corner and is gone. Moapa last season held him to 101 yards in the match up that was the beginning of their nightmares with Moapa being their top nightly attraction.

The Buckaroos return their second leading rusher in Johnathan Hernandez who rushed for 727 yards and six touchdowns on the season. He had 66 yards in the semifinal.

As a team the Bucks ran for 3992 and 42 touchdowns.

Lowry also went to Truckee in the regular season game and nearly surprised the Wolverines to end the state’s longest winning streak losing 22-16.

Gone is big Will Thacker who walked on at UNR this season. He punched a lot of holes for Jace.

Of all the teams in the northern 3A the Buckaroos will have the best chance of beating Truckee and ending the streak which stands at 28 when they meet in Winnemucca on October 21.

Michael is the new quarterback who didn’t see much time behind the center last season but will bring the wrestling tenacity that will give the north a combo that will be very hard to stop. Coach has helped turn this program around since it returned from the 4A a few years ago.

Coach Billingsley has a record of 17-24 in the 4 years he has coached the team. Lowry is the favorite to win the state title and is ranked 12th in the state, according to maxpreps.com. The question is: Can the trio create some magic and do something they haven’t even sniffed since 1992 by making the title game?

Truckee has two, that’s right two, starters returning from the back to back state champions.

The Truckee state champs were invited to the Sollenberger classic but turned it down. Coach Shaffer felt that last season’s team deserved the right to play in the game and their current lack of experience were reasons for the Wolverines to pass on the invite.

Truckee has little experience, but has one of the top coaching staffs in the state in any league.

Cole Roberts will help lead this team as he is a player to watch in the north.

So what is going to happen to the champs this season? Lowry is poised to end the streak in Winnemucca which could be 35 by the time they play. That is if Elko doesn’t end it at 29 the second week in Elko. Their JV team who didn’t win a game last year as freshman aren’t going to be much help next season so maybe this is a last gasp for a couple years?

If Truckee finishes second in the league they would travel south for the semifinal game. The north #1 seed hosts the north #3 while the south #1 will host the north #2. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Elko is one of the three favorites. Their Coach is the son of the most winning coach in the state: Bob Sellers, who coached at Wooster then Bishop Manogue.

Coach Luke Sellers has the Indians ready to take the next step and return to the state championship. Last year, they were beaten by Truckee in the semifinals 55-7 finishing in second place by way of beating Lowry 20-19 in the regular season. They finished 8-3 overall.

Spring Creek finished 6-4 last season started off slow as they were beaten by sparks in the first game of the year and were 1-3 after the fourth game. They then won the next five games after going back to their old offence, including a 28-27 win over Elko. They lost to Lowry 24-3 in the quarter finals. They had previously beaten the Bucks 20-17 four weeks earlier.

Spring Creek can never be counted out because of the strong running game year in and year out.

Fernley returns Ken Bradley as quarterback. How Bradley goes, so will Fernley. He threw for 1644 yards 11 touch downs and 14 interceptions. They finished a disappointing 4-6 after making the semifinals the previous two years. Coach Chris Ward had to hire three new staff members as the others left the program.

Wooster will be playing as an independent again this year. The most exciting thing here will be their new stadium lights meaning Friday night games for the first time ever.

They will also have a new Head Coach. The administration removed the old one because he felt the team should be in the 3A instead of the 4A.

South Tahoe is getting new turf and lights in their stadium. They finished 3-7 on the season.

Sparks is looking to turn their program around. They have missed the playoffs for the last three seasons. This year they return their quarterback and four offensive linemen giving them some experience. They won their first three games last year then didn’t win again.

Fallon is coming off a playoff game they lost, but it was the first playoff game in 21 years for the green wave. This school is riding momentum as they won 4 of 5 state championships in the spring sports season last year.

Last year, Fallon finished 4-6 and have the state 100 meter champion in their backfield.

The defense was the weak spot last season and they plan to strengthen it to stop the run.

Dayton is coming off a struggling year and fell below expectations. They will have a new Coach in Rob Turner who is changing the offence to the double wing, the same as what Virgin Valley runs. They have a couple of runningbacks and linebackers returning.

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