WINNEMUCCA, Nev. — The South Tahoe football team went into its game Friday, Sept. 23, with two main goals — win and stay healthy. In a 44-6 victory at winless Lowry, the Vikings achieved both objectives.

South Tahoe (4-1 3A Northern) had five different players find the end zone in the 38-point win, which extended its winning streak to three games. The Vikings comfortably beat Lowry (0-5), and maintained their health in the process.

“We were a little banged up during the week,” Vikings coach Louis Franklin said. “It was the first time we didn’t have enough guys healthy enough to hold bags on the scout team — we had about 18 guys healthy.”

The Vikings took it easier in practice last Monday and Tuesday leading up to Friday night’s win, and got more players in the mix as the week went on. South Tahoe’s game plan against Lowry never changed, but coming out of the contest with no new injuries became a bigger priority.

“The main focus was to do our assignments, do our job and do it well — we were able to do that,” Franklin said. “But after two really physical games with Fernley and Fallon, we really needed to get healthy again.”

Junior quarterback Peyton Galli finished 11-of-19 passing for 227 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckaroos. Galli spread the ball around in his third straight start for injured senior Tommy Cefalu, throwing touchdowns to seniors McCallan Castles, Noah Jackson and Robert Cage.

“Peyton is making a lot of progress, and we think he’s one of the top quarterbacks in the league,” Franklin said. “He’s been doing a good job protecting the ball for us and our offense hasn’t really dipped since he’s started.”

Castles had a game-high 145 yards receiving on five catches, Jackson finished with three catches for 35 yards, and Cage caught two passes for 17 yards. Jackson also ran for 46 yards on six carries.

On the ground, senior Jacob Bernal ran for a team-high 51 yards and two scores on 15 carries. Senior Dylan Gooding added 38 yards rushing on four carries.

“We’re really getting a lot of different guys in the end zone,” Franklin said. “They can’t just key on one guy and that’s helping diversify the offense — it makes it harder for teams to scout us.”

Defensively, the Vikings held their opponent to one touchdown for the second time in three weeks — and did some scoring of their own. Junior cornerback Matt Cain had two interceptions and six tackles against Lowry, including one that he returned for a score.

Senior Zen Contestable led South Tahoe with 13 total tackles (nine solo) while playing inside linebacker Friday, and was one of five players to record double-digit stops. Gooding, senior Max Sweitzer, junior Jakob Costley and senior Gabriel Bueno each added 11 apiece.

“Minus one time, we really eliminated the big play from their offense,” Franklin said. “One time we overpursued in a run pursuit and they ran for a long score — but we forced them to throw the ball more and had a lot of turnovers on defense.”

South Tahoe returns to action Friday night, Sept. 30, at Wooster (1-4) — the Colts lost at Spring Creek 24-8 last Friday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“We can only win one game a week,” Franklin said, “but we look to build that momentum going forward.”