Bridesmaid Revisited for Lowery

David Lowery thought he had reached bottom. Turned out San Diego State bought him a round-trip ticket.

For Lowery, poster child for heartbreak after an Aztec collapse against Brigham Young cost SDSU last season’s Western Athletic Championship, Saturday’s 45-41 loss to Fresno State was the sequel to his worst nightmare.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Lowery, a junior quarterback, said. “I never thought I’d have that feeling again.”

Lowery cried after SDSU blew a four-touchdown lead and the 1991 Holiday Bowl berth in that 52-52 tie with BYU. Only 370 days later, he cried his ’92 tears.

Neither his passing performance (14 for 30, 387 yards, three touchdowns) nor the thought of the 90-yard, go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter could dry his glassy eyes or alter his vacant stare.

“You feel like you have that ring on your finger, then you feel like it just got yanked off,” he said.

Lowery would have earned that ring, too. With injuries to running backs Marshall Faulk and Wayne Pittman, the Aztecs responded to every volley from a potent Fresno State offense.

After the Bulldogs scored on the second play of the game, Lowery passed 51 yards to Darnay Scott to set up Faulk’s two-yard touchdown.

Three plays after Michael Ross’ 40-yard punt return on a trick play left the Bulldogs trailing by three points in the second quarter, Lowery hit Keith Williams over the middle for a 73-yard score.

The Bulldogs again cut the deficit to three, but Lowery drove the Aztecs into the end zone again, with Curtis Shearer getting the 39-yard scoring catch.

Lowery’s one error came in the third quarter, when Tommy Jones intercepted a pass for Shearer.

“It was a stupid mistake on my part,” Lowery said of the interception, which the Bulldogs converted into the go-ahead touchdown.

Still, Lowery put together an 11-play, 90-yard drive that, if not for SDSU’s epic defensive collapse, might have been revered in school history.

Pittman sustained a fractured leg on the third play. “I said a little prayer for Wayne right on the field,” said Lowery, who then sneaked to convert on fourth and inches.

Four consecutive Larry Maxey rushes eventually set up a 41-yard scoring pass to Scott with 4:32 left to play. SDSU 41, Fresno State 38.

All that was left was to root for the defense.

“I never thought we had it wrapped up,” Lowery said. “For some reason, I just don’t have that security.”

He had every reason to be jaded.

“I don’t know,” Lowery said. “It’s such a feeling of emptiness.”