LOS ANGELES, California, October 10, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Saturday night was the Utes’ first football game since player Aaron Lowe was murdered, and the team honored him by making program history.
Not only did the Utes beat the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for the first time since 1916, it was the team’s first ever victory in the LA Memorial Coliseum.
And with a final score of 42 to 26, it wasn’t even close.
“I had an inclination going into the game that they would play well and they exceeded even what I was expecting,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham after the game.
21-year-old Lowe was shot and killed at a house on September 26, just hours after the team beat Washington State.
According to court documents obtained by Gephardt Daily, a number of people showed up to the party uninvited and began causing problems.
A police statement says witnesses saw Buk M. Buk approach someone else at the party, say something to him then pull a pistol out of that person’s shoulder bag.
The statement goes on to cite the witnesses who say Buk walked across the street and shot a man later identified as Lowe and an unnamed woman.
The woman was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
Lowe was pronounced dead at the scene.
The team was devastated.
“You could see that we were struggling,” said Whittingham. “Aaron Lowe’s mom came and talked to the team last week and said hey, you guys got to carry on, you got a season to play.”
The team took those words to heart.
“We said in the beginning of the week when things happened, it’s either gonna divide us or it’s gonna bring us closer together as a family,” said running back Tavion Thomas, “and we’re choosing to let this bring us closer.”
Defensive end Mike Tafua built on that at Saturday’s post-game news conference by saying “Really, we lean on each other, so that really helped and we saw the results tonight.”
The team will be leaning on each other even more in the days ahead.
A public viewing for Aaron Lowe is scheduled for Sunday afternoon and evening in his hometown of Mesquite, Texas, followed by a funeral Monday afternoon.
“We’re going to the funeral on Monday,” said Whittingham. “There’s no way we would miss that. It’ll be challenging, but it’s something we have to deal with and will.”
