Cardinals conclude regular season with 36-0 win over Northshore, playoffs are next
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LAKEPORT >> Luke Percaccio rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns while teammate Jake Hayes add 120 yards and a touchdown as the Westshore junior varsity football team shut out Northshore 36-0 in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday evening in Lakeport.
Westshore’s win sets up a rematch with Sonoma, the only team that has beaten the Cardinals this season, next Saturday in the semifinal round of the Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League playoff at Sonoma (5:30 p.m. kickoff). The Cardinals (6-1-1) lost 14-12 at Sonoma earlier this month. The winner advances to the JV championship game the following Saturday against the winner of the Middletown (7-0-1) and Kelseyville (3-3-2) semifinal. Westshore and Middletown tied 6-6 on Sept. 14 in Lakeport.
“It’s been a great year with these kids,” Westshore head coach Sid Percaccio said. “We are definitely going into Sonoma this weekend with a different mindset.”
Despite having two touchdowns called back on penalties in the first quarter, Westshore got onto the scoreboard late in the quarter on the first of two Percaccio touchdown runs. Hayes scored early in the second quarter on a 19-yard run before Westshore quarterback Pop Horne threw his 11th and 12th touchdown passes of the season, the final one with no time remaining in the first half, to give the Cardinals a 28-0 halftime lead. The first TD pass was an 11-yarder to Brady Liske, the second a 49-yarder to LJ Hopkins.
It’s the fourth time this season Horne has passed for two touchdowns in a game.
Percaccio scored his second touchdown, a 1-yard run, to cap Westshore’s first possession of the second half. Michael Knight added the conversion kick to make it 36-0.
Horne finished the game 3-for-5 for 66 yards and two touchdowns.
Hayes anchored Westshore’s defense with seven solo tackles while Knight and Horne each finished with six tackles. Mikey Miller added four solo tackles while Percaccio had three tackles and an interception.
“All of us coaches are very proud of the second straight from this last weekend,” Percaccio said. “John Franklin and Leighton Butcher ran the ball very well during the running clock and they have been doing so all year long.”
