Teams combine for 1,062 yards of total offense in 46-39 barnburner at Lakeport
By Brian Sumpter & Mike Hansen
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LAKEPORT >> Everyone watching the exciting conclusion to Willits’ 46-39 victory over Clear Lake on Friday night knew exactly who the Wolverines were trying to get the ball to as they drove down the field in the final seconds of a 39-all game.
The Cardinals’ defense was 100 percent certain, not that it did them any good. Kolbe Bufardeci, senior splitback, worked his way behind two Clear Lake defensive backs with 32.4 seconds remaining to haul in a 25-yard touchdown, his fourth TD of the game and 19th reception overall, as the Wolverines (6-1 league, 7-2 overall) avoided a huge upset and remained just a half game back of the league-leading Kelseyville Knights (6-0).
“That never should have happened,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said of one of many secondary breakdowns for the Cardinals (1-5, 1-7) on a night when Willits quarterback Corey Rockey completed 30 of 50 passes for 464 yards and five touchdowns, and nearly a sixth. “They got caught looking, I’m not sure why.”
Bufardeci had a huge chunk of Rockey’s passing yardage – 354 yards and four touchdowns to be exact. He entered the game with 947 receiving yards and nine TDs, plus another 536 yards and five TDs on the ground. He had 151 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter alone. Touchdown No. 3 came in the third quarter and his fourth and final score sent the Wolverines home from Don Owens Stadium a much happier team than they were a week earlier during a 20-17 loss to Kelseyville on the very same field.
“They’re a real good team,” Cory said of the Wolverines. “We put 39 points on them … you hope that’s enough to win.”
Clear Lake held a halftime lead for the second week in a row, this time 27-21, and despite not scoring during a third quarter that ended with Willits leading 31-27 as a result of a Rockey-to-Bufradeci 18-yard touchdown and a Damien Reiter 26-yard field goal, the Cardinals’ offense came roaring back to life in the fourth quarter, which played out like a ping pong match.
The Cardinals jumped ahead 33-31 with 10:47 to play on a halfback option touchdown pass, Zane McAuley threading the ball between two Willits defenders as Adrian Truby came down with a 31-yard score, one his three TD catches in the game. Willits blocked the extra point.
Willits answered right back, driving 80 yards in eight plays, including a 45-yard run by Isaac Silva. The Wolverines were facing a fourth-and-goal from the Clear Lake 6 and opted not to bring on Reiter for a field goal try. Instead, Rockey completed a pass to Bufardeci, who fumbled just shy of the goal line. The ball rolled into the end zone where Reiter fell on it for the touchdown, barely beating out a Clear Lake defender to the ball. Rockey’s conversion pass to Reiter put the Wolverines up 39-33 with 9:20 to go.
A short Willits kickoff and a Wolverines penalty on the play gave Clear Lake great starting position at its own 47-yard line and the Cardinals cashed in. A key play was a 21-yard run by Jace Beard, who had a huge night at wide receiver (10 catches for 181 yards, two TDs). The ball popped loose at the end of the run, but Beard was able to recover it to keep the drive alive. After 7-yard shovel pass from quarterback AJ Bruch to Beard and a 3-yard McAuley run, Clear Lake pulled even on another shovel pass from Bruch to Beard, again from 7 yards out.
With the score locked at 39-39 following the touchdown, Clear Lake opted not to kick the extra point because Willits had blocked two in a row. Instead, the Cardinals feigned kick only to pass out of the formation, but it was incomplete with six minutes remaining.
Willits went three-and-out on its next possession after a Bufardeci third-and-10 halfback option pass was dropped by a teammate deep in Clear Lake territory, forcing a punt. That punt traveled only 17 yards and Clear Lake took over at the Willits 37.
With a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead, Clear Lake’s offense could gain only three yards on a McAuley run before three straight Bruch passes fell incomplete, and the Wolverines took over on downs at their own 34.
Though they had only 2:24 to work with on the clock, Willits converted a crucial third down when Bufardeci hauled in a 16-yard pass. A big 16-yard scramble by Rockey moved the ball down to the Clear Lake 23, and two more runs advanced the ball to the 15, at which point the Wolverines were backed up 10 yards on a holding penalty to the 25.
Facing a third-and-12 play, Rockey took the snap, had good protection and found Bufardeci in the end zone as he jumped high in the air to come down with the pass behind a pair of Clear Lake players.
Bruch completed an 11-yard pass to McAuley in the closing seconds before the Cardinals ran out of time at their own 35-yard line. It was the 43rd pass of the night for the Clear Lake quarterback, who completed 25 of them for 335 yards, including four touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also threw three interceptions that led to 10 Willits points.
Willits jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Rockey-to-Bufardeci touchdown passes of 74 and 35 yards in the first quarter. The Cardinals tied it by scoring two touchdowns in a span of 149 seconds late in the quarter, the first on a 55-yard pass from Bruch to Truby down the middle of the field, with Truby pulling away from a Willits defender on his way to the end zone. Bruch’s 41-yard scoring strike to Beard on a seam route, a play that worked well for the Cardinals much of the game, evened things up a short time later.
Willits moved back in front 21-14 with 8:16 left in the first half as Rockey and Ryan Carter hooked up on a 2-yard touchdown that capped a 55-yard drive following the first of Bruch’s three interceptions. Clear Lake had been driving moments earlier and was nearing the red zone when Bufardeci stepped in front of Bruch’s pass and returned it 16 yards.
Clear Lake answered on its next possession as McAuley scored on a 2-yard run, the final play in a 68-yard Cardinals drive that featured a big Willits pass interference penalty on a third-and-nine play near midfield. Nolan Ewing’s extra point tied it at 21-21.
Willits lost possession on downs at the Clear Lake 45 after gambling on a fourth-and-five play where the pass fell incomplete. The Cardinals mixed up six runs with six passes to push the ball down the field, finally scoring on a 5-yard pass from Bruch to Truby with 26.6 seconds remaining. Willits blocked the extra point, making it 27-21 in Clear Lake’s favor at the half.
“Our guys battled, and I’m proud of them,” Cory said of the Cardinals’ effort. “We’ve gotten better, but we didn’t execute at a high enough level both on offense and defense to win it.”
The two teams combined for 1,062 yards of total offense – 830 of those passing yards. While Bufardeci, Bruch, Beard and Truby (four catches for 95 yards) were the individual standouts in the passing department, McAuley also had a full night for the Cardinals, rushing for 62 yards, passing for 31 and hauling in six passes for another 25 yards.
Willits returns home next Friday to play Upper Lake (3-3, 4-4), which had a bye this week. It’s the Wolverines final game of the regular season since they have a bye the week of Nov. 8. They’ll definitely be playoff participants later next month. Willits reached the section finals a year ago, losing to eventual state champion Ferndale.
Clear Lake hosts Kelseyville next Friday night in Bass Bowl XIV. The Cardinals’ Nov. 8 season finale at Cloverdale has already been forfeited since the Eagles don’t have enough healthy players remaining to field a varsity team. There will be a Clear Lake-Cloverdale junior varsity game.
Willits beat Clear Lake 14-0 in JV action Friday.
