St. Bernard spoils Clear Lake’s season opener
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EUREKA >> It’s not often you lose a game when forcing six turnovers, but that’s what happened to the Clear Lake Cardinals on Saturday as they stayed close for most of the game before the St. Bernard Crusaders pulled away for a 30-6 win in non-league varsity football action in Eureka.
Clear Lake (0-1) trailed 14-6 at halftime, but St. Bernard (1-0) gradually wore down the understrength Cardinals in the second half.
The Cardinals suited up only 15 players. Among those unable to go was senior quarterback AJ Bruch, who missed the first of two games with an injury.
“We need to figure out our offense without our starting QB,” Clear Lake head coach Augie Perez said. “AJ is out one more week and Pierce (who the Cardinals play Friday in Arbuckle) has numbers and plays physical.”
Zane McAuley started in place of Bruch and Clear Lake’s one score was a touchdown pass he threw to senior running back Jesse Hayes, who was playing his first game since his sophomore season in 2023 (Hayes was hurt in the season opener that year).
The Cardinals’ offensive line had trouble protecting McAuley, who was sacked eight times.
“We did a good job moving the ball in the passing game, but St. Bernard’s did a good job wearing us down. “We need to work on our offensive line and conditioning.”
The Cardinals did some good things on defense even if the final score doesn’t reflect it. They intercepted four passes – one each by Hayes, Tony Moreno, Kingston Hoaglen and Ryken Villanueva – and had fumble recoveries by David Frederick, who also had seven tackles, and Fabian Moreno. Hayes, a standout on the Cardinals’ section-championship club in 2022, led the team with 12 tackles.
“We won the turnover battle,” Perez said. “We competed until the end, which is nice to see.”
St. Bernard won the junior game 34-0.
TEAM NOTES: Besides Bruch, the Cardinals also were without guard Jesus Ballardo, who missed the game because of a family emergency … With the exception of the COVID-canceled 2020 season, Clear Lake and Pierce have met every year since 2018. Pierce is 4-2 against the Cardinals since then, including a 51-7 victory last year … St. Bernard piled up the yardage against Clear Lake but couldn’t take full advantage because of the six turnovers. The Crusaders had 386 yards on the ground and 503 overall … No Clear Lake offensive statistics were reported.
