St. Helena wins battle of 2-0 teams, beats Lower Lake in league opener
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ST. HELENA >> While St. Helena’s 31-22 win over Lower Lake held nowhere near the drama of the Saints’ 43-37 overtime victory over the Trojans did a year ago, it served its purpose for head coach Erick Larsen.
St. Helena (1-0 league, 3-0 overall) announced itself as a league title contender with a solid win over a Lower Lake team that suffered its first loss of the season. Though the Trojans (0-1, 2-1) stayed close to the Saints much of the night, they didn’t make enough plays to overtake them, according to Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski, who said they had all kinds of opportunities but couldn’t take advantage.
“We were not executing when we needed to,” Jakubowski said, with special emphasis on a handful of wide-open passes Lower Lake receivers couldn’t hang onto during the game, one in the end zone.
“St. Helena has a fine team, but we also killed ourselves with mistakes,” Jakubowski aid. “Early on we were going toe to toe with them, but we missed too many opportunities. They were more disciplined than we were.”
St. Helena passed for two touchdowns, ran for two more and converted all three of its two-point conversions while also kicking an extra point.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Saints pushed ahead 15-6 by halftime, the Trojans’ touchdown coming on a 45-yard pass from quarterback Ashton Hartmann to receiver Jony Ventura.
St. Helena took a 23-6 lead into the fourth quarter before Hartmann’s 27-yard pass to running back Anthony Russell cut the deficit to 23-14. The Trojans were trailing 31-14 late in the game before Hartmann and Raijhier McKneely hooked up on a 15-yard score, with Hartmann running in the conversion to make it 31-22, his second conversion run of the game.
Hartmann passed for 122 yards while Russell anchored the running attack with 76 yards on 16 carries.
Lower Lake recovered a fumble and had two sacks, both by Steven Rich.
St. Helena rushed for 194 yards, most of that coming from two players, including 79 yards on 19 carries by quarterback Julian Earls, who ran for two scores and passed for 94 yards and another touchdown. Eric Torres rushed for a team-best 86 yards.
St. Helena hosts Cloverdale (0-1, 1-1) next Friday while Lower Lake visits Clear Lake (1-0, 1-1).
GAME NOTES: It was the second straight year the two teams played in Lower Lake … Hartmann completed passes to seven different receivers … Lower Lake lost the junior varsity game 39-6 … The Trojans hurt themselves in the first half after drawing a penalty for running into the holder as the Saints set up to kick a field goal. The penalty gave St. Helena a fresh set of downs and the Saints went on to score for a 15-6 lead. The Trojans also jumped offside on another fourth-down play to extend a St. Helena drive … Senior tight end/linebacker Jorge Carlos sustained a deep bone bruise during the game, the injury originally thought to be a broken collar bone but X-rays revealed otherwise … Clear Lake beat Lower Lake 29-27 a year ago in a game that went right down to the wire … St. Helena wide receiver Dean Sommer had seven catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.
