Cardinals hold off Willits 12-7, improve to 4-0 in league standings
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKEPORT >> All the scoring took place in the first half as the Westshore Cardinals held off Willits 12-7 in junior varsity youth football action Saturday evening in Lakeport.
Westshore improved to 4-0 in the Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League standings with its latest win.
The Cardinals built a 12-0 lead on a Layton Butcher 45-yard touchdown, the first play from scrimmage for Westshore. Willits threatened each of its next two possessions only to come away with no points. Adrian Wright’s interception stopped one of those drives.
With time running out in the first half, Westshore added to its lead after a 25-yard run by LJ Hopkins set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brady Liske to Noah Cochrane, who caught the ball in the flat and covered the distance to the end zone for his first career TD.
Willits forced a three-and-out on Westshore’s next drive and then blocked the Cardinals’ punt. A short pass two plays later turned into a 40-yard Willits touchdown and a 12-7 game.
Willits (2-2) dominated time of possession in the second half and had the ball most of the fourth quarter, driving down the field with the help of three fourth-down conversions. Poised at the Westshore 1-yard line, Hopkins made a stop for no gain. Willits was hit with a five-yard penalty on the next play, then the Cougars fumbled the ball. Butcher recovered for the Cardinals with 3:45 remaining.
Westshore picked up a first down on two Hopkins runs before getting into trouble and facing a third-and-18 with two minutes left. However, the Cardinals were able to convert on a 45-yard pass from Hopkins to Odin Walker, who made the catch right in front of the Willits bench.
The Cardinals were able to run out the remainder of the clock.
Hopkins finished with 70 yards rushing and was 3-for-4 passing for 100 yards. Butcher added 55 yards on the ground, Liske was 2-for-2 passing, and Walker finished with 75 receiving yards.
Westshore’s defense forced three turnovers in addition to the game-saving goal-line stand. Chance Poland led the Cardinals with 11 tackles.
“Our defense bent but didn’t break,” Westshore head coach Jeremy Hopkins said. “We came up with three huge turnovers and the goal-line stand was awesome. Our guys have a lot of fight. We shot ourselves in the foot several times, but sometimes you’ve got to win ugly.”
Westshore is home next Saturday to play Lower Lake (3-1) at 5:30 p.m.
“Lower Lake will be a huge test,” Hopkins said. “They are big and strong. It’ll be a dog fight.”
