Cardinals stay in thick of league title hunt with road victory against Cloverdale
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(Mike Hansen contributed to this report)
CLOVERDALE >> Clear Lake High School senior quarterback AJ Bruch had his best game of the season to date, passing for 278 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another score as the Cardinals snapped a two-game losing streak with a 34-13 North Central League I varsity football win over the Cloverdale Eagles in Cloverdale.
Bruch went 15-for-28, including touchdown strikes of 33 yards to Jesse Hayes (five catches for 93 yards) and 4 yards to Tony Moreno (five catches for 88 yards). His 5-yard run with 1:20 left in the game sealed the victory as Clear Lake took a commanding 34-13 lead.
Kaden Graham also figured prominently in Clear Lake’s attack with four catches for 91 yards.
Still, it was a big night by Bruch, who also was Clear Lake’s leading rusher with 52 yards on seven carries, and a solid effort by the defense that put the Cardinals back in the win column, which keeps them in the thick of a tight league race entering the final three weeks of the regular season. While idle St. Helena holds the top spot in the league standings at 5-0, Middletown (5-1), Clear Lake (4-1) and Willits (4-1) all remain in the mix, and Clear Lake hosts the league-leading Saints next week.
“Hopefully we can pull the win,” Perez said. “It’s going to be tough.”
Cloverdale (1-4, 2-5) gave Clear Lake a battle, staying within range until Bruch’s late scoring run put the game out of reach.
“They had the ball a lot in the second half,” Perez said of the Eagles, who maintained possession thanks to some hard running from junior running back Carson Brown (31 carries for 164 yards) and the overall play of junior running back Vann Randolph (52 receiving yards, 30-yard kickoff return, two strips and an interception)
Randolph scored on an 11-yard run with 8:41 remaining in the game to cut Clear Lake’s lead to 27-13, and his 21-yard touchdown reception with 2:07 left in the first half got the Eagles on the board at 20-7.
Clear Lake took a lead it would not relinquish late in the first quarter when Moreno hauled in a Kyle Bernardi pass that had been deflected by Bruch and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown.
Hayes’ touchdown reception early in the second quarter made it 13-0 as Copper Garrity added the extra-point kick, Moreno’s TD grab with 3:14 to go in the second quarter pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 20-0.
Kingston Hoaglen’s 3-yard run with 51 seconds remaining gave Clear Lake a 27-7 lead going into halftime.
Perez said the Cardinals made a concerted effort to get the ball to the speedy Hayes in wide-open spaces, using him more as a decoy in the backfield where he had 16 yards on 10 carries. The strategy worked more often than not.
While Clear Lake’s offense, especially Bruch, had a banner night, Perez said the defense played one of its better games of the season.
“The defense did what we were coaching them up to do,” Perez said.
Linebacker Seth Showalter led the team with 12 tackles.
“He really stepped it up,” Perez.
Nose guard Jesus Ballardo added eight tackles, fighting off double- and triple-teams in the process, while defensive end David Frederick added six tackles.
“He (Frederick) is an energy guy with a high motor,” Perez said. “He never gives up on a play.”
Mikeo Meo, a defensive lineman, sacked the quarterback twice and recovered a fumble.
Cloverdale won the junior varsity game 14-7.
GAME NOTES: Cloverdale’s Paco Santillian had 67 receiving yard on five receptions … Cloverdale travels to Willits next Friday … Hayes has scored at least one touchdown in all but one of Clear Lake’s game this season. The senior missed his entire junior season and all but one game of his sophomore year recuperating from a torn ACL. He played a huge role as a freshman in Clear Lake’s league- and section-winning 2022 club … The league race still has plenty of interesting twists left. Clear Lake has games remaining with St. Helena (next week) and Middletown (Oct. 31) while Willits travels to St. Helena on Halloween Friday.
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