Passing, running games click for Lower Lake in 46-8 road win over Upper Lake
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UPPER LAKE >> If you took the over Friday night, you made out like a bandit.
And not just for points scored as the Lower Lake Trojans battered the mistake-prone Upper Lake Cougars 46-8 in North Central League I varsity football action at Upper Lake, a night when the most memorable thing for Cougars fans in attendance was the introduction of longtime head coach Craig Kinser as the first inductee into the school’s Hall of Fame.
If you had the over, you also covered on turnovers (seven), snaps over the head of Upper Lake quarterback Billy Stillman Jr. (six at last count), lost fumbles on consecutive plays (three), penalties (more than 20 accepted and another eight offsetting), and deep passes thrown by the Trojans late in the fourth quarter with a running clock (two).
The good news was one of the two teams was going to come away with its first win of the season, and that honor went to the Trojans (1-4 league, 3-4 overall), who have battled hard in all of their league games, but simply couldn’t get over that hump until facing the Cougars.
“Yeah, it does feel good,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. “We’ve been close so many times.”
For first-year Upper Lake head coach Derek Milhaupt, it was more of the same.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We make a good play, but then we have a bad snap, a penalty or miss an assignment.”
Stillman’s ability to get the snap from center turned into a big-time adventure. While the senior ended up completing 13 of 21 passes for 213 yards, a touchdown and one interception, he spent a good chunk of his time running backward to retrieve high snaps from center over his head (he finished with minus-21 yards rushing as a result).
Mistakes like that contributed to what appeared to be promising Upper Lake drives going nowhere. The Cougars also lost four fumbles.
In fact, Upper Lake (0-6 league, 0-8 overall) and Lower Lake (1-4, 3-4) lost fumbles on three consecutive running plays during a second quarter that took an eternity to complete because of stoppages for penalties, changes of possessions, and several official conferences.
While the Trojans started of slow, they picked up speed in the second quarter. Lower Lake received the opening kickoff and was on the move before Upper Lake’s Corbin Woolley picked off an Ashton Hartmann pass near the goal line.
“It took us a minute to get back on track after that interception,” Jakubowski said. “But our defense held up until the offense could get going again. Once we got rolling with our running game, that makes our passing game deadly. Ashton does a good job of keeping his eyes down the field.”
Hartmann, a three-year varsity veteran, ended up completing 10 of 18 passes for 202 yards and four touchdowns. When he wasn’t hitting open receiver, running back Anthony Russell was pushing forward on the ground with 149 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 6 yards in the second quarter and 41 yards in the third.
Lower Lake scored the first 22 points, all of them coming in the second quarter, on a Hartmann 29-yard pass to Raijhier McKneely, a 30-yard pass to Jeremiah Lopez followed by a Hartmann conversion run to make it 14-0, and the first of Russell’s TD runs and a Hartmann conversion pass to McKneely.
The Trojans parlayed a lost Upper Lake fumble into a touchdown on their second possession of the third quarter, moving 46 yards in four plays, the final 24 on a Hartmann touchdown pass to Jony Ventura, with Russell adding the two-point conversion run.
Trailing 30-0, Upper Lake finally answered, and in a hurry, a single-play drive of 53 yards as Stillman and receiver Antario Wyman hooked up on a touchdown pass. Stillman’s conversion run made it 30-8.
Wyman was Stillman’s go-to guy all night – at least when he time to throw the ball, which wasn’t often – as he finished with 10 catches for 188 yards.
Lower Lake went up 38-8 on Russell’s final touchdown run and Hartmann’s conversion pass to Lopez.
A running clock came into play in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter when Hartmann and Ventura connected on a 40-yard touchdown. Hartmann’s pass to Christian Rodriguez closed out the scoring.
Lower Lake took a couple of deep shots down the field late in the game, which didn’t escape the attention of Milhaupt, who was yelling in the direction of the Lower Lake sidelines both times.
Though it’s been a long season for the winless Cougars, who have had to shake up their offense and defense because of injuries, ejections, team suspensions and grades, Milhaupt said his squad continues to work hard.
“Our players aren’t really frustrated,” Milhaupt said. “Eventually we’ll get to where we want to be.”
Though the Trojans put a season-best 46 points on the board while snapping a four-game losing streak, Jakubowski saved some of his best praise for the Lower Lake defense, including defensive end Steven Rich and linebackers Daniel Gardner, Jason Gandeza and Tyler Peden.
“Steven Rich was a monster out there tonight and Jason had two forced fumbles,” Jakubowski said.
Gardner finished with 10 tackles while Peden excelled at inside linebacker, according to Jakubowski.
“Our whole defense is playing big,” Jakubowski said. “They’ve done a good job all season.”
On offense, Hartmann spread around his 10 completions to five different receivers, with Lopez catching four passes for 91 yards and Ventura two (both touchdowns) for 64 yards. Hartmann also had 52 rushing yards.
Upper Lake won the junior varsity game 52-28.
Lower Lake returns home next week to take on Middletown (5-1, 6-2) while Upper Lake travels to Kelseyville (1-4, 1-5). The Cougars have a bye on Friday, Oct. 31.