Jose Beecher rushes for 272 yards, touchdown in 18-14 loss to Cloverdale Chargers
Lake County Sports on Facebook
UPPER LAKE >> Jose Beecher accounted for more than 300 yards of total offense before leaving the game with an injury, but the Northshore Cougars still came up short against the Cloverdale Chargers, falling 18-14 in Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League varsity action Saturday at Upper Lake High School.
Beecher rushed for 272 yards and also had 30 receiving yards while scoring a rushing touchdown and extra point for Northshore (0-9-1).
Gage Schramm rushed for 40 yards, a touchdown and an extra point in Upper Lake’s season finale.
“Celebrating the eighth-graders was the main goal this game, but these kids turned the game into a wild one,” Northshore head coach Bradley Brackett said.
Northshore suited up only 13 players while Cloverdale (7-3) was missing its star running back because of an injury, according to Brackett.
Upper Lake took a 7-6 lead into halftime on Beecher’s touchdown run and Schramm’s conversion run.
Northshore had a big kickoff return by Beecher to open the second half but couldn’t take advantage, eventually turning the ball over on downs.
Casey Chavira intercepted a pass to end Cloverdale’s next possession, and the Cougars went on to score on a Schramm 10-yard run to go up 14-6.
Cloverdale scored late in the third quarter to close to 14-12 and went ahead to stay with a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
With only one minute left in the game, Beecher’s go-ahead 60-yard touchdown run was nullified by an illegal formation penalty. Two plays later Beecher broke off a 30-yard run, unfortunately he was injured on the play and had to taken from the field in an ambulance.
“Jose Beecher was the heartbeat of our team all year,” Brackett said. “The whole team looked up to him as our leader.”
With nine seconds remaining, Northshore passed the ball into the end zone, but the ball was knocked down by a Cloverdale defender.
