Ready to turn the corner

Upper Lake Cougars looking for better things in 2024

By Brian Sumpter

Lake County Sports on Facebook

UPPER LAKE >> Now that most of the housecleaning chores are taken care of the Upper Lake Cougars are hoping to do some real business in 2024.

Transitioning from eight-man football, something the Cougars played from 2015-22, back to the 11-man game last season wasn’t easy although the school let a veteran coach, Stan Weiper, oversee the necessary reconstruction.

It proved every bit the difficult task, according to Weiper, who said the competitive “culture” simply didn’t exist at last year’s varsity level, especially among the seniors.

“Just getting kids to buy in to what we were doing wasn’t easy,” Weiper said.

The little things, like attending practice every day instead of every other day, were among the disciplines several players struggled with, and it was a frustrating situation, according to Weiper, who has been coaching football in the county since the 1970s, including stints as head coach at Kelseyville and Lower Lake.

Player numbers were down and the school’s feeder system, though improving with the advent of the Northshore youth program, wasn’t fully up to speed. The team’s dedication to an offseason weight program also was lacking. Now that Upper Lake has opened a state-of-the-art weight/exercise room and has someone to lead it in assistant coach Derek Milhaupt, that situation has changed.

While there is still plenty of work to do as Weiper enters year two as Upper Lake’s varsity head coach, things are looking decidedly up, according to the veteran coach.

“We have better numbers this year (around two dozen) and that was a problem last year,” Weiper said. “We didn’t have the numbers to practice effectively. Some of the varsity kids weren’t committed to what we were doing. The JV kids were committed, and I spent a lot of time (last year) working with them. I told them ‘You are the foundation for future success.’”

And the JV Cougars responded, winning a North Central League I title and losing only one game all season. The varsity showed moments of being competitive, just not enough of them. Upper Lake went 1-7 in league and 1-8 overall. The Cougars beat Lower Lake 30-20 at home for their only win, improving to 1-3 at the time, but fell apart on the road the following week in a 43-12 loss at Cloverdale, a team they would ultimately tie for last place in the league. The Cougars dropped their final five games overall.

“We lost six players (to injuries and grades) right after beating Lower Lake,” Weiper said. “We dropped off the face of the earth.”

Moving forward into 2024, Weiper believes the Cougars are in a much better position.

For starters:

• “I have a good bunch of seniors that know what to do and know how to be competitive, Weiper said.
• “I have a full staff of coaches. I believe it’s a big upgrade and hopefully it will pay off. Last year I spent a lot of time working with the JVs. Now I’ll be able to work with the varsity more.”
• “Last year’s JV team helped us get the culture going. The players we have back and the players moving up from the JV team are buying into what we’re doing.” This year’s JV team has 30-plus players out.
• The team’s weight room is up and running at full speed with plenty of player participation. “We also are set up on HUDL this year, so we can watch (on video) what we’re doing out there and what other teams are doing. It’s a big advantage.”
• “We are doing Thursday night dinners, which helps build team unity and gets the parents involved.”

Will that translate into a better win-loss record for Upper Lake this season?

Time will tell, beginning with Saturday’s season opener against Terra Linda in San Rafael. The Cougars also opened on the road at Terra Linda last season, falling 40-18 in their only non-league game before the start of league play.

“4-4 is our baseline goal (in league) and if we do that we are eligible for the playoffs,” Weiper said. “I think we’re starting to turn the corner. We’ll find out in our first couple of games.”

This year’s Cougars are a solid mix of veterans and newcomers off last year’s championship JV squad.

Jerod Rosales, a starting quarterback since his freshman year in 2021, has shown tremendous improvement since last season, according to Weiper, who was unsure if Rosales, the better passer, or junior Billy Stillman, the better runner, would get the starting nod this season. Rosales draws the start Saturday against Terra Linda.

“He’s made improvement over the summer and he’s turned out to be more mobile than I thought, which is an advantage when a quarterback can do both (pass and run),” Weiper said. “We’ll still use Billy as a tight end but we have two quarterbacks who know what they’re doing.”

Upper Lake’s line, a real problem child in 2023, is another area of major improvement, according to Weiper.

“Quite a bit of improvement,” Weiper said. “We have kids back, so they have experience, and we have pretty good size.”

Nick Barnes, Frankie Kavanaugh, Kai Duncan and Jack Demunck, all seniors, will work up front protecting Rosales and opening holes for speedy running backs Delaney Allison, a senior, and junior Ontario Wyman as well as Jonathan Barnes at fullback.

Allison and Wyman will also line up as receivers on occasion, giving Rosales and Cougars a pair of deep threats.

“Delaney should be representative among the running backs in our league,” Weiper said. “He’s a possible All-League running back.”

The Cougars will run split backs with Allison often featured as the deep back in the “I” formation.

Weiper also expects big contributions from other players, among them juniors Nate Boomer and Dylan Aragon.

While the Cougars sent the bare minimum of players (11) to the Lake County Scrimmage last Friday in Middletown, Weiper said that was because not all of his players had the mandated 10 practices before the scrimmage, mainly because of family vacations.

“The seniors we have back this year are really working hard to get this thing turned around,” Weiper said. “Hopefully we can start turning this thing around this year.”

After Terra Linda on Saturday, the Cougars stay on the road Friday, Sept. 6 to play Los Molinos. They play their league opener at home Sept. 13 against Clear Lake.