St. Helena scores 32 unanswered points to finish off Lower Lake, 53-18
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ST. HELENA >> The St. Helena Saints went back and forth with Lower Lake early, but the Saints then pulled away for a 53-18 North Central League I South victory that closes out the regular season for both teams.
St. Helena (1-3 South, 5-5 overall) has an outside chance of reaching the North Coast Section playoffs and will find out Sunday if it’s qualified as an at-large team. Lower Lake (0-4, 1-8) finished its season with a seventh straight loss.
While the Trojans grabbed a 6-0 lead early in the first quarter on a 36-yard pass from Brody Shields to Roy Percoats, St. Helena answered with touchdowns on each of its next two possessions to go up 14-6. Lower Lake closed to 14-12 with less than a minute to play in the quarter on a Percoats 73-yard run.
The two teams traded touchdowns to open the second quarter – St. Helena scoring on a Julian Earls 53-yard run and Lower Lake on another Shields-to-Percoats touchdown pass, this one 25 yards — before the Saints scored 32 unanswered points to finish the game.
St. Helena took a 34-18 lead into halftime and upped that advantage to 40-18 through three quarters.
While Lower Lake’s offense was able to move the ball, the Trojans couldn’t stop St. Helena on the ground. George Filippin (16 carries for 151 yards, two TDs), Luca Montelli (10 carries for 120 yards, TD) and Earls (10 carries for 118 yards, two TDs) all broke 100 yards.
Lower Lake finished with 239 yards of offense, 115 of those coming on two plays – Percoats’ 73-yard touchdown run and a 42-yard by backfield mate Vincent Linton.
Shields went 12-for-22 for 112 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Percoats had three catches for 62 yards and two TDs. Linton caught four passes for 28 yards.
While there weren’t many Lower Lake defensive highlights, Ismael Orozco had two sacks, and Anthony Russell one fumble recovery and one tackle for loss.
Editor’s note: Rob Grant contributed to this report.
