Upper Lake rolls past Clear Lake 32-6 in NCL I opener
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UPPER LAKE >> Entering play minus senior running back Delaney Allison, the Upper Lake Cougars figured to be at a bit of disadvantage Friday night as they hosted the Clear Lake Cardinals, a team they hadn’t beaten in 24 years, in the North Central League I opener for both of these varsity football teams.
Think again.
Two sophomores called up to the varsity to fill in for Allison, who was serving a one-game suspension after being called for two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in the Cougars’ previous game against Los Molinos, helped power Upper Lake to a 32-6 victory over the Cardinals.
Gage Faalelea caught three passes for 101 yards, two of them for touchdowns, while Brody Blancas carried the ball seven times for 70 yards.
“It turned out to be a blessing,” Upper Lake head coach Stan Weiper said of the spark provided by his two sophomores.
“Both of them played very well,” Weiper said of a game where both his younger and older players made solid contributions, veterans such as senior quarterback Jerod Rosales, who passed for 129 yards and three touchdowns, and senior fullback Jonathon Barnes, who powered a 365-yard rushing attack by the Cougars (2-1) with 177 yards on 15 carries, including a touchdown.
“Jerod was accurate on his passes and was able to hit some deep ones,” Weiper said. “Barnes ran the ball hard. I think we made another move in a positive direction.”
If the Cougars are a team on the rise these days, the Cardinals (0-2) are a team struggling to do much of anything right, according to head coach Mark Cory.
“We’re not executing at a high level right now, we’re not consistent enough,” Cory said of his team’s struggles on both sides of the football. “We dropped one or two touchdown passes … wide open and flat out dropped. We just kind of putted around between penalties. We do not look like a very well-coached football team right now.”
Added Cory, a longtime assistant coach at Eureka High School before taking over the head coaching job in Clear Lake in 2016, “I’ve been down this road before. We’re going to have to get better if we want to start competing, and it doesn’t get any easier. We have St. Bernard’s next (Friday night in Lakeport).”
Cory gave the Cougars plenty of credit for his team’s most recent struggles.
“They did a good job,” Cory said. “They threw the ball well against us and pounded the ball right at us.”
Upper Lake jumped ahead 6-0 early in the second quarter after taking over near midfield following a Clear Lake punt. Rosales capped a 55-yard drive with a 20-yard pass to tight end Billy Stillman for a 6-0 lead as the two-point conversion run failed.
The Cougars’ defense stopped Clear Lake on downs minutes later, the Cardinals’ throwing incomplete on a fourth-and-one pass from the Upper Lake 37-yard line. Upper Lake wasted no time moving down the field, gaining 30 yards on back-to-back runs. Rosales then hooked up with Faalelea on a 33-yard pass for the touchdown to make it 12-0, the conversion run once again coming up shot.
Clear Lake answered with its only score of the game even though the Cardinals were facing a third-and 30 when quarterback AJ Bruch connected with tight end Kaden Graham on a 52-yard touchdown. The extra-point kick failed, cutting Upper Lake’s lead to 12-6 with 3:29 left in the half.
With only 38 seconds left in the half, Upper Lake picked off a Bruch pass and the Cougars scored on the very next play as Rosales found Faalelea deep down the field for a 46-yard touchdown. Rosales then hit Stillman on the conversion to make it 20-6.
“That one hurt us,” Cory said.
Clear Lake had a chance to move within a score of the Cougars midway through the third quarter but a Cardinals player, wide open in the end zone, dropped a pass. Upper Lake took over on downs after Clear Lake failed to convert on fourth down with five minutes left.
Upper Lake put the game away early in the fourth quarter on Barnes’ 4-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal. Back-to-back 15-yard penalties backed up Upper Lake on the conversion, which failed, leaving the score at 26-6.
The Cougars took over on downs at their own 43 a few minutes later and marched 57 yards for a touchdown, Aragon scoring from six yards out, to make it 32-6.
Besides Barnes’ team-leading 177 yards rushing, Blancas (70 yards), Wes Wyman (65 yards) and Aragon (53 yards) all took turns punching holes in Clear Lake’s defense.
Stillman anchored the defense with eight solo tackles and three assists, Barnes had seven tackles and one assist, and Aragon had four solo stops, an interception and a fumble recovery. Mikel Compton also picked off a pass.
Zane McAuley’s 45 rushing yards led the Cardinals. Bruch went 14-for-35 for 178 yards, with Graham his top target (three catches for 81 yards). Payton Portlock finished with 23 rushing yards and four catches for 37 yards.
Ty Bingham had an interception for the Cardinals.
Upper Lake shoots for a three-game winning streak next Friday at home against St. Helena (0-1 league, 0-3 overall) while Clear Lake (0-1, 0-2) returns home to face St. Bernard’s (2-0, pending the result of their Saturday home game with Biggs).
“Hopefully we’re starting to get the idea we can be competitive,” Weiper said. “We’re trying to build a culture here and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Added Cory, who returned to Lakeport on Friday night (where Kelseyville hosted Fort Bragg in a league game because the Knights’ field is undergoing renovations) to see one of the light standards at Don Owens Stadium on fire.
“Sparks were flying all over the place,” Cory said. “That’s just the way it’s going for us the last two games. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong for us. I have to laugh at some of the things happening to us right now.”
Upper Lake also won the junior varsity game 6-0.
Game notes: The last time Upper Lake beat Clear Lake, in the 2000 season, Weiper was the head coach at Kelseyville. He later served as the head coach at Lower Lake, his alma mater, and helped them win a league title in 2007, the Trojans’ last NCL I championship. Craig Kinser was the head coach at Upper Lake and Jim Foley was the head coach at Clear Lake. The teams haven’t met every year since 2000 because Upper Lake dropped down into the NCL II at one point, and the Cougars played eight-man football between 2015-2022 … The last time Clear Lake dropped two straight to start the year was 2018 when they opened 0-3.
