Trojans dig 32-8 hole for themselves in road setback to Wolverines
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WILLITS >> The Willits Wolverines built a 32-8 lead while rolling to a 41-22 home victory over Lower Lake in North Central League I varsity football action on Friday night, snapping the Trojans’ season-opening three-game winning streak.
Willits (2-0, 3-1) remains tied with Kelseyville (2-0, 3-1) atop the NCL I standings, the only two undefeated teams remaining.
“We came flat and had some critical penalties that cost us along with some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. “We were able to move the ball, but they (Wolverines) were able to get huge plays in the air, including a double pass.”
Willits led 14-8 after one quarter, 25-8 at halftime and 32-8 early in the third quarter before the Trojans were able to get their offense untracked.
Junior quarterback Ashton Hartmann passed for two touchdowns but also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. He completed scoring passes to Zach Jones and Jordan Rohrbacker. Zakai Vilmenay ran for another score while Jones rushed for a pair of two-point conversions.
Willits pulled off a handful of big plays, including the old State of Liberty.
Injuries during the game didn’t help, according to Jakubowski, who said other Lower Lake players were playing with minor injuries.
“They (Wolverines) are a tough team with some speed,” Jakubowski said. “We played well below our expectations. We knew they were tough, and we needed to play our best game against them. Penalties and turnovers were hard to overcome.”
Team statistics weren’t available Saturday.
Willits also beat Lower Lake in the junior varsity game, dropping the Trojans to 0-2 in league play and 0-2 overall.
The Trojans return home this coming Friday to play Upper Lake. JV kickoff is 5 p.m.
I’ll have the exact stats on Monday morning sorry Ashton had 2 passing touchdowns : Zach Jones, Jordan Rohrbacker Zakai Vilmenay had one rushing touchdown And Zach Jones 2 pt conversion. Ashton also threw 2 interceptions and 1 lost fumble. We also were unable to recover an onside kick. Brody Shields had one interception.
We came out flat and had some critical penalties that cost us along with some uncharacteristic mistakes. We were able to move the ball but they were able to get huge plays in the air including a double pass and Statue of Liberty draw . Losing some starting players early and others playing with minor injuries allowed them to score. They are a tough team with some speed. We played well below our expectations and we knew they were tough and we needed to play our best game against them. Penalties and turnovers were hard to overcome!
