UPPER LAKE — There was enough of the old Cougar left from previous seasons to give one cause for concern. Still, there was enough of the new Cougar to give one reason for hope.
“All in all not too bad considering Potter Valley”s not a bad defensive ballclub,” Upper Lake coach Craig Kinser said when asked to sum up his team”s season-opening 30-12 win over the Potter Valley Bearcats on Saturday afternoon in Upper Lake, where the host Cougars set out on their quest to end a string of six losing seasons in a row.
“Potter Valley is pretty big and the word out there on them is they”re not too bad,” Kinser added of the Bears, who had a distinct size advantage on the offensive and defensive lines.
Upper Lake (1-0) was able to offset most of that size advantage with its speed and there was plenty to like about the Cougars” first go under its new (old) head coach, both on offense, defense and special teams.
Kinser, who directed the Cougars for more than a quarter of a century before stepping down after the 2000 campaign, watched his team roll up 372 yards of offense in his second go-around as Upper Lake”s head coach. That total was split fairly evenly between the rushing game, anchored by running back Robert McCutcheon (89 yards, 2 TDs) and fullback Dylan Kettwig (73 yards, TD), and a passing game that saw second-year varsity quarterback Billy Binns make good on 10 of 17 passes for 158 yards, most of that to senior wideout Jacob Widener, who had seven catches for 134 yards and a TD.
Even the Cougars” special teams, a distant memory during much of the team”s futility the last six seasons, got into the act when Jordan Hickey partially blocked a Potter Valley punt in the first quarter.
But it wasn”t all positives for the Cougars, something Kinser was quick to point out.
“I didn”t like all the turnovers (four),” he said of the Bearcats” 4-1 edge in the turnover department. “And we turned over the ball on downs in the red zone (at the Potter Valley 5 in the third quarter), which I consider a turnover.”
Upper Lake lost three fumbles, one of them on the game”s first play when the Bearcats pounced on a kickoff that the Cougars failed to cover.
The other two fumbles were both drive-killers as the Cougars had the ball inside the Potter Valley 10-yard line both times — once at the 5 (first quarter) and at the 9 (in the third quarter).
“Our offensive line also didn”t recognize their stunts on pass plays,” Kinser said of the pressure the Bearcats put on Binns, who able to roll away from nearly every time.
The Cougars” inability to hang onto the ball in the early going kept the Bearcats firmly in the contest, but Upper Lake”s defense made sure they couldn”t capitalize on the turnovers.
Which leads Kinser back to the things Upper Lake did well against Potter Valley.
“Our first-string defense pitched a shutout,” Kinser said. “We”re not worried about our defense one bit.”
Upper Lake limited the Bearcats to 44 first-half yards and 137 overall, nearly half of that total coming in the fourth quarter alone when the Cougars had the game pretty well locked up. Of Potter Valley”s 12 points, the first six were the result of Rego Montes do Oca”s 85-yard kickoff return in the second quarter, with the Cougars already out in front 14-0, and late in the fourth quarter when Cody Cranford caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Dalton Olson on a fourth-and-10 play to make it 30-12.
Once Upper Lake managed to hold onto the football, the results were pretty encouraging. Robert McCutcheon capped a three-play scoring drive set up by a 53-yard Binns-to-Widener pass with a 2-yard run in the opening seconds of the second quarter.
The Cougars scored on their next possession as well, moving 49 yards in seven plays, the final one a 17-yard pass from Binns to Widener, who plucked the ball out of the air while sandwiched between two Potter Valley defenders. Binns scored on the conversion run to make it 14-0.
Montes de Oca returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, motoring down the Potter Valley sideline nearly untouched. A penalty flag came out on the play and it appeared to be against the Bearcats for a clip, but the game officials converged to discuss the flag and picked it up, letting the play stand.
The Cougars” next two drives into Potter Valley at the end of the first half and early in the second half — ended with turnovers. A final deep push into Bearcats territory at the end of the third quarter stalled on downs at the Potter Valley 5.
But a short punt that left the Cougars inside Potter Valley territory to start the fourth quarter turned into a quick six points. McCutcheon, who broke off a 26-yard run on the first play of the drive, capped the five-play series with a 9-yard run. Binns” pass to Widener on the PAT pushed Upper Lake”s lead to 22-6.
The Cougars put the game away on their next possession, a 90-yard drive of which 80 yards came on the ground — including a 31-yard chunk by McCutcheon and a 39-yard blast by Josh Boke. McCutcheon capped the drive with a 5-yard run, his second touchdown of the day.
McCutcheon”s brother, Roger, also did well in the season opener as he recovered a fumble and had one of Upper Lake”s two sacks.
“Our defensive tackles, (Derek) Woodcock and (Roger) McCutcheon, did a pretty nice job,” Kinser said. “The McCutcheons come to play football.”
Kettwig”s conversion run following McCutcheon”s touchdown run pushed Upper Lake”s advantage to 30-6 with 4:26 left.
