CLOVERDALE — It is OVER!
When Lower Lake quarterback Jake Sanders plunged into the end zone from a yard out with 1:06 left in the game, the Trojans not only wiped out Cloverdale”s 20-15 lead, but nearly two years of futility and frustration in the process.
Sanders” sneak, which capped a nine-play, 70-yard drive, lifted the Lower Lake Trojans to a dramatic 21-20 North Central League I interlock varsity football victory over the Cloverdale Eagles on Friday night at Cloverdale”s Daly Field. The win snapped a 19-game losing streak and provided second-year coach Joe Marinello with his first taste of victory since taking over the school”s struggling program prior to the 2005 season.
“It starts to become a mental block,” Marinello said of the losing streak.
And now that it”s finally, mercifully over.
“It feels great … for the players, for the coaches, for the whole school. We feel like our season starts Monday,” Marinello said. “It”s just a huge relief.”
Lower Lake junior fullback Mike Deakins provided the bulk of the Trojans” 304 yards in total offense with 26 carries for 231 yards and two touchdowns and one catch for six yards.
Deakins scored on a 27-yard run in the first quarter, the only points of the first half, as the Trojans (1-2) opened up a 7-0 lead.
Cloverdale surged ahead 14-7 in the third quarter, but Deakins” 21-yard run later in the period and Sanders” two-point conversion run gave Lower Lake a 15-14 lead. The Eagles pushed ahead with a touchdown run in the fourth quarter but the Trojans” late push down the field proved to be the difference.
Lower Lake”s winning nine-play drive featured eight runs seven by Deakins and a key 25-yard pass from Sanders to Richard Richardson.
The Trojans turned the ball over only once and sacked Cloverdale”s quarterback four times.
Cloverdale fell to 0-3.
