CLOVERDALE — Long pass completions set up two Clear Lake touchdowns, but it was the Cardinals” defense that ruled the night — and the Eagles — to the tune of an 18-0 victory in a North Central League I South varsity football game on Friday in Cloverdale.
It was the South opener for the Cardinals, now 1-0 in league play and 6-0-1 overall. Cloverdale lost its second straight South contest to drop to 0-2 and 4-3 overall.
While Cloverdale quarterback Zach Stroud was able to play against the Cardinals after missing his team”s 26-7 loss to St. Vincent the week before, Clear Lake”s defense shut down the Eagles in the air and on the ground, allowing a grand total of two yards and one first down.
“Our kids have been playing good defense all year,” Clear Lake defensive coordinator Mike Hansen said. “We never let No. 32 get untracked.”
No. 32 is Cloverdale”s top running back, Tyler Lawson, who gained only 12 yards on 11 carries.
“When they had him (Lawson) at tailback, we monstered him,” Hansen said of the strategy that assigns a defender to follow a running back or quarterback wherever he goes on the field and to the exclusion of all else.
“We had (Mike) Zimm-erman on him at first, then Colby Butcher,” Hansen said.
Clear Lake forced three turnovers, blocked a punt and recorded four sacks of Stroud. Among the individual defensive standouts was end Grant Paulin, who replaced an injured Butcher in the Cardinals” 8-6 win over Lower Lake last weekend. Paulin started again on defense against Cloverdale and he recovered a fumble and had two sacks.
“He”s playing really well,” Hansen said.
The Cardinals scored the first points of the game in the second quarter when Butcher plunged into the end zone from a yard out. A third-and-long 43-yard screen pass from Jameson Holder to Ryan Hansford pushed the ball deep into Cloverdale territory and set up Butcher”s run a few plays later.
Another long pass, this time a 72-yard bomb from Holder to Erik Jameson, led to another Clear Lake score later in the quarter as Holder scored on a 1-yard sneak.
The Cardinals picked up an insurance TD in the fourth quarter on a 57-yard run by Zimmerman, who was Clear Lake”s leading rusher with 88 yards on 14 carries.
Holder”s screen pass to Hansford and bomb to Jameson were his only completions on six attempts.Collin Coddington ran for 54 yards and recovered two fumbles for the Cardinals.
