UPPER LAKE — Upper Lake”s offense false-started its way toward a sixth straight loss on Saturday afternoon as the Cougars fell 28-0 to the St. Vincent Mustangs in a North Central League I South varsity football game at Upper Lake.
Upper Lake has generated just a single touchdown and seven points overall in its last three games and there doesn”t appear to be any relief in sight for coach Airic Guerrero”s squad. Three turnovers, six false starts, 100 yards worth of penalties overall and no appreciable passing game (just one completion for nine yards) were among the team”s failings against a St. Vincent squad that improved to 2-0 in the South standings and 5-2 overall. Upper Lake is 0-2 and 1-6.
“If I knew the answer to that, I would do something to fix it,” Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero said of his team”s inability to get the snap count correct.
Four times in the first quarter someone on the Upper Lake squad was breaking from the line of scrimmage early, putting a team that already has significant trouble moving the ball into a long-yardage hole.
“Our problem all year long has been turnovers and penalties,” Guerrero said.
Upper Lake”s defense turned in a decent showing against St. Vincent, especially in the second half when the Mustangs started all four of their possessions inside Cougar territory and scored only once — on backup running back Cullen Carroll”s 1-yard run with 1:10 left in the third quarter to make it 28-0.
“I thought we played pretty well in the second half,” Guerrero said. “We didn”t give up. We played hard and tried to hang in there.”
But there was one key defensive breakdown of note and that occurred late in the first half when the Mustangs, already leading 14-0, caught a huge break. Quarterback Ian Williams” pass was nearly picked off by Upper Lake”s Randy Dickinson, who had a clear path to the end zone, but he dropped the ball at the last second.
At that point, St. Vincent decided to play it safe and just run out the clock, which was ticking under a minute. Williams handed the ball off to sophomore running back Kris Farinha, who headed up the middle and then broke back toward the St. Vincent sideline. He appeared to be stopped at the Upper Lake 25, then broke out of a pack of players and sprinted to the end zone for a 51-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.
St. Vincent coach Gary Galloway confirmed that the Mustangs were simply looking to run out the clock and get into the locker room with a 14-0 lead.
“We just wanted to run it,” he said.
Galloway also wasn”t surprised that Farinha turned a simple play into a back-breaker as far as the Cougars were concerned.
“He”s had a good year and the thing about him is that he has such great field vision,” Galloway said. “Our line also did a good job blocking for him.”
Farinha finished with 119 yards on 14 carries and two TDs. He scored on a 4-yard run with 2:22 left in the first quarter to make it 14-0. Earlier in the quarter Williams completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Joe Fonfara to give the Mustangs a 7-0 lead.
St. Vincent”s balanced offense generated 176 yards on the ground and 137 in the air, while Upper Lake generated only 82 yards and never penetrated deeper than the St. Vincent 25.
With a big game looming against NCL I foe Clear Lake this Saturday, Galloway said the Mustangs were careful not to overlook the Cougars.
“We were not overlooking them,” Galloway said. “I don”t think we”ve ever put a good game together up here. They played us pretty tough.”
And while the Mustangs get to look forward to a first-place showdown with Clear Lake this weekend, the Cougars get to prepare for the Willits Wolverines (4-3), perhaps minus the services of one of their better players, two-way lineman Sam Wurm, who left the game late in the first half with a knee injury and did not return.
“We don”t have any depth now,” Guerrero said. “I”m already using my third-string center and if he (Wurm) can”t play, I”ll be using some 120-pound guy on the line. The injuries are a big problem that we can”t do anything about.”
There were a couple of highlights for the Cougars. Linebacker Jayce Meri record his sixth and seventh sacks of the season. On offense, what there was of it belonged to running back Antonio DiConza, who had 67 yards on only eight carries.
