LAKEPORT — This is how good the Clear Lake Cardinals are this season. On Friday night against Upper Lake, they had a 16-0 lead before their offense took the field.
Aaron Adams” 89-yard kickoff return to open the game and Erik Jameson”s 56-yard interception return moments later propelled the Cardinals to a 44-0 victory over the Cougars on Friday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport. The win not only secured a share of the North Central League I South title for the Cardinals, but it moved the team within a win or tie of an undefeated regular season, the school”s first since the 1973 club went 9-0.
“That makes you feel pretty good when you take a lead before the offense gets out there,” Clear Lake coach Glenn Meyer said. “And once the offense kicked in, they couldn”t stop us.”
Clear Lake (8-0-1) improved to 3-0 in the South standings and can clinch an automatic berth in the Class A playoffs if St. Vincent beats St. Helena today in Petaluma. If St. Helena wins, the Cardinals will need to beat those very same Saints next Friday in Lakeport to wrap up an automatic berth.
“We had two goals, one was to have the best record in Lake County, and we”ve got that, and the other was to win league,” Meyer said.
Clear Lake led 24-0 after one quarter and 38-0 at halftime. The Cardinals emptied the bench at the start of the second half and were still able to stop the Cougars, who fell to 0-3 in the South and 1-8 overall.
Quarterback Jameson Holder scored on a 9-yard run in the first quarter and Collin Coddington and Mike Zimmerman scored on short runs in the second quarter for the Cardinals. Noel McCormack capped the scoring with a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter.
The Cardinals had five sacks and forced two turnovers while limiting the Cougars to 79 yards of offense.
