LOWER LAKE – Upper Lake quarterback Brandon Mendoza ran for one touchdown and passed for another as the Cougars rallied from an early 14-8 deficit to beat the Lower Lake Trojans 28-14 in North Central League I interlock varsity football action Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake.
Mendoza”s 63-yard touchdown pass to Sloan Hennig late in the first half knotted the score at 14 and the ensuing two-point conversion run put the Cougars (2-1) ahead to stay.
Upper Lake added a pair of touchdown runs in the second half to increase its lead and send Lower Lake (0-3) to its third straight loss, all at home to open the 2008 season.
“Inexperience is killing us, especially in the secondary,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said. “We”re inexperienced and not getting it done.”
Lower Lake went ahead 8-0 in the first quarter on a Chris Perry 4-yard run and Stephen Whitcomb”s conversion pass to Mike Novak. Upper Lake pulled even at 8 when Mendoza scored on a 1-yard run and the Cougars added the conversion run.
Lower Lake took its final lead, 14-8, on a 33-yard pass from Whitcomb to Novak late in the second quarter. Upper Lake struck in the final seconds of the half to go in front to stay.
Perry finished with 102 yards on 24 carries and Whitcomb was 6-for-20 for 151 yards.
Upper Lake statistics were not reported to the Record-Bee.
Contact Sports Editor Brian Sumpter at rbsports@aol.com, or call him direct at 263-5636 ext. 35 after 3:30 PM daily.
