CLOVERDALE — Undermanned, outgunned and nearly underwater were the Lower Lake Trojans in a rain-soaked 30-0 loss to the Cloverdale Eagles on Friday night during a North Central League I interlock varsity football game at Daly Field in Cloverdale.
Lower Lake (0-4) trailed 14-0 with only two minutes off the clock and the Eagles (3-1) had a 20-0 lead just four minutes into the first quarter.
“They were up 14-0 and I don”t even think the clock had started,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said of the Trojans” rocky start.
Cloverdale returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and got the ball back only seconds later when Lower Lake fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Lower Lake 20-yard line. The Eagles needed only a handful of plays to find the end zone and go up 14-0.
The Trojans” first offensive series ended with a blocked punt that the Eagles pounced on at the Lower Lake 15. A short drive produced another score for Cloverdale.
Rain fell throughout the game and made passing the ball almost impossible, especially in the second half, according to Weiper.
“It was pretty wet and there were a lot of fumbles, but not many lost ones,” Weiper said.
Lower Lake traveled to Cloverdale minus nearly a half-dozen starters who missed the game for a variety of reasons. One of those was injured running back Michael Bell (knee).
“We don”t have any firepower right now,” Weiper said. “With all the kids we had out and the rain, it was double trouble.”
Cloverdale led 30-0 at halftime.
“We tried to play a solid second half and we did,” Weiper said.
While highlights were few and far between for Lower Lake, Nate Oberdorf did recover a fumble to stop one Cloverdale drive.
Lower Lake had just 103 yards of total offense, 73 of those on the ground.
“We hope to get some parts back next week and we”ll go from there,” Weiper said.
The Trojans” schedule doesn”t get any easier in the coming weeks. They travel to Petaluma a week from today to play St. Vincent.
