UPPER LAKE — Trailing 18-0 midway through the second quarter on Saturday, Upper Lake High School head coach Airic Guerrero said he had only one thought going through his mind.
“Here we go again,” Guerrero said.
The Cougars, playing their homecoming game, were well on their way to a 15th straight loss to the Kelseyville Knights, who Upper Lake hadn”t beaten since 1993 ? the year Guerrero graduated from Middletown High School.
And then it happened. Upper Lake simply threw away the script that it had followed to the letter in 14 previous seasons against Kelseyville.
“That”s the first time we”ve played all four quarters when we were behind,” Guerrero said in explaining the 30 unanswered points the Cougars scored to stun the Knights, 30-18, in a North Central League I interlock varsity football game where momentum switched from Kelseyville to Upper Lake in tsunami-like fashion over the final 2 ? quarters.
Wearing a smile as large as the Cougars” comeback, Guerrero said it was his biggest win ever at Upper Lake. No one could possibly disagree.
Upper Lake, now 3-1 on the season and tied with Middletown (3-1) for the best record in Lake County, dominated Kelseyville up front in the second half and made the Knights pay dearly for two second-quarter interceptions, both of which resulted in Upper Lake touchdowns that fueled the Cougars” dramatic comeback.
“We got a little greedy before halftime,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “That was my call and we probably should have been more patient.”
Owens was referring to the 18-8 lead the Knights could have taken into the locker room at halftime had they simply run out the clock. Instead, Kelseyville quarterback Mike Davis was intercepted near midfield and the Cougars covered the 50 yards to the end zone in less than a minute, scoring on a dazzling 35-yard run by Joe Barnes, who weaved in and out of trouble near the Kelseyville sideline before finding the end zone with 15.7 seconds left.
As they had done following their first score, a 3-yard run by Sam Wurm with 2:08 left in the half, the Cougars successfully went for two points on the conversion to cut the Knights” lead to a scant 18-16 at halftime.
Kelseyville dominated the first quarter and a half, grabbing an 18-0 lead on a pair of Troy Davis touchdown runs and a Steven Grossner 3-yard run with 8:24 left in the second quarter.
Having already misfired inside Kelseyville”s 20-yard line twice in the second quarter, Upper Lake finally scored after Mike Davis threw the first of his four interceptions on the day. The Cougars went 43 yards in seven plays, overcoming a sack and a holding penalty before Wurm, who wears No. 55 and plays on the line most of the time, moved into the backfield and plowed his way into the end zone on a second-and-goal play from the 3. He also scored on the conversion to make it 18-8.
When Davis was intercepted again a short time later, the Cougars quickly closed to 18-16 on Barnes” touchdown run.
While Kelseyville still had the halftime lead, there was no disputing that momentum had violently shifted in the Cougars” favor. You could feel it on the sideline.
“At halftime, one of the things I noticed was Kelseyville hanging their heads,” Guerrero said. “We did get momentum there in the second quarter.”
The question was could the Cougars keep it with a half of football remaining? The answer was a resounding yes.
In a crucial game sequence covering two third-quarter possessions, the Cougars received the second-half kickoff and marched 70 yards in 11 plays, the final one a 3-yard run by quarterback Brandon Mendoza on a fourth-and-goal play. A second surge carried Mendoza into the end zone after he was initially stopped at the line of scrimmage.
For the third straight time, the Cougars went for two points on the conversion and were successful as Barnes angled his way into the end zone near the Upper Lake sideline for a 24-18 Upper Lake lead.
While the Knights were reeling a bit at that point, they came right back with an impressive drive of their own. Starting from their own 20, they ran the ball seven straight times to move to the Upper Lake 14, where they had a first-and-10, but a motion penalty put the Knights in a first-and-15 hole from which they never recovered.
Four straight running plays came up two yards shy of a first down as Upper Lake”s defense made the stand of the day. Kelseyville never threatened again as two more Mike Davis interceptions sealed the Knights” fate.
Upper Lake officially put the game away with 2:07 left when its defense held Kelseyville on downs deep inside Knights territory. An illegal touching penalty on fourth down — Davis” desperation pass on fourth-and-eight was caught by one of his lineman — moved the ball back to the Kelseyville 2 and Wurm scored on the very next play to make it 30-18.
Upper Lake had no shortage of heroes on offense or defense. That list includes Barnes, who rushed for 111 yards on 17 carries; Mendoza who completed 8 of 14 passes for 128 yards and no interceptions; wide receiver/defensive back Sloan Hennig, who had six catches for 86 yards and two interceptions; and short-yardage specialist Wurm, who gained 12 yards on six carries with two touchdowns. He also had a sack.
“I grew up doing the Power-I with Bill (Middletown coach Bill Foltmer),” Guerrero said of why he moved Wurm into the backfield on key short-yardage situations. “I tried it last week and it worked.”
Barnes rushed for 211 yards on 32 carries the previous week in a 28-14 win over Lower Lake and while he didn”t get the ball nearly as often this time — only 17 carries — Guerrero said he couldn”t have been more pleased with Barnes” performance.
“I think he had a great game,” Guerrero said.
So did Hennig, according to Guerrero. “He”s proven himself week in and week out.”
Kelseyville outgained Upper Lake 364-282, mostly because of the running of Troy Davis, whose 176 yards on 23 carries led the way. Unfortunately the Knights went away from Davis in the second half as he carried the ball only seven times.
Owens met with his players a long time following the game and there were few smiles as the Knights departed the playing field, and for good reason. Besides blowing an 18-point lead, the team”s brief two-game undefeated streak came to a screeching halt.
“We”re a young team and we”re going to make our mistakes,” Owens said. “We shot ourselves in the foot I don”t know how many times.
“That”s the worst football game we”ve played. I”m disappointed in just about all our guys.”
Owens said that disappointment includes himself for not preparing his team better.
“We played three quarters of not really good football,” Owens said. “Upper Lake outphysicaled us for three quarters ? you can”t show up and not play for three quarters.”
