PETALUMA — The undefeated St. Vincent Mustangs couldn”t shake the Upper Lake Cougars for three back-and-forth quarters of big plays and big stops, but in the end St. Vincent”s depth won the day, 28-6, in a North Central League I South varsity football game on a warm Saturday afternoon at Kiely Field in Petaluma.
“We got worn down,” Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero said of the 14 points St. Vincent (2-0 South, 7-0 overall) scored in the fourth quarter to put the game away. “Depth is our biggest enemy.”
Strong second-half showings are nothing new for coach Gary Galloway”s St.Vincent squad, which matched its previous best start of 7-0 back in 1995. The Mustangs needed late drives to defeat both Middletown and Fort Bragg in NCL I interlock play, and they rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat Cloverdale in their league opener on Oct. 18.
While Galloway is appreciative of the way his players close out games, he”s looking for them to do better early on.
“I want to come out and be consistent on offense, that”s the main thing,” Galloway said. “We need to finish off drives. I”m trying to challenge them and I”m looking for a good week in practice (this week) because we play Clear Lake next and that”s not going to be easy. They do a great job with their players and they”re always well-coached.”
St. Vincent travels to Clear Lake (1-0, 4-2-1) on Friday for a game that could very well decide the NCL I South title. It certainly will if St. Vincent wins.
Upper Lake (0-2, 3-4) is now out of the South race barring some unforeseen set of circumstances, but the Cougars, as they have demonstrated all season, are far from the doormats they have been in past years.
“I told them I didn”t think we deserved to be 3-3 coming into the game, that we were better then that,” Guerrero said of his pre-game talk Saturday. “I told them I thought we had a good chance to go back above .500. The biggest thing is I thought we could play with them.”
The Upper Lake players obviously thought so, too, because they did.
Both teams pushed the ball deep into the other”s territory on their first possession of the game only to turn it over on downs. When Upper Lake failed to convert, St. Vincent took over on its 20 and had a 7-0 lead one play later as quarterback Josh Wheless connected with wide receiver Nick McCarthy near midfield. McCarthy made a juggling catch in the vicinity of two Upper Lake defenders, broke a tackle and angled his way to the St. Vincent sideline, where he put on a burst of speed to reach the end zone before the pursuing Cougars could catch him.
But Upper Lake”s defense pretty much held the Mustangs in check the rest of the first half, with the exception on one play. In fact, it was an interception by Jeff Lovrin of a Wheless pass that set up the Cougars” first score, though it was far from your normal nine-play, 65-yard drive.
Upper Lake overcame two sacks and a loss of five yards on a running play gone awry to move the ball across midfield. Facing a fourth-and-14 from the 47 with 5:05 left in the half, the Cougars assumed a punting formation. However, the snap didn”t go to the punter, but to quarterback Brandon Mendoza, who completed a pass to a single-covered Sloan Hennig, who went the entire 47 yards for a touchdown.
Even though the Mustangs were looking for such a fake, the play was executed brilliantly, and it was a 7-6 game just like that. Sam Wurm tried to tie the score but his extra-point kick was blocked.
It was the first blocked kick of the game, but not the last.
St. Vincent came right back as Cullen Carroll raced 65 yards on first down to reach the Upper Lake 20-yard line. Lovrin and Antonio Diconza finally tracked him down, saving a touchdown in the process. But the Mustangs stalled at that point and could advance the ball only six more yards before it was fourth down, at which point they lined up for a 29-yard field goal.
The low kick never had a chance and was blocked. Even better for the Cougars, it ricocheted directly backward as two Upper Lake players pursued it. Brandon Bills was the first to the scene and the rolling football accommodated him by bouncing right up into his arms. Just as Carroll had done moments before for St. Vincent, Bills raced down the field headed for what appeared to be a sure touchdown, but he was caught from behind — just like Carroll — at the St. Vincent 8.
Three straight running plays into the center of the line yielded a grand total of one yard, leaving Guerrero with a fourth-and-goal play from the 7. He first called for the field goal team but then decided to keep his first team offense on the field. Running back Joe Barnes nearly broke loose on the outside but was brought down after only a four-yard gain.
St. Vincent took over with less than 45 seconds left and ran out the clock, happy to reach halftime with any lead at all.
“Their guys are so tall, I didn”t feel confident trying it,” Guerrero said of a field goal on fourth down. “And I was thinking about the field goal we had just blocked, so I decided to go for it.”
Added Guerrero, “Hats off to St. Vincent for stopping us there. “We brought in our power-running group (including lineman Wurm at fullback) and they just stuffed us.”
Guerrero said he thought that was the turning point in the game, though the game was still a long way from being over.
St. Vincent”s pressure up the middle, whether on running plays or passing plays, was a constant throughout the day. The Mustangs not only forced Upper Lake to go outside on running plays, where Barnes (25 carries for 86 yards) had most of his success, but they made life miserable for Mendoza, who was sacked seven times.
“They blitzed a lot in the middle and we didn”t do a very good job of anticipating it,” Guerrero said. “We knew it was coming and we worked all week on a (quick) slant pass to counter it, but he (Mendoza) just never got the time.”
Upper Lake converted on a fourth-and-three play courtesy of a St. Vincent penalty to drive inside Mustang territory early in the third quarter, but McCarthy picked off a Mendoza pass near midfield and returned it to the St. Vincent 45.
At that point, the Mustangs methodically worked the ball down the field on a series of 10 straight running plays. Wheless” 1-yard plunge capped the drive and put St. Vincent up 14-6.
The Cougars again drove the ball across midfield on their next possession and had a first down at the St. Vincent 45, but three sacks and a holding penalty forced Upper Lake to punt.
St. Vincent scored on each of its next two possessions. Wheless had a 5-yard run with 10:35 left in the fourth quarter to make it 21-6 and Kris Farinha”s 12-yard run with 7:50 remaining sealed the victory.
Following the game, Galloway said the Mustangs are probably the least cocky 7-0 team you”ll ever find.
“It”s not like we”re just blowing people out,” Galloway said. “Because of the way we”re winning ? by the skin of our teeth ? we can”t afford to look past anyone. And it doesn”t get any easier for us with our next three games on the road.”
Mendoza turned in a solid performance for Upper Lake when he had time to throw the ball. He was 7-for-15 with 137 yards. Hennig was the recipient of most of that as he had six catches for 123 yards.
Carroll rushed for 94 yards and Farinha had 78 for St. Vincent, which outgained Upper Lake 347-216.
