There is safety in numbers. There is also safety in the safety.
A St. Vincent snap from center out of a shotgun formation late in the third quarter rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety, lifting the Clear Lake Cardinals to an 8-7 victory over the previously undefeated Mustangs in the on-and-off rain on Friday night at Don Owens Stadium.
As a result, Clear Lake now owns sole possession of first place in the North Central League I South varsity football standings while St. Vincent (2-1, 7-1) falls into second place. The Cardinals can wrap up an undisputed championship, their second in as many season, by winning their final two games at Upper Lake and at St. Helena.
Not bad for a team that head coach Milo Meyer projected to be around the .500 mark this season.
“Now I don”t know what to think about this team,” Meyer said of the Cardinals, who improved to 5-2-1 with their third straight victory. They”re also 2-0 in the South.
As improbable as winning a game with a safety might seem, that”s exactly what happened in a game where there was plenty of offense but few points scored. Both defenses came up big when they needed to although the Cardinals” defensive unit was the only one to score points. And they were two big ones.
Trailing 7-6 to open the second half, Clear Lake took the kickoff and moved the ball 61 yards to the St. Vincent 3, where the time-consuming drive – 8 minutes and 29 seconds – ended on downs.
Clear Lake nearly got a safety on first down when St. Vincent”s Kris Farinha was dropped for a 2-yard loss at the 1. Two plays later, St. Vincent quarterback Josh Wheless was in a shotgun formation deep in the end zone and the snap was off the mark and rolled right by him and out of the end zone for a safety.
And just like that the Cardinals were up 8-7.
It hardly looked like that lead would stand up the way both teams were moving the ball.
St. Vincent forced a punt and moved from its own 3 to the Clear Lake 18 midway through the fourth quarter when the drive bogged down. The Mustangs elected to go for a field goal and the 34-yard kick scooted wide right.
When the Cardinals got the ball back, they picked up two huge first downs, both times on second-effort runs by running back Kevin Burt, to keep the clock moving. Clear Lake eventually had to punt and St. Vincent took over at its own 34 with 1:33 left.
“We chewed up a lot of time with those two first downs,” Meyer said. “Burt ran hard and so did our other running backs.”
The Mustangs moved down to the Cardinal 33 in the closing seconds and the game came down to a fourth-and-12. Wheless launched a pass down the field to Devin Chiappari, who would have had the first down had he not dropped the ball.
Clear Lake ran off the remaining seconds and started its victory celebration.
The Cardinals took a 6-0 lead on a Noel McCormack 17-yard run with 11:53 left in the second quarter. The extra-point kick was blocked.
St. Vincent moved in front 7-6 with 2:38 left in the half on a 50-yard run by Cullen Carroll and the successful extra-point kick.
Burt finished with 83 yards on 15 carries to lead all rushers. He also had an interception.
Also coming up big for the Clear Lake defense was Mike Layton with a fumble recovery and both of the Cardinals” sacks.
“I have to give it up to my coaches for having the defense ready to go tonight,” Meyer said. “We bent a lot but we gave up only the one score.”
One of the stars for the Clear Lake offense was lineman Mike Ventresca, but not for what you might think. Early on during the Cardinals” lone scoring drive in the first half and with Clear Lake backed up deep in its own territory, Ventresca caught a pass that was deflected by a St. Vincent player. He gained eight yards on the third-and-seven play, keeping the drive alive. Five plays later McCormack scored.
