WILLITS — The site of the game, Maize Field, was certainly apropos for a meeting between the Lower Lake Trojans and host Willits Wolverines.
All season long these two squads have been turning into dead ends, retracing their steps and trying again, only to bump into more walls. But on Friday night, the Trojans navigated the maze, or in this case the Maize, beating the Wolverines 23-6 in a North Central League I North varsity football game where the prize was merely a first win of the season in week nine of the 2008 campaign.
Lower Lake (1-2 North, 1-8 overall) won”t have to worry about going winless now although Willits (0-3, 0-9) will.
“At this point we”ll take what we can get,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said of the win. “Our offense has been moving along pretty well, but our defense has struggled to stop people.”
With only one game remaining in their season, that at home next week against Middletown (8-1), the last thing the Trojans — and Weiper — wanted to do was lose to Willits and take an 0-9 record into their season finale against the powerful Mustangs, who are gearing up for another playoff run.
The victory also means that Weiper won”t have to worry about posting his first winless campaign. The longtime Kelseyville coach, now in his second season with the Trojans, has never gone 0-for-the-season before and that record remains intact thanks to a big assist from the Wolverines, who face Fort Bragg in their final game next week.
“I think the fewest games I”ve ever won in a season is two, I did that a couple of times,” Weiper said. “But one win is better than none.”
Lower Lake built a 23-0 lead before the Wolverines scored in the final seconds to avoid being shut out.
Chris Perry”s 1-yard run in the first quarter and Michael Bell”s conversion run gave the Trojans an 8-0 lead. That was all the scoring until Perry punched it in from 2 yards out in the third quarter to make it 14-0.
Quarterback Stephen Whitcomb”s 2-yard sneak in the fourth quarter padded Lower Lake”s lead and a safety a short time later, that coming when Derek Cox sacked the Willits quarterback in the end zone, made it 23-0.
Cox”s sack was one of seven on the night by the Trojans — David Clark led the way with four.
Perry once again spearheaded the Lower Lake offense, rushing for 118 yards on 26 carries. Michael Bell added 76 yards on seven carries.
Willits kicked a last-second field goal to beat Lower Lake 30-28 in the junior varsity game.
