UPPER LAKE – Trailing 14-6 after Upper Lake”s Antonio Diconza returned the second-half kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown, the Clear Lake Cardinals were wondering whether or not their march to the North Central League I South varsity football championship would have to wait another week or happen at all Saturday afternoon in Upper Lake.
But just as quickly as the weather turned in the fourth quarter, so did the Cardinals” fortunes. Clear Lake scored 14 fourth-quarter points fueled by Upper Lake turnovers to win a wild and bizarre football game, 20-14. In the process, the Cardinals wrapped up no worse than a South co-championship — their second league title in as many years — and an automatic berth in next week”s North Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
“Back-to-back titles, it”s never happened in my 12 years here,” said a very relieved and very wet Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer at game”s end. “When we started the season I thought we would be lucky to be .500.”
Instead, the Cardinals are 3-0 in league, 6-2-1 overall and the winners of four straight heading into their regular-season finale Friday night at St. Helena.
Upper Lake (0-3, 4-5) was trying to push back over the .500 mark and guarantee itself a non-losing season, and for the better part of three quarters the Cougars were well on their way to accomplishing that goal even though they couldn”t do much on offense against an unyielding Clear Lake defense.
But just as big plays on special teams allowed the Cougars to build that 14-6 lead, big plays by Clear Lake defense”s took it away, though not all at once.
Until Clear Lake center Derek Larson recovered a fumble by teammate Ryan Lunas in the end zone with 31.5 seconds remaining for the game-winning touchdown, the only offensive score of the game was a 55-yard hookup between Clear Lake quarterback Ryan Richardson and wide receiver Seth Glazier late in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead. Glazier came down with the ball in a group of four Upper Lake defenders, broke a tackle and continued all the way to the end zone, another 30 yards distant.
Upper Lake”s special teams were responsible for the only two touchdowns in the middle quarters. First, Sloan Hennig returned a punt 89 yards for a score early in the second quarter, picking up key blocks from Sam Wurm and Jeff Lovrin along the way, and Wurm kicked the extra point to make it 7-6 in the Cougars” favor. The score remained that way despite repeated thrusts by the Clear Lake offense into Upper Lake territory in the first half, all of them ending in frustration — and no points — for the Cardinals.
“We just couldn”t get that last little push,” Meyer said of Clear Lake”s inability to turn some long possessions — both in terms of time of possession and yardage gained — into points.
Upper Lake added to its lead with another explosive play to open the second half as Diconza scored on the kickoff. Wurm again added the PAT and it was 14-6. Clear Lake came back with another long drive that once again petered out on downs.
The Cardinals had yet another drive stall on downs at the Upper Lake 37 early in the fourth quarter, but as the skies darkened and the rain began to fall, first lightly and then progressively heavier as the quarter wore on, Clear Lake finally managed to get a big play of its own. Richardson intercepted a Brendon Mendoza pass across the middle and raced 31 yards to the end zone for the touchdown. He then lofted a beautifully placed conversion pass that Glazier ran under in the corner of the end zone to knot the score at 14-all
And things were just getting warmed up.
On Upper Lake”s very next play from scrimmage, Mendoza dropped back to pass and again found someone he didn”t want — Richardson, whose second pick put the Cardinals in business at the Cougar 37.
The Cougars answered with their own interception — on the very next play — as Mike Cox picked off a pass at the Upper Lake 2. Backed up deep in their own end, the Cougars barely avoided a safety on a running play before punting the ball back to the Cardinals, who promptly lost a fumble that Upper Lake”s Randy Dickinson recovered.
If the 14-14 game of turnover ping-pong wasn”t driving the crowd into a frenzy by that point, it did just a few moments later as the Upper Lake field was being saturated in a biblical downpour. Two Mendoza completions of 10 yards to Lovrin and 11 yards to Joe Barnes pushed the ball into Clear Lake territory as the clock closed in on two minutes. That set the stage for the play of the game, something neither team will dispute.
Mendoza took the snap from center, rolled to his left and thought about keeping it. However, he hesitated at the last moment, pitched it in the direction of running back Barnes, who had to leap up to grab it. Before Barnes knew what had hit him — it was Richardson coming on a full run — the ball popped loose and Lunas recovered it for Clear Lake at the Upper Lake 46.
“He was supposed to pitch it, but pitch it a lot sooner,” Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero said. “All day long the option was open but we didn”t take advantage of it.”
As the rain continued to pour down and the skies darkened even more, making it hard to see, Clear Lake mixed up runs with two passes to drive the ball to the Upper Lake 1-foot line where Richardson handed it off to Lunas, who slammed his way forward. But as the official began to separate the mass of bodies in the end zone, it was Larson who came out of the pile with the ball for the touchdown.
Upper Lake”s last gasp settled into the arms of Clear Lake defensive back Noel McCormack, who picked off his second pass of the game — and the fourth thrown by Mendoza — to end it.
“Our defense did an outstanding job,” Meyer said of the 82 yards the Cardinals limited the Cougars to, including only 20 yards by Lake County rushing leader Barnes, who had just nine carries.
“We thought we”d be able to pass on them,” Guerrero said of his team”s strategy going into the game. “And we had some things open, we just weren”t able to get the ball where we needed it.”
Upper Lake”s defense, though it bent plenty against Clear Lake, was able to come up with big plays when it needed them most, including a pair of timely sacks.
“This is a big rivalry for our kids,” Guerrero said. “Getting them pumped up wasn”t a problem.”
Asked about Barnes” nine carries, easily a season low, Guerrero said his running back “was fine,” but that the Cardinals “were stacking up” against the leads and sweeps that are his bread-and-butter plays, so they decided to look elsewhere for their yards.
“He was the kid we were keying on,” Meyer said.
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