ST. HELENA — The St. Helena Saints were St. Vincent”s best friends on Friday night.
Ezequiel Valdivia”s 2-yard run with 4:15 left in the third quarter propelled the Saints to a 7-0 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in the North Central League I South varsity football finale for both teams in St. Helena.
St. Helena”s victory means that the Cardinals (3-1 South, 6-3-1 overall) will have to settle for a share of the South title this season. St. Vincent also finished 3-1, but Clear Lake will get the league”s automatic playoff berth based on its head-to-head win over the Mustangs. The next stop for both co-champions is the North Coast Section playoffs — Clear Lake in Division IV and St. Vincent in Division V.
St. Helena (2-2, 5-5) plans to apply for an at-large berth Sunday into the Division IV playoffs. Even if they don”t make it, the Saints can take a fair measure of pride in having pinned the Cardinals with their only league loss in 2008.
The Saints drove 85 yards in 12 plays in the third quarter for the game-winning touchdown. Using a split-back formation, they pounded the ball up the middle and off-tackle en route to the end zone.
Clear Lake drove inside the St. Helena 15-yard line with time running out, but a Ryan Richardson pass fell incomplete in the end zone on fourth down and the Saints took over on downs and ran out the clock.
Richardson finished the game 13 of 29 for 146 yards and no interceptions and Jared Ashworth had four catches for 47 yards. Ryan Lunas led Clear Lake rushers with 51 yards on eight carries.
