POTTER VALLEY — It”s not easy to win when you turn the ball over eight times, but the Upper Lake Cougars pulled it off on Friday night, beating the Potter Valley Bearcats 16-6 in a non-league varsity football game at Potter Valley.
It was the season opener for Upper Lake (1-0) and Potter Valley”s second game ? the Bearcats are now 0-2.
Potter Valley took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter but Upper Lake went ahead to stay on Jacob Armstrong”s 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter. James O”Connor added the conversion run for an 8-6 lead.
That was all the scoring until quarterback Mike Cox, who was briefly knocked out of the game, connected with Ben Britten on a 25-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Cox scored on the conversion run to make it 16-6.
O”Connor rushed for 93 yards on 11 carries to lead the Cougars, who lost seven fumbles in the game.
“The good thing is they rallied,” Upper Lake coach Airic Guerroro said. “The captains stepped up and showed some real leadership at halftime. We got it together at the half.”
In addition to their many turnovers, the Cougars committed far too many penalties for Guerrero”s liking.
“We had penalties left and right,” Guerrero said.
“Between the penalties and turnovers it just killed us.”
Upper Lake also won the junior varsity game, 38-0.
