CLOVERDALE — Cloverdale retuned a fumble for a touchdown during a 10-point fourth quarter and beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 17-6 in the North Central League I South opener for both of these varsity football teams on Friday night in Cloverdale.
Hugo Orozco booted a field goal later in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Eagles (1-0, 5-1).
“It was a dogfight like I said it was going to be,” Clear Lake coach Schad Schweitzer said.
Clear Lake (0-1, 3-3) broke a scoreless deadlock in the third quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Richardson to wide receiver Chris Leloup to go up 6-0.
Cloverdale answered with its own score — on a 32-yard pass — and Orozco”s extra point put the Eagles in front 7-6.
Clear Lake”s defense repelled several Clov-erdale thrusts into the red zone (inside the 20-yard line) in the first half.
“Early in the game we kept holding them,” Sch-weitzer said. “It was one of those games where I thought the first team to score would win.”
Clear Lake”s offense also fell short on a handful of drives, according to Schweitzer.
“We couldn”t finish,” he said.
Schweitzer said the overall effort by the Cardinals simply wasn”t there.
“We didn”t rise to the occasion,” he said.
Kevin Burt”s 91 rushing yards on 15 carries led the Cardinals.
