LAKEPORT — Kevin Burt just missed, but the Clear Lake Cardinals were right on target Friday night as they beat the St. Helena Saints 27-3 in a North Central League I South varsity football game in Lakeport.
Burt, the Cardinals” standout senior running back, ended up with 144 yards and two touchdowns as Clear Lake (2-2 South, 5-4 overall) climbed back over the .500 mark and all but guaranteed itself an at-large playoff berth under the North Coast Coast”s newly expanded Division IV postseason field. He entered play needing 149 yards to break the school”s single-season rushing record of 1,298 yards and now has 1,294.
Like pounding a nail into a board, there was nothing fancy about the Cardinals” methodical approach to beating a St. Helena team that has lost six in a row since starting the season 3-0. Burt handled the ball 17 times while his backfield mate, senior fullback Ryan Lunas, had 18 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Burt wasn”t even 100 percent, according to Clear Lake coach Schad Schweitzer, who said he was nursing a minor leg injury.
“I didn”t tell anyone about it,” Schweitzer said. “He still looked pretty good.”
So did Lunas, who clobbered his way up the middle time and time again for the Cardinals, who couldn”t shake the Saints until the second half.
“Lunas played with a lot of aggression tonight, like he had a chip on his shoulder,” Schweitzer said.
Four turnovers in the first half — two by each team — limited the scoring opportunities for both, but the Cardinals finally broke through in the second quarter on Burt”s 44-yard run with 9:58 left.
Clear Lake forced a three-and-out by the Saints but fumbled away the punt return and St. Helena took over at the Clear Lake 45. The Saints marched down to the 9-yard line before settling for a 26-yard David Martinez field goal to make it 6-3.
Clear Lake began to take control of the game in the third quarter and Ryan Richardson”s second interception of the night gave the Cardinals the ball at their own 29 early in the third quarter. They covered the 71 yards in nine plays, the final one a 26-yard beauty of a touchdown run by Richardson, who rolled to his left and appeared to be hung up near the Clear Lake sideline before breaking loose again. He angled his way back toward the center of the field, eluding several Saints players along the way, and ended up in the end zone.
The Cardinals put the game away on a Burt 5-yard touchdown run that capped a nine-play, 53-yard all-running drive in the fourth quarter for a 20-3 lead.
Aaron Adams” interception moments later, the Cardinals” fourth pick of the night, set up one final score as Lunas blasted his way up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown.
While the Clear Lake offense rolled up 304 of its 334 yards on the ground, the Cardinals” defense limited the Saints to 137 yards overall, including only 66 in the first half.
“The last two games we”ve allowed three points and that”s good stuff,” Schweitzer said.
Ezequiel Valdivia, the Saints” physical fullback, accounted for nearly all of the Saints” offense with 97 yards on 26 carries, but his longest run from scrimmage was only 12 yards.
“Our goal was to keep him from breaking one in the game and we did that,” Schweitzer said. “We did a good job of tackling him low.”
Ever the perfectionist, Schweitzer said the Cardinals still owe him four consecutive quarters of solid football.
“I still haven”t seen that,” he said. “Maybe we”ll do that next week against Lower Lake.”
Or maybe they”ll do it in the first round of the playoffs.
