UPPER LAKE — If the Upper Lake Cougars aren”t the real deal, they sure looked the part on a hot Saturday afternoon at Upper Lake High School.
Behind an offense that gained 481 yards — all on the ground — the Cougars literally ran over the Portola Tigers 47-14 in Alex Stabiner”s first game as Upper Lake”s varsity football head coach.
Talk about your coming-out party.
Upper Lake running backs Ward Beecher, Joey Valdez and Bradley Brackett all reached the 100-yard mark by halftime.
— Beecher, playing in his first varsity game as was Valdez, scored on runs of 33, 9, 4 and 21 yards in the first half as the Cougars built a 40-7 halftime lead. He finished with 124 yards overall. In fact, Beecher scored on his first two varsity touches ? the 33-yard run came just 14 seconds into the game and he added the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
— Valdez, a bruising fullback, finished with 155 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. He scored on a 55-yard run late in the first quarter, running over a Portola player in the process, and added a 63-yard TD in the second quarter to make it 34-7.
— Brackett, a senior, led the Cougars with 162 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, that 10-yard TD run capping the Upper Lake scoring with 3:58 left in the third period.
“The kids responded to what we”ve been talking about and what we”ve been teaching,” a smiling Stabiner said following the game. “We talked about intensity ? going 100 percent until the whistle ? and they did that.”
While Stabiner had nothing but good things to say about his three running backs, he had even higher praise for the offensive line.”The guys up front did a great job,” Stabiner said of his linemen and tight ends — Jerry Musick, Bruce Tucker, Connor McVey, Anthony Woodcock, John Carlson, Javier Gonzalez, Broc Pasqual, Robert Simondi and Justin Robinson.
So effective was Upper Lake”s ground game that there was no need for quarterback Travis Coleman to throw the ball. He attempted only two passes and both fell incomplete.
“We do have a passing package in our (toss) offense,” Stabiner said. “We just didn”t need to use it.”
If Stabiner had any complaint about the Cougars” effort, it was the dearth of scoring in the second half. After putting 40 points on the board in the first half, Upper Lake settled for just one TD in the second half, that coming on Brackett”s 10-yard run that capped an impressive 15-play, 67-yard drive that consumed the first 8:02 of the quarter.
“We need to be in better shape,” Stabiner said. “We did a great job in the first half and then we got tired. If we want to put cloth (a pennant) on the wall, we”ll have to be at another level late in the season ? we can”t get tired. We need to condition more.”
The Tigers, now 0-2 on the season, conditioned plenty while chasing Beecher, Valdez and Brackett around the field on a muggy summer day on the Northshore.
Upper Lake recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and scored on its first play from scrimmage as Beecher raced untouched into the end zone from 33 yards out.
After the Tigers missed a 32-yard field goal later in the quarter, Upper Lake went 68 yards in just three plays, the final 55 by Valdez on the second carry of his varsity career.
Portola tried to get back into the game at that point, moving 46 yards in eight plays for a touchdown. Zach Martinez scored on a 1-yard run that was set up by a big 34-yard pass from quarterback Ricky Lowdermilk to Tyler Adkins on a third-and-five play. Oscar Romero”s extra-point kick made it 14-7 with 11:46 left in the second quarter and the game was on ? or at least that”s what the Tigers were thinking.
Upper Lake responded with touchdowns on each of its next four possessions, driving 65, 59, 71 and 68 yards to make it 40-7 by halftime. The first two touchdown drives were greatly aided by counter plays that caught the Portola defense completely by surprise. Brackett rambled 58 yards on the first one and Beecher 25 yards on the next.
Valdez”s 63-yard TD run with 4:31 left in the half was a trap play that had the entire Portola defense moving in the opposite direction of Upper Lake”s fullback.
The Cougars were also opportunistic, scoring twice after recovering Portola fumbles.
The Tigers, who are accustomed to playing in a cooler climate at home (elevation 4,856 feet), hurt themselves not only with the two turnovers, but with several botched snaps and 90 yards in penalties. They also had a hard time cracking the Upper Lake defense despite advantageous field position on a couple of possessions.
Portola finished with 211 yards of offense, most of that though the air (159).
“It feels great to get the first win, but we have two tough (road) games coming up,” Stabiner said.
Upper Lake visits Middletown (0-1) on Friday and Hoopa (2-0), the defending North Coast Section Division V champion, on Sept. 23.
“Our first three games are pretty tough,” Stabiner said. “But they should give us a pretty good idea of where we stand.”
