PETALUMA — Now he knows.
Headed into Saturday”s non-league varsity football game against the St. Vincent Mustangs, Clear Lake High School head coach Milo Meyer said the outcome would give him a pretty good idea of where his team stood three weeks into the 2011 season.
And that would be?
“We are a long ways from being anywhere,” Meyer said following a 42-21 loss, a game the Mustangs (2-2) broke open with a 14-0 fourth quarter.
St. Vincent quarterback Mitch Sheppard, a junior, had one of the most productive days in Mustangs history by throwing for 254 yards and five touchdowns and running for another score. He also converted all of six extra-point kicks.
“We tried to some things with our DBs but they figured it out and were able to get the ball to the right person,” Meyer said of the Cardinals” pass coverage package against the Mustangs.
Clear Lake (0-3) chewed up seven minutes on the clock in the third quarter, Jake Chapin capping the long and time-consuming drive with a 1-yard run that cut St. Vincent”s 28-14 halftime lead to 28-21.
St. Vincent then went on a long drive of its own and had the ball at the Clear Lake 1-yard line in the final seconds of the third quarter. The Cardinals” repulsed two runs by the Mustangs who eventually scored on a Sheppard keeper on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 35-21 lead.
Sheppard”s final touchdown pass of the game, a 35-yarder to running back John Porchivina, accounted for the game”s final margin.
Each team scored in a 7-7 first quarter — St. Vincent on a 64-yard pass and Clear Lake on quarterback Steven Edwards” 13-yard run. The teams also traded touchdowns early in the second quarter, with the Mustangs going ahead 14-7 on a 19-yard pass and the Cardinals pulling even at 14 on an Edwards 22-yard run.
St. Vincent pushed ahead to stay on a 25-yard pass from Sheppard to Bryan Loberg with 3:37 left in the first half. The Mustangs added another score with less than two minutes to go on a 13-yard pass form Sheppard to Jordan Cox, his second TD reception of the game.
Chapin finished with 71 yards rushing, Vince Rave added another 58 and Edwards had 54 yards on eight carries, including the two touchdowns, for Clear Lake. Porchivina”s 96 yards rushing led St. Vincent.
The big difference was in the passing department where the Cardinals had only five yards on two completions.
Clear Lake also committed 65 yards on eight penalties.
The Cardinals host Fort Bragg (2-1) in the North Central League I opener for both teams Friday at Don Owens Stadium.
