Editor”s note: This is the fourth in a five-part series profiling Lake County”s varsity football teams.
LAKEPORT — Entering the 2012 season with far more questions than answers, the Clear Lake Cardinals are a team in search of an identity.
With only a handful of veterans back, several untested players moving up from the junior varsity ranks and a couple of key players not on the roster, the Clear Lake coaching staff — a veteran unit to be sure — is trying to piece together the puzzle.
“I”ve never felt this overwhelmed,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said of the task in front of him. “It will be fun to see what we can do with these kids. It”s the biggest challenge I”ve ever faced coaching here.”
As for the over-under on the Cardinals in turns of win total this season, Meyer said, “We cold win three games and it would be a successful year. I would be ecstatic if we finished .500.”
Meyer”s concerns are well-founded given the team”s roster. Clear Lake landed three players on the All-North Central League I team last season — Shawn Larsen, Mike Reynolds and Jacob Chapin — and all have since graduated.
Returning starters are senior Josh Larsen, the only lineman back from last year”s 4-6 squad; senior Vince Rave (running back/linebacker); senior Luke Punzalan (running back/linebacker); senior Kenny Henninger (quarterback/defensive back); senior Andre Buendia (running back/linebacker) and junior Adrian Adams (quarterback/defensive back).
Noticeably absent from the roster are two players the Cardinals could have certainly used this season. The first, Omar Vazquez, not only played both ways for the Cardinals last season but also handled all of the team”s placekicking duties. He is academically ineligible to start the season but could return late in the year. The second, Adrian Perez, has decided to forego football this season to better prepare himself for basketball.
Other returning players on the Clear Lake roster are senior Jacob Dekeyser (wide receiver/defensive back); Ronan O”Rourke (wide receiver/defensive back); Greg Brin (offensive line/defensive end); and Zuhuri Manley (wide receiver/defensive back).
New to the team this season is Raul Rendon, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior lineman.
The Cardinals certainly have more experience and depth at the skill positions than on the line.
Henninger, part of a three-headed quarterback rotation for the Cardinals in 2011, passed for 142 yards and a touchdown. Rave was the team”s leading rusher with 620 yards and four touchdowns, while Dekeyser and Punzalan were the team”s two most productive receivers.
The offensive line, outside of Josh Larsen, is the ultimate work in progress for the Cardinals.
“All the linemen minus Larsen are real inexperienced,” Meyer said.
That group includes Rendon, juniors Nathan Powers, Cory Banfill and Nick Choate, seniors Brin and RaShaan O”Rozco, and sophomore call-up Julian Lewis, who at 230 pounds is the biggest lineman on the Clear Lake roster.
The Cardinals should also get some blocking help from junior tight end Gabe Strong, according to Meyer.
While Clear Lake”s offense is usually run dominated — the Cardinals passed for just 428 yards last season (second fewest in the county behind Upper Lake) — the Cardinals might risk the ball in the air a little more this season, according to Meyer.
“He (Henninger) is a smart kid and he can throw,” Meyer said.
With a couple of speedy wideouts in Manley and junior David Mansell, both 6-footers, Henninger has targets to throw to down the field.
Henninger”s primary task, however, is to run the Cardinals” option offense and that means making the right read at the right time.
“A lot depends on him reading the defense, calling the right audibles. I think he can do it,” Meyer said.
Operating effectively behind a line that is the smallest in Meyer”s tenure at Clear Lake is another challenge Henninger faces.
With only 21 players at the varsity roster and just 20 at the JV level (perhaps the school”s lowest turnout ever), the Cardinals are eying a move down to Division V at some point in the future.
“Once we drop below 500 in enrollment we can move down and we were at 519 the last time I checked,” Meyer said. “We are losing enrollment.”
Clear Lake”s non-league schedule of three games is a mixed bag. The Cardinals open the season Aug. 31 at Durham, a playoff team a year ago; return home Sept. 7 to play Stellar Prep of Hayward, a new member of the North Central League II fielding a varsity team for the first time; and host South Fork of the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Four on Sept. 14.
The Cardinals kick off their NCL I schedule with a Sept. 21 game at Fort Bragg. Their league home opener is Sept. 28 against Cloverdale. Down the schedule a ways is a week-nine meeting at Kelseyville on Oct. 26, the date of the third annual Bass Bowl. That series is tied 1-1 going into this year”s game.
While the Cardinals do indeed face many challenges this season, Meyer said the attitude of his players is positive.
“The kids have shown in practice that they”re up for everything, and that”s a good thing,” Meyer said. “It”s a good group and they work hard. We”re going with what we”ve got and we”ll see where it takes us.”
