LAKEPORT — Plenty of words come to mind in describing Clear Lake”s 48-0 mugging of the Stellar Prep Thunder on Friday night at Don Owens Stadium.
Ugly will suffice.
In a game that featured a 90-minute first half chalk full of penalties and the ejection of Stellar Prep sophomore running back Brian Clinksdale, the Cardinals rolled to their first victory of the season behind a three-touchdown passing night by senior quarterback Kenny Henninger, who put the ball in the air only five times with four completions for 57 yards.
“It was one of those games we wanted to get through without getting anyone hurt,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said. “And we did that.”
Stellar Prep, a new school fielding a varsity football team for the first time, committed 130 of its 135 penalty yards in the first half. There were numerous pushing matches with Clear Lake players, a lot of talking, and the ejection of Clinksdale, who was tossed in the first quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct. He came back into the game and participated in two plays in the second quarter before the Cardinals pointed out his presence on the field to game officials, who promptly flagged him another 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct while also ushering him back to the sidelines — this time for good.
“I”ve never seen that before,” Meyer said of a player returning to the field after being ejected.
“They were totally disorganized,” Meyer said of the Stellar Prep team, one that fields a roster of mostly sophomores.
Clear Lake (1-1) moved the ball on the ground and through the air against the Thunder. In addition to Henninger”s three touchdown passes, two of which went to receiver David Mansell and the other to Ronan O”Rourke, the Cardinals scored four times on the ground, including a pair of scores by Luke Punzalan, and single touchdowns by Vince Rave (12 carries for 71 yards) and Adrian Adams.
The Cardinals also picked up two points on a safety in the first quarter when a high snap sent Stellar Prep quarterback Cameron Burston scrambling back into the end zone, where he simply fell on the ball. On the free kick that followed, the Cardinals failed to cover it and Stellar Prep jumped on the ball to regain possession. On that one play alone, there were three 15-yard penalties called for late hits or unsportsmanlike conduct — two against Clear Lake and one against Stellar Prep.
But the Thunder fumbled the ball right back to Clear Lake on the very next play, Punzalan recovering. The Cardinals scored three plays later on a 9-yard pass from Henninger to Mansell, capping a 14-0 first quarter.
Clear Lake pushed its lead to 27-0 by halftime on a 23-yard TD pass from Henninger to O”Rourke and a 3-yard run by Punzalan, who also scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter for Clear Lake”s first six points of the game.
Mansell”s second TD catch of the game in the third quarter and a 4-yard scoring run by Rave pushed Clear Lake”s lead to 41-0 after three quarters.
Backup quarterback Adrian Adams scored on a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock.
“We needed to get a win after coming close last week and not getting one,” Meyer said. “This will get us going in the right direction. We went 0-3 in the preseason last year and went on to win four games. If we can win next week (against South Fork), we”d be 2-1 and that would be icing on the cake.”
