LOWER LAKE — To break the chains that linked Lower Lake to a series of losing football seasons, the Trojans first had to move the chains. And this they did in abundance Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field in a dominating 53-20 opening-game victory over Thurgood Marshall High School of San Francisco.
Coming into the first game under new coach Justin Gaddy, the win was an ultra-important one for Lower Lake because it hinted — and perhaps signaled — that Gaddy”s approach will truly reinvent the south county school”s identity.
The hero of the win was junior quarterback Isazah King, who scored three touchdowns on runs of 30 yards, 28 and 21 yards. Overall, King rushed for 214 yards in 13 carries and was, in a word, unstoppable. He gained 21 yards on one play that began with an errant center snap that he had to run down, and another 25 yards on a scramble that was all King”s doing.
“Last year,” he said, “I scored two touchdowns and had 180 yards and that was like the best I had done in the whole season. But I can”t do any better than I did tonight.”
King gave the credit for being a better runner than he was a year ago to Gaddy”s influence.
“During the offseason I did a lot in the weight room,” he said. “He (Gaddy) knows what he”s doing.”
Gaddy acknowledged the importance of the Trojans getting off to a fast start. Asked what he saw in the game that he liked, he asserted, “The entire game. We need to establish pride.”
But he was not taking any bows.
“We gotta do it better,” he said. “We gotta play our game. Absolutely.”
It was all Trojans in the second half. Perhaps Marshall, which plays under the nickname of the Phoenix, was intimidated when it came out for the second half, trailing 27-14. Its first three plays after receiving the second-half kickoff were penalty, fumble, fumble.
One play after the second fumble, recovered by the Trojans” Anthony Williams at the Phoenix”s 12-yard-line, Mason Sanders scored Lower Lake”s fifth TD. A King scoring run later in the third period put the issue totally out of reach at 40-14.
Still, there was a lot of room for improvement. Four center snaps in the Trojans” shotgun formation wound up going awry. Clearly, Lower Lake was shooting itself in the foot with its shotgun. Gaddy said center Quaran Gadsden would get a lot more reps in the week ahead.
But overall the Trojans were in control from the opening kickoff, driving 83 yards on six plays, the last 30 on King”s first score.
King received able backing from Eric Moreno, who had a good night of his own, scoring three TDs and racking up 160 yards.
King was still mindful of the Trojans” sordid record of losing. The victory on Friday night was, after all, only their second in their last 21 games.
“We need to get back up on our feet,” he said.
