DURHAM >> A 20-7 halftime lead was gone by the end of the third quarter but the Clear Lake Cardinals found a way to pull out a 26-21 victory over the Durham Trojans in non-league junior varsity football action on Friday night in Durham.
Cameron Borg”s 10-yard run midway through the fourth quarter erased a 21-20 Durham lead and put Clear Lake (2-0) ahead to stay.
“I think it was a 36 Blast,” Clear Lake coach Derek Butcher said of the play on which Borg scored. “He ran to the right side and then cut it back against the flow.”
Borg then came up with the signature play on defense, sacking the Durham quarterback on a fourth-down play from the Trojans” 40-yard line. Clear Lake took over on downs and moved the ball to the Durham 1 before taking a knee to let the final seconds tick off the clock.
“It was really an entertaining game,” Butcher said. “The kids put their heart and soul into this one and pulled the game out. I”m really proud of them.”
The Cardinals fought through a warm Durham night and an injury to post their second win in as many games this season.
Clear Lake built a 20-7 halftime lead on the strength of a Dominick Mendez 6-yard run in the first quarter and 48- and 2-yard scoring runs by Tanner Cole in the second quarter. Brandon Orozco added the two-point conversion run following Cole”s first touchdown to make it 14-7 in the Cardinals” favor.
Cole finished with 93 yards rushing and Borg added 62. Quarterback Alex Adams completed two of six passes for 40 yards and Sam Long had one reception for 34 yards.
On defense, Borg and Jackson led the way with four unassisted tackles apiece.
The Cardinals are home Friday to play Upper Lake (1-1) at 5:30 p.m.
In other JV football action Friday:
Kelseyville 22
Upper Lake 7
At Kelseyville, in a game that was just 8-7 until the fourth quarter, the Kelseyville Knights beat the Upper Lake Cougars 22-7 in non-league action, improving to 2-0 on the season.
Upper Lake (1-1) scored first and didn”t waste much time doing it as quarterback Nick Newcomb connected with Cody Rybolt on a 65-yard pass to the Kelseyville 4-yard line where William Santos scored on a run two plays later. Alberto Lopez kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.
Kelseyville scored on its second series of the game to go up 8-7 and that”s where the score remained until early in the fourth quarter when Logan Barrick passed for a touchdown and the Knights added the two-point conversion to build a 16-7 lead.
Patrick Mick”s long run late in the fourth quarter made it 22-7.
“It was a defensive football game for quite a while,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said. “They had an interception and we had two.”
Kelseyville”s pass rush was one of the differences in the game, according to Smith.
“They did a great job of blitzing ? we struggled to pick up the extra linebacker they were sending,” Smith said.
The Knights registered seven sacks.
Smith also was impressed with the play of Kelseyville”s Barrick at quarterback.
“Logan played a good game,” Smith said.
Upper Lake”s coach said the Cougars turned in a strong performance as well.
“I”m proud of our guys, they put in a good effort,” Smith said.
Newcomb passed for 109 yards and Rybolt had two catches for 104 yards to spark Upper Lake”s offense. On defense the Cougars were led by Anthony Serrano and Alex Maupin. Serrano had four unassisted tackles and four assists while Maupin had eight assisted tackles. Eddie Crandall and Nathan Sneed added interceptions.
Kelseyville statistics were not reported.
Kelseyville goes for its third straight win Friday night at home against South Fork. Upper Lake hits the road to play Clear Lake (2-0).
