UPPER LAKE >> Tomales at Upper Lake turned into the Willy Lepori show on Saturday as the senior running back scored each of the Braves” first four touchdowns en route to a 42-0 victory over the Cougars in the North Central League II varsity football opener for both teams at Upper Lake.
Lepori rushed for 190 yards, including a pair of first-quarter scores, and caught two touchdown passes in the second quarter as the Braves (1-0 league, 4-1 overall) rolled into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
The few opportunities that presented themselves to the Cougars, who remain winless on the season and are still searching for their first point, were negated by any number of mental and physical errors.
“We lack mental focus and consistency,” Upper Lake head coach Frank Gudmundson said. “It”s a problem this team has here (on the field) and in the classroom.”
Upper Lake (0-1, 0-5) picked up a first down near midfield on its first possession before losing the ball on downs at the Tomales 45-yard line. From there, the Braves methodically punched the ball down the field, Lepori capping the 55-yard drive with an 11-yard run. He scored on a 55-yard run to end the Braves” first possession.
With Upper Lake”s offense concentrating on stopping the Tomales run in the second quarter, the Braves crossed them up with a pair of quick-strike touchdown passes from quarterback Joel Gutierrez to Lepori — 46 yards with 11:15 left in the quarter to make it 22-0 and 35 yards with 8:32 remaining in the half to make it 28-0. Lepori was basically left wide open each time as Upper Lake”s pass coverage broke down.
The Braves were on the move again late in the second quarter but the drive stalled on downs when Upper Lake”s Nick Stith made a nice open field tackle on Gutierrez on a fourth-and-10 play.
The Cougars never moved the ball into Tomales territory in the second half and picked up only two first downs, one the result of a pass interference penalty.
However, there were a couple of bright spots for the squad, including the play of tight end/cornerback Andrew Redder, according to Gudmundson.
“Redder did a great job out there today,” Gudmundson said.
Jeremiah Dominguez also pounced on a Tomales fumble — the only turnover of the game — to stop a Braves drive in the fourth quarter.
Tomales, led by Lepori, outgained Upper Lake 403-31. Lepori accounted for 271 of the Braves” yards all by himself. Stith was Upper Lake”s leading rusher with 14 yards on 11 carries. Nick Newcomb, called up from the junior varsity squad for the game, played in the second half and completed two passes for eight yards. He also scrambled 10 yards on the Cougars” second play of the second half, Upper Lake”s longest gain of the day.
Gudmundson said the Cougars were expecting to have sophomore running back Eddie Rael in uniform for his first game at Upper Lake but his transfer paperwork had not been completed by game time, forcing him to sit it out. He should be cleared to play this Saturday when the Cougars take on St. Vincent in Petaluma.
While the Cougars tried out new offensive and defensive schemes against the Braves, neither produced much in the way of positive results. Upper Lake had to call timeouts in the first half because it didn”t have the right personnel on the field and the players struggled with the snap count in the second half when Newcomb replaced Mike DiAndrea at quarterback. All five of the Cougars” falsestart penalties occurred in the last two quarters.
“In the first quarter we were playing football with them but not much after that,” Gudmundson said. “We make mistakes and dwell on them. It”s something we”ve got to get over. You have to get past it and move on.”
Upper Lake will be up against an entirely different offense this coming weekend in St. Vincent, which runs the spread offense.
“The game is about to speed up in a hurry,” Gudmundson said.
Tomales plays a winless Calistoga (0-1, 0-5) squad on Friday night in Calistoga. Upper Lake and Calistoga meet the following week (Oct. 18) in Upper Lake in what could be a matchup of 0-6 teams.
