ST. HELENA >> Despite scoring a pair of firsts against the St. Helena Saints on Friday night, the Lower Lake High School junior varsity football team fell 21-14 in a North Central League I game at St. Helena.
St. Helena improved to 2-0 in league play and 5-0 on the season at the expense of the Trojans (2-1, 3-2), who became the first team to score against St. Helena and the first team to take a lead against the Saints this season.
Lower Lake held the lead twice — 8-0 in the first quarter on quarterback Hokulani Wickard”s 1-yard run and 14-9 in the third quarter on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Wickard to Gabe Freeman.
St. Helena pushed back in front to stay 15-14 early in the fourth quarter and returned a punt for another score later in the quarter to make it 21-14.
Wickard went 14-for-22 for 152 yards and the Trojans also rushed for 154 yards.
On defense, the Trojans” Ethan Watson picked off three St. Helena passes, returning one of them 35 yards.
“I thought we played a pretty good game until the end,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said. “We”re still making too many silly mistakes in the fourth quarter.”
St. Helena is one of three JV teams still undefeated in the NCL I ranks — the others are Clear Lake and Middletown. Lower Lake hosts Clear Lake this Friday while Middletown travels to St. Helena.
