UPPER LAKE >> If 2015 was the season that revived the Upper Lake High School football program, 2014 was the season that saved it.
Although the Cougars didn’t win a thing in 2014, going 0-10 under first-year coach Frank Gudmundson, the team didn’t forfeit a single game even though its roster numbered in the low teens – and sometimes just 12 players – during the year.
“Frank saved the Upper Lake football program,” new coach Mike Smith said of his predecessor, who was unable to return this year, which would have been his third season, because of a new work schedule that made coaching impossible. “He knew it was going to be a rough season when he took the job but he did it for the good of the program and the community.”
Gudmundson, a former Upper Lake football star in the late 1980s, held together a program that was ready to collapse at any moment during that 2014 campaign, according to Smith.
“We had no idea eight-man football was around the corner,” Smith said of the collapse of the old North Central League II following the 2014 season when other teams in the league — most notably Calistoga and Tomales — abandoned the 11-man game because of declining interest in football at those schools. Instead, they decided to join the eight-man NCL III, which includes smaller schools such as Anderson Valley, Point Arena, Potter Valley and Rincon Valley Christian. Faced with the same dilemma, Upper Lake followed suit.
“If Frank doesn’t coach in 2014 the program might have folded for good,” Smith said.
Two years later the Upper Lake football scene has done an about-face. Player numbers are up – more than 30 players in the program – and the varsity is basking in the glow of a very successful first season as an eight-man squad thanks to a 2015 team that went 7-1 in league play, including victories in its final six league games.
Numbers aren’t the only thing on the rise at the Northshore campus where the Cougars, their roster pretty much intact from 2015, set their sights on another successful campaign in 2016.
Morale, confidence and a new-found sense of pride are also going through the roof, according to Smith, who served as the head assistant varsity coach a year ago as well as the junior varsity coach for the past three seasons. In fact, Smith and Scott Conrad, now the athletic director and varsity boys’ basketball coach at Kelseyville, also coached the Upper Lake JVs for a season back in the early 2000s.
The decision to hire Smith as Gudmundson’s replacement was an easy one for Upper Lake. After all, the person doing the hiring was Smith, who had recently been elevated to the position of Upper Lake High’s athletic director.
“I was coming back from an athletic director’s conference when I got a text from Frank telling me he wasn’t going to be able to coach. I thought about hiring a new guy but sometimes a new coach wants to bring in his own staff and put in a new offense or defense. I liked the job Frank had done, I liked the assistant coaches who were already there. I liked the direction the program was headed.
“So I got to hire myself,” Smith added.
“I’m really enjoying this role,” Smith said. Joe (Ogulin) is going to run the defense, Vince (Moran) created the offense we run now. My role is to keep personnel in the right spots and to monitor substitution patterns.”
By substitution patterns, Smith means making sure reserves get a chance to play if the opportunity arises. Mind you, he’s not guaranteeing playing time but he is trying to keep every player in a Cougar uniform alert and ready to go.
“I’ve got kids playing because it’s eight-man, because they get to play some,” Smith said.
The eight-man game is more appealing to many kids today, according to Smith, because of its fast pace on offense on a narrower and shorter field (only 80 yards long). Think of it as a type of Arena Football played outside. Also, the eight-man game is more about speed than brawn, though a big and fast player remains the dream of every coach, Smith included.
“There aren’t as many straight-on collisions, so you’re probably not going to get beat up as much as you would in 11 man,” Smith added. “And with the eight-man game we’re not going to be as helpless with our numbers in those years when we don’t have a big roster.”
The juniors on the 2014 varsity team that won no games and underclassmen on the JV squad that year were the seeds that began the turnaround at the school, according to Smith.
“Our sophomores and juniors bought into what we wanted to accomplish two years ago,” Smith said.
Voluntary summer workouts prior to the 2015 season and again this summer drew good numbers of players.
“Frank (a Marine during the first Gulf War of 1990-91) wanted to make sure it was not just another boot camp. He also wanted to make it fun. You can’t grind ‘em into the ground in the summer,” Smith said.
Upper Lake took the additional step this summer of joining the passing league, which is also attended by Lake County’s NCL I schools – Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Middletown.
“It made us feel like part of the county again,” Smith said of the Cougars, who as an eight-man squad can no longer play their 11-man county neighbors. “The kids loved it.” Last year’s sophomores and juniors, both big contributors to the 2015 squad’s success, are back and eagerly looking for more success this year.
“We want to win the league and we want to win the Redwood Bowl,” Smith said of the season-ending game between the NCL III’s top two finishers. They lost last year’s Redwood Bowl to fellow league champion Anderson Valley, that after beating Anderson Valley during the regular season.
If Upper Lake is going to taste first place again in 2016, a handful of players need to come through in a big way, according to Smith.
Derek Pritchard
“Derek of course,” Smith said of senior quarterback Derek Pritchard, who lit up the opposition in 2015 to the tune of 1,446 passing yards and 21 touchdowns. He completed 100 of 162 passes (62 percent).
“He’s got to maintain what he did last year and stay in the middle (emotionally) … not get too high when things are going well or too low when things are not.”
Dre Santos
As a junior running back in 2015, Dre Santos was one of Pritchard’s favorite targets with 25 catches for 350 yards (third on the team) and five touchdowns as well as the Cougars’ leading rusher with 515 yards and nine TDs.
“He’s got to continue where he left off last season,” Smith said. “You’ll see him at wide receiver and running back, he’s a defensive back, and he returns kicks.”
Jacob Kalawaia
A 6-foot-2 and 200-pound running back and defensive end, senior Jacob Kalawaia has gone through a huge maturation process from a junior year where his production on offense was less than his coaches had hoped for – he carried the ball just 36 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns, and caught only three passes.
While Smith expects Kalawaia to play a bigger role in the offense this season, he said the senior might make his biggest impact as a fast and physical defensive end.
“What he could do potentially as a defensive end … he could be unstoppable,” Smith said. “He could take over games like No. 99 did for Anderson Valley last year against us in the Redwood Bowl. Jacob’s got that ability.”
Sneed/Fecht
Two other players Smith expects key contributions from in 2016 are underclassmen who got their feet wet with the varsity a year ago. Nathan Sneed, a junior wide receiver/running back/cornerback, and Chris Fecht, a sophomore running back/linebacker, figure to play a larger role this season on both offense and defense.
“He is the quickest guy we’ve got on the team,” Smith said of Sneed. “Chris is our Swiss army knife on offense. He’s got running ability and he’s got an arm. He’ll give us a nice change of pace when we take Jacob out.”
Sneed’s also a special teams threat with his punt and kickoff return skills.
Offensive line
The Cougars will be led up front by junior Khalil George, a junior right guard who will anchor the line, according to Smith.
The team also has plenty of depth at center with the likes of seniors Anthony Serrano and Luke Sorenson and junior Jovanny Martinez, all about equal in ability, according to Smith. Sorenson and Martinez could also see action at guard.
Another guard is junior Nick Warner. The team’s tight end – on those occasions it needs a tight end – is junior Sal Sanchez.
“Most of the time we use only three linemen,” Smith said.
Alex Sanchez
Senior Alex Sanchez, a third-down type of back for the Cougars and one of the team’s top linebackers, also serves as one of Upper Lake’s captains – Santos being the other.
“A lot of the problems that come up on the team, he takes care of by talking to the other players,” Smith said. “He’s like a coach among my players.”
League opponents
The toughest part of Upper Lake’s NCL III schedule might be its first two games. The Cougars open at home Sept. 3 against a Rincon Valley Christian team they had to work hard to beat in last year’s opener in Santa Rosa, 36-20, and then hit the road six days later to play a Calistoga team that handed them their only league loss in 2015, and it wasn’t even close as the Wildcats rolled to a 54-16 win at Upper Lake.
“Rincon Valley had a lot of juniors last year, so they have a lot of people back,” Smith said.
Point Arena, who the Cougars barely beat 46-44 on the road a year ago, and co-defending champion Anderson Valley are two others teams Smith said could be trouble even though Anderson Valley graduated most of its starters.
“They have a tradition of really good football,” he said.
