LAKE COUNTY >> It’s one save per game in baseball. In other sports that’s simply not the case.
Lower Lake High School defensive back Marlon Jones pulled Lower Lake’s butt out of the fire not once but twice late in the fourth quarter against Clear Lake on Friday night as the Trojans held on by their fingernails for an 18-13 victory at Gordon Sadler Field.
Jones stopped potential game-winning Clear Lake touchdown drives with just more than two minutes remaining and again with only seconds left by intercepting passes deep in Lower Lake territory. The senior also caught a touchdown pass, one of the Trojans’ three scores in the game. Another big star for Lower Lake, running back Nick Sani, had the other two touchdowns.
While Clear Lake at Lower Lake wasn’t the most important game of Week 8 as far as the North Central League I standings were concerned, it proved to be the most exciting.
Following are some of the highlights and lowlights from Week 8 and everything else in between:
Statistics
Rushing — The aforementioned Nick Sani of Lower Lake rushed for 201 yards on 25 carries. Upper Lake’s Dre Santos was closed behind with 189 yards and four TDs in a non-league win over Los Molinos. Patrick Mick had 90 yards on eight carries, two of them for TDs, in Kelseyville’s rout of St. Vincent. Middletown’s Ty Chorjel rushed for both of Middletown’s touchdowns against Fort Bragg but was limited to 30 yards on 13 carries.
Passing — Middletown’s Luke Holt completed 11 of 21 passes for 121 yards against Fort Bragg. Lower Lake’s Hokulani Wickard went 8-for15 for 92 yards and a TD. Upper Lake’s Ray Moran completed 4 of 8 passes for 43 yards and a touchdown in his varsity debut.
Receiving — Middletown’s Robbie Carey had five catches for 98 yards. Lower Lake’s Marlon Jones had three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Defense
Pick-six times two — Upper Lake’s Dre Santos returned an interception 77 yards for a touchdown and Kelseyville’s Logan Barrick had a 60-yard interception return for a score.
Two interceptions — Kelseyville’s Barrick and Lower Lake’s Jones each picked off a pair of passes to help their teams reach the win column.
Forcing five turnovers … — … were the Lower Lake and Kelseyville defenses.
Sack attack — Kelseyville and Upper Lake each had four sacks. Jacob Kalawaia and Pancho Flores had two sacks apiece for the Cougars against Los Molinos. Kalawaia also recovered a fumble.
Bringing it — Fort Bragg’s defensive line got the best of Middletown’s offensive line at Fort Bragg. The Timberwolves held the Mustangs to a season-low 84 yards of rushing offense.
This and that
Good first impression — Upper Lake sophomore Ray Moran made his first varsity start and did well outside of throwing an interception. Dante Bassignani also saw his first action for the Cougars and played well on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Cougars definitely could have used Bassignani earlier in the season against Rincon Valley Christian and Calistoga.
Six-touchdown club — Upper Lake Dre Santos joins Clear Lake’s Sam Long and Middletown’s Ty Chorjel as a full-fledged member of the 2016 six-touchdown club after scoring 42 of his team’s 44 points in a win over Los Molinos. Santos ran for four touchdowns, caught one and had an interception return for another score. He also rushed for three two-point conversions.
A taunting laugh — Upper Lake’s Dante Bassignani leveled a Los Molinos player with a clean hit and walked away almost immediately only to be flagged for taunting. The offense? According to officials, he laughed. It must have been one hell of a laugh.
NCL I title picture — Fort Bragg clinched a tie for the North Central League I title with its 31-16 victory over Middletown on Friday night, a game pairing two teams with undefeated league records entering play. Fort Bragg (7-0) has a bye this week before finishing up Nov. 4 at Kelseyville. Middletown (5-1) is home Friday to play St. Helena (4-2) before closing it out on the road Nov. 4 at Willits (1-5). If Middletown can win its final two games and if Fort Bragg loses to Kelseyville (4-2) in two weeks, the Mustangs and Timberwolves would share the league title. If Middletown loses to St. Helena on Friday, Fort Bragg clinches the outright championship while three other teams — Middletown, St. Helena and Kelseyville — are likely to be tied for second at 5-2.
Looking at 0-8 — St. Vincent (0-7) closes out its league schedule Saturday at home against Lower Lake (3-3) trying to avoid a winless league campaign.
Lineman scores a touchdown — Kelseyville’s Aaron Teal scored on a 2-yard run to cap his team’s victory over St. Vincent. It was the second TD run of the season for No. 54.
Streaks — Middletown (5-3) had its five-game winning streak snapped. Clear Lake (3-5) has lost four in a row.
Non-fooball notes — It’s the final week of regular-season play for Lake County’s volleyball and boys and girls soccer teams. Critical games in girls soccer today have Middletown at Kelseyville as well as Clear Lake at St. Helena. Kelseyville (12-0) and Clear Lake (11-1) enter the week one-two in the NCL I volleyball standings, each with two matches remaining, including a Thursday showdown in Kelseyville.
Walking Dead season opener — What an emotional roller-coaster ride that turned out to be. It felt like Santiago Casilla was pitching in the ninth inning for the Giants all over again, and with the same outcome (severe head bashing).
Battle of the historic losers — Cubs vs. Indians in the World Series. One team will celebrate like no other. The loser will end up just like Glenn and Abraham in the Walking Dead … or maybe not in as good of shape. Stay tuned, the pressure is building.
