PETALUMA >> Once the Clear Lake Cardinals found their traction on St. Vincent’s artificial turf, the issue was never in doubt.
Come to think of it, the issue was never in doubt in the first quarter when a lethargic Clear Lake club was stopping itself with penalties and dropped passes. Once the Cardinals cut out both things, they rolled to a 48-0 victory in a North Central League I varsity football game at Petaluma, the second Saturday game in three weeks for coach Mark Cory’s club, now a winner of three straight.
“We were a little sluggish coming off the bus,” Cory said. “We weren’t as on it as much as we wanted to be. When we do things right, we make plays.”
And that was the difference between a first quarter when Clear Lake (2-0 league, 3-1 overall) didn’t score its first points until 2:33 left in the period and a second quarter when the Cardinals scored at will against a St. Vincent squad that was helpless to stop them.
Bobby Gonzalez scored on a 1-yard run late in the first quarter for the only points the Cardinals would need to beat St. Vincent (0-2, 1-3), a team that has been shut out two weeks in a row in league competition.
“We started catching the ball,” Cory said of the second quarter. “Before that, everyone was trying to make the big play.”
From St. Vincent’s standpoint, the second quarter was a blur of Clear Lake jerseys streaking up and down the field on both offense and defense. A partially blocked St. Vincent punt set up the Cardinals’ first touchdown of the period, a 13-yard pass from quarterback Alex Adams to Gonzalez that capped a nine-play, 44-yard drive, all but five yards of which came through the air.
St. Vincent fumbled the ball away two plays into its next drive as the Cardinals took over at the Mustangs’ 28-yard line. Three straight completed passes, the final one an 8-yarder from Adams to Rodgrigo Lupercio, made it 21-0 as Erik Valadez added the extra-point kick.
Twenty-four seconds later it was 28-0 as defensive back Austin Davis picked off a St. Vincent pass on first down and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.
Clear Lake forced a three-and-out on St. Vincent’s next possession and took over following a punt at its own 45. The Cardinals needed only two plays – a 12-yard pass to Adams and a 43-yard scoring strike to Lupercio – to go up 35-0.
And if the Mustangs weren’t dizzy enough by that point, the whirlwind scoring spree continued on St. Vincent’s next play from scrimmage as Davis intercepted another pass, returning this one 18 yards for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead.
With half of the game remaining, it was all over. The second half was played with a running clock and with Clear Lake reserves on the field and getting all the playing time they could ever want. Justin Cantrell, a lineman, scored the game’s final points on a 1-yard run with 1:23 left. In fact, Cantrell ended up being one of the Cardinals’ top rushers with 42 yards on eight carries.
“The second group of guys played well, I’m real pleased with that,” Cory said. “That wasn’t the case when we played Harbor two weeks ago.”
One thing both the Clear Lake starters and reserves had in common was holding onto the football, something that wasn’t lost on Cory.
“That’s the second game in row we haven’t turned it over,” he said. “When we do that we’re capable of some very good things.”
Clear Lake amassed nearly 400 yards of total offense. Adams completed 13 of 19 passes for 182 yards while Davis had five catches for 91 yards. Adams spread around his completions to six different receivers.
Lupercio had a productive day as well with a team-leading 46 rushing yards and another 51 receiving yards, including the two TDs.
Clear Lake can maintain its first-place standing in the NCL I with a victory at home Friday against Willits.
