UPPER LAKE >> Playing one of their most complete games of the season, the Upper Lake Cougars rode the arm and legs of quarterback Ray Moran to a 50-8 victory over the Anderson Valley Panthers in North Central League III North football action on Friday night in Upper Lake.
The Cougars improved to 3-0 in the North standings and 5-1 overall. If South Fork (2-0) beats Roseland Prep on Saturday, it will set up a showdown of undefeated North teams next Friday when South Fork visits Upper Lake.
“We were clicking pretty good,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of an offense that rolled up 419 yards and a defense that forced two turnovers and sacked the Anderson Valley quarterback eight times, including three sacks each from Dante Bassignani and Kahlil George.
Upper Lake’s special teams also played a big part in the victory, according to Smith.
“(Chris) Fecht came in a like a missile on the opening kickoff and blew his guy up, which set the tone for the game,” Smith said.
After Upper Lake scored on a Jacob Kalawaia 1-yard run for the first points of the game – Kalawaia also added the conversion run to make it 8-0 – the ensuing kickoff featured another big hit by coverage man Hank Nevarez.
“We just dominated after that,” Smith said. “Coach (Alex) Stabiner has got these guys flying to the ball. Our special teams struggled earlier in the season but they are playing amazing right now.”
Upper Lake would go on to score 30 points in the first quarter and 44 in the first half.
Moran’s 11-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw was followed by Moran TD passes of 25 yards to Eddie Crandell and 32 yards to Nevarez.
The Moran-to-Crandell connection struck again in the second quarter, this time on a 30-yard pass, as Upper Lake pushed it lead to 38-0. Moran’s 12-yard TD run a few minutes later made it 44-0.
Junior Fernandez added an insurance touchdown in the third quarter on a 1-yard run for a 50-0 Upper Lake lead.
Anderson Valley finally got onto the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
Moran had the biggest night of all the Cougars with 166 passing yards and three touchdowns and 51 rushing yards and two more scores.
“He’s our hammer winner this week,” Smith said. “That’s a done deal.”
Crandell finished with four catches for 125 yards. Kalawaia and Bassignani were the Cougars’ leading rushers with 62 and 61 yards, respectively.
