LOWER LAKE >> A touchdown negated by a penalty left the Lower Lake Trojans incredibly frustrated and the Cloverdale Eagles understandably elated as well as on the right side of a 17-14 decision on Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake.
The North Central League I and regular-season finale for both teams went down to the wire. Lower Lake (5-2 league, 7-2 overall) was trailing 17-14 with less than two minutes to play when quarterback Hokulani Wickard’s nine-yard touchdown run was wiped out by a holding infraction that backed the Trojans up. They ran two more plays before a screen pass was intercepted by the Eagles (2-5, 2-6), who proceeded to run out the clock.
“We had some timely penalty calls throughout the game,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said.
Lower Lake pushed ahead 14-10 in the third quarter on a Wickard 17-yard run, but Cloverdale erased that deficit on a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown by BJ Grady with 5:35 left in the game.
Both teams scored in the first quarter. Lower Lake went up 7-0 on Wickard’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Lott, but Cloverdale answered on a 45-yard pass from quarterback James Wirt to wide receiver Christian Chavez. That was all the scoring until the third quarter when the Eagles booted a short field goal to go up 10-7.
A light mist that fell throughout most of the game made the field just wet enough to be a nuisance, according to Gaddy, but both teams were still able to move the ball. In fact, both Wickard and running back Charles Powell rushed for 100 yards in the loss.
“The two drives we scored on we went right down the field,” Gaddy said.
The Trojans had less success in the air as Wickard finished just 6-for-18 for 62 yards with two interceptions. Both he and Clear Lake’s Alex Adams are pursuing the Lake County single-season passing record held by Upper Lake’s Mike Merchen with 1,868 yards in 1990. Adams passed for 141 yards in the Cardinals’ 25-0 home win over St. Helena on Friday and now has 1,824 yards. Wickard has 1,761.
Both Clear Lake and Lower Lake will advance to next weekend’s North Coast Section playoffs as at-large teams, Lower Lake in Division IV and Clear Lake in Division V. The seedings and first-round pairings will be announced Sunday.
