LAKEPORT >> Clear Lake High School’s football program, just three years removed from being given its last rights, is flourishing once again under head coach Mark Cory, who is gearing up for a third season at the helm of the Cardinals.
After taking over a program that had trouble finding players and keeping them on the sidelines, Clear Lake found the answer to its problems, none other than Cory, a longtime assistant with a successful Eureka High School program. The Cardinals bounced back quickly under his leadership, going 5-6 in his rookie season of 2016, including a 4-4 mark in the tough North Central League I, and a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs.
Cory’s 2017 club posted winning records all the way around, going 5-2 in the NCL I and 7-4 overall. Clear Lake made it as far as the North Coast Section semifinals, losing a wild 60-44 shootout to eventual champion St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo. Starting quarterback Alex Adams capped a record-breaking season by throwing for 2,196 yards, most ever in a single season by a Lake County player.
Adams has since graduated along with a handful of his teammates, but that doesn’t mean the Cardinals won’t find success again in 2018, there will just be some new players leading the way as well as a few familiar faces such as All-League first-team running back Rodrigo Lupercio.
Many of the new faces along with the veterans were present Monday evening during an open field workout at the high school where Cory and his assistants spent an hour putting the players through a series of drills. The Cardinals hold the open field workouts four days a week until July when passing league starts. Passing league, which takes place on Monday nights and rotates around the county, will lead up to the first official day of practice on July 30.
The first weekend games can be played is Aug. 17-18 although some teams won’t start until the weekend of Aug. 24-25. Clear Lake’s first game is Aug. 24 at home against Colusa.
