KELSEYVILLE >> When Biggs High School crept to within a score of Kelseyville during a wild third quarter on Friday night, the Knights answered with a 24-0 run to close out the Wolverines 54-22 in non-league varsity football action at Kelseyville High School.
Kelseyville (2-1) watched a 30-8 lead shrink to 30-22 within a span of minutes in the third quarter, but the Knights kept on scoring and the Wolverines (0-2) couldn’t keep pace.
Of the game’s 76 total points, 46 came in the third quarter alone.
“I’m proud of the way they responded when the going got tough,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said of his players. “I’m not proud of the undisciplined play we had that led to too many penalties.”
Three of those penalties wiped out Kelseyville touchdown runs of 75 and 60 yards as well as a touchdown pass.
On a far more positive note, the Kelseyville running game engineered all seven of the team’s scores and 356 yards on the ground.
“Our offensive line took control,” Larsen said. “Our tight end Bryan Carrillo did a great job blocking. He had key blocks on a handful of our big plays.”
Jordi Lopez carried the ball 15 times for 161 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions. He also recovered a fumble and registered a sack on defense. Dylan McAdon added 116 yards and two touchdowns on only four carries, and Robert Chavez finished with 48 yards on six carries and a TD.
“Jordi ran the ball hard and very well,” Larsen said. “All three of my running backs did a good job tonight.”
Kelseyville’s passing game didn’t have nearly that kind of success as Chavez, who started the game behind center, and Alex Garcia, who played the final three quarters there, were a combined 3-for-14 for just 28 yards.
“Our passing game still needs work,” Larsen said. “It’s not where we want it to be and it’s something we need to address.”
The Knights led 22-0 at halftime. Biggs scored all of its points in the third quarter aided by a Kelseyville fumble deep in its own territory.
Chavez spearheaded the Kelseyville defense with 15 tackles and Chase Larsen added 10 tackles. Both are linebackers.
Kelseyville now enters a bye week before returning to action Sept. 14 on the road against St. Helena in the league opener for both teams.
“I really don’t care so much about our record,” Larsen said. “Are we preparing ourselves for league? I love to win, but I want to hit league as hard as we can. We’ve still got our homework to do. We’ve got to clean up some things.”
Kelseyville has a bye before opening league play Sept. 14 at St. Helena.
In other football action Friday:
Lower Lake 29, El Molino 27
At Forestville, the Lower Lake Trojans didn’t let a third-quarter lead slip away this week while holding off the El Molino Lions 29-27 in non-league action.
While many plays made a difference in what turned out to be another close one for the Trojans (1-1) following their season-opening 34-27 loss to Carson a week earlier when they held a 27-6 lead at one point, there were three key plays in the fourth quarter that proved critical.
The first came early in the quarter with Lower Lake holding a 20-14 lead. The Trojans pinned the Lions (1-2) deep in their own territory and forced a punt, but Forrest Fowler blocked the kick out of the back of the end zone for a safety to make it 22-14.
El Molino answered with a touchdown to close to 22-20, but the Lower Lake defense stuffed the two-point conversion run.
The third key play for Lower Lake came on the ensuing kickoff as Samaj Clark returned it 70 yards for a touchdown, Gavin Watson throwing the key block to spring his teammate. Watson then kicked the extra point to make it 29-20.
El Molino scored with 2:58 remaining to close to 29-27, but Lower Lake never gave the Lions another chance. After receiving the kickoff, the Trojans picked up three first downs and ran out the clock.
“(Aries) Brooke had two big runs for us,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said of the junior, who gained nearly all of his team-leading 59 yards in the fourth quarter when they were needed most.
“Our running game had been sputtering all night, so it was good to finally see it open up,” Gaddy said.
Senior quarterback Elijah Hernandez had another big night for the Trojans, passing for 312 yards and a touchdown, that a 35-yard strike to Diego Gonzalez, and rushing for two other TDs as well as a two-point conversion.
Lower Lake led 20-7 at halftime and 20-14 after three quarters.
Cole Doud (six catches for 106 yards), Darian James (six for 105) and Gonzalez (five for 78) were Lower Lake’s top receivers.
Unfortunately the victory came with a rather large price tag attached as starting offensive linemen Alex Castillo and Jacob Billings both went down with injuries. Castillo could return next week but Billings might be done for the season.
“It was a huge win for us and I’m super proud of the kids, but I’m not happy about the injuries,” Gaddy said. “Castillo is a three-year veteran who starts on our offensive and defensive lines.”
Lower Lake celebrates its homecoming Friday night against Novato (0-2).
Pierce 26, Clear Lake 0
At Arbuckle, the Clear Lake Cardinals generated just 74 yards of offense – and none through the air – in a non-league loss to the Pierce Bears (2-0).
“I’m not being a good enough coach to get it going,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “A lot of little things add up to not getting it done. That’s my responsibility.”
Shut out for the second game in a row to start the season, the Cardinals (0-2) were playing without three starters in their offensive backfield. Running backs Rodrigo Lupercio and Treppa Marcks missed the game with injuries while quarterback Chris White was serving a one-game suspension after being ejected in the Cardinals’ 28-0 loss to Colusa a week earlier.
“It’s a little bit of a hard pill to swallow,” Cory said of Clear Lake’s slow start in 2018. “We’re not the kind of team that can make things happen right now. We haven’t been able to put much together offensively.”
While Clear Lake’s defense played at a high level for a second game in row, Cory said the team’s offense simply couldn’t generate much of an attack. The Cardinals were within striking distance of the end zone only once.
“We’d pick up a couple of first downs and then make a mistake,” Cory said.
Pierce chipped away at Clear Lake, scoring a touchdown in each quarter. It was 13-0 at halftime and 20-0 through three quarters.
“They’re very physical, very much a Middletown type of team,” Cory said of the Bears.
Making the start for White at quarterback, Rolando Amaya rushed for a team-best 35 yards on 11 carries. He attempted only one pass, which was incomplete. Preston Jones threw two other passes, one falling incomplete and the other intercepted.
Eddie Medina intercepted a pass for Clear Lake while teammate Tj Marcks recovered a fumble.
The Cardinals hit the road again Friday to play University Prep of Redding.
South Fork 48, Upper Lake 6
At Miranda, the South Fork Cubs built a 24-0 halftime lead and cruised past the Upper Lake Cougars in a non-league eight-man game. The same two teams meet in a North Central League III contest on Sept. 24, also in Miranda.
Upper Lake was originally scheduled to play Potter Valley on Friday but the Bearcats folded their football program last week, leaving the Cougars with no game. However, South Fork (2-0) had a bye scheduled and instead accepted Upper Lake’s offer to play a non-league game.
The Cougars (0-2) moved the ball inside South Fork’s 20-yard line on each of their first two offensive possessions but ending up turning the ball over on downs. The Cubs then scored the game’s first points on a 70-yard touchdown pass and went up to stay at 8-0.
“They were predominantly a run team,” Upper Lake coach Vince Moran said of the Cubs.“They ran up and down the field on us.”
Upper Lake’s lone touchdown was a 26-yard pass from quarterback Ray Moran to running back Hank Nevarez in the third quarter. Nevarez, who missed the Cougars’ season opener a week earlier for family reasons, led the team with 40 yards rushing and 69 yards receiving on seven catches.
“Hank played a good game,” Moran said.
Armando Santos caught three passes for 48 yards, including a 45-yarder.
Upper Lake’s inexperienced offensive line – two freshmen and a sophomore – lost sophomore Lukas Kalawaia to a knee injury.
“Our young line had a tough night,” Moran said.
The Upper Lake defense did force two turnovers as both Junior Fernandez and Ryan Grivette recovered fumbles. Desmond Mueller also had a sack.
The Cougars return home Friday to play Calistoga.
