FERNDALE — Outscoring Ferndale 22-0 in the second half, the Clear Lake Cardinals opened the 2019 season with a 28-17 come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats in varsity football action Saturday afternoon at Ferndale.
“I never thought we were going to lose that game, even down 17-6 at halftime,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said. “We were just running around on defense in the first half, but we started to execute fundamentals in the second half, and our offense got into a groove.”
Switching from a man-to-man to zone defense in the second half helped bottle up the Wildcats (0-1), according to Cory.
The turnaround on offense over the final turn quarters had a lot to do with quarterback Darius Ford, who started slowly but ended up going 18-for-35 for 255 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, both of the TD strikes going to receiver Travis Howe. The Cardinals (1-0) also got a big lift from running back A.J. Adams.
“Adams started the game at tackle, but at half we decided to give him a shot and we moved Roman (Uribe) to slot. A.J. brought a little more physicality.”
Adams finished with 41 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns. His first TD came on a 15-yard run in the third quarter, a powerful run on which he shed an initial tackle to break into the clear. Adams also added the conversion run to cut Ferndale’s lead to 17-14.
Adams’ second touchdown run, this one from 6 yards out later in the same quarter, put the Cardinals ahead to stay 22-17 as Ford passed to Ethan Maize for the two-point conversion. Clear Lake picked up an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter on a Ford 9-yard pass to Howe. The same two hooked up for Clear Lake’s first score of the game, that on a 22-yard pass in the second quarter.
Ford spread around his 18 completions to seven different receivers. Rolando Amaya had four catches for 105 yards while Howe had seven receptions for 80 yards.
“Our offensive line did a great job, especially in pass protection,” Cory said. “I think they (Wildcats defense) got to him (Ford) once and he was rolling out on that play into the teeth of their defense.”
Clear Lake’s defense picked off Ferndale’s quarterback three times. Uribe, Howe and Chance Darnal all had interceptions.
Starting out the season with a comeback win was a good sign, according to Cory, who said his team reacted well to adversity in its first test of the season.
“It was a nice day in a lot of ways for our team,” Cory said.
Clear Lake has a bye this coming weekend before returning to action at home Sept. 6 against Pierce.
“Pierce is going to be a very physical team,” Cory said.
