LAKEPORT — Through the first six weeks of the 2019 high school football season, it would be nearly impossible to find fault with the St. Helena Saints’ execution on offense.
St. Helena improved to 2-0 in league play and 5-0 overall Friday night with its second consecutive North Central League I road victory, this time a 47-14 homecoming humbling of the Clear Lake Cardinals at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport.
The preseason favorite of most of the league’s coaches to win the league title or some share of it, the Saints haven’t disappointed. They entered play Friday averaging 47.5 points a game and hit that mark again while rushing for more than 400 yards, led by sophomore running back Ivan Robledo, who broke the school’s single-game rushing record with 284 yards and tied the single-game record for most rushing touchdowns with six.
“He was a handful all night,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “I have some fast kids but he is really fast. No one is going to catch that kid.”
St. Helena used a 28-7 second quarter to open up a 40-7 halftime lead. After the Saints scored again in the third quarter to go up 47-7, a running clock was used the rest of the way.
“That’s just a really, really good football team, the best I’ve played against since I’ve been here,” said Cory, who is in his fourth season as the Cardinals’ head coach. “My hat’s off to them. That’s a team that can go a ways. They do what they do well.”
Both of Clear Lake’s touchdown came the way of the pass. Quarterback Darius Ford connected with running back Treppa Marcks on a 60-yard strike in the second quarter, and Ford hooked up with wide receiver Travis Howe on a 12-yard pass in the fourth quarter.
“We came out and ran the ball well the first couple of times we had it, but St. Helena would score so fast. They had one drive where they went 85 yards in three plays,” Cory said.
Another of St. Helena’s big weapons, senior running back Cody DiTomaso, left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury sustained on one of his carries on the night.
“He was carrying the ball, went down and it didn’t look like much,” Cory said. “He sat there for a few minutes and walked off. When I saw him again he had ice on his shoulder.”
Cory said he wasn’t only impressed with St. Helena’s talented offense, but with the way the Saints conduct themselves on the field.
“Impressive, just a classy group,” he said. “Nobody’s talking. They just play football.”
Marcks finished with 76 yards rushing and 111 receiving for the Cardinals, who had 299 yards in total offense. Howe had three catches for 49 yards.
Clear Lake (0-2 league, 1-4 overall) has another tough assignment next Friday when it travels to Middletown to play the Mustangs (2-0, 3-2).
St. Helena won the junior varsity game 48-20.
