CLOVERDALE — The Clear Lake Cardinals moved out of the North Central League I basement that they shared with three other teams entering play Friday night, beating the Cloverdale Eagles 28-15 at Daly Field in Cloverdale.
Clear Lake, Cloverdale, Kelseyville and Fort Bragg all began the night at 1-3 in varsity football play. The Cardinals move to 2-3 in league and 3-5 overall and now own a two-game winning streak that began with last week’s 36-14 home win over Fort Bragg.
“We weren’t real sharp but we did the little things well tonight,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said. “We played tough tonight. The defense really played well and we made some strides there.”
The Cardinals also broke through on another front, scoring their first night win of the season after coming up short in their first five tries. Junior running back Treppa Marcks figured prominently in Clear Lake’s final two scores, both long drives where he carried the ball a number of times.
“He had a really nice night,” Cory said of Marcks, who finished with 140 rushing yards on 20 carries, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Marcks’ 7-yard touchdown run in the third quarter erased a 15-14 Cloverdale lead, and his 12-yard scoring run, followed by his own conversion run, boosted Clear Lake’s lead to 28-15 with two minutes left in the game.
Each of those Clear Lake scoring drives covered some real estate — 60 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and 80 yards on the fourth-quarter back-breaker.
“And it was mostly Marcks on both,” Cory said.
Clear Lake’s first 14 points, all coming in the second quarter, came on Darius Ford touchdown passes of 80 yards to Travis Howe and 20 yards to Rolando Amaya. They gave the Cardinals a 14-8 halftime lead.
Howe finished with three catches for 86 yards and also intercepted a pass. Besides his big night running the ball, Marcks anchored the defense with two sacks.
Clear Lake runs into a passing juggernaut next Friday when it visits Lower Lake (4-1, 6-2).
Cloverdale won the junior varsity game 20-16.
