LOWER LAKE — Clear Lake stayed close for a half, but the Lower Lake Trojans pulled away during the final two quarters for a 47-27 homecoming victory over the Cardinals on Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field.
It was the fifth straight victory for the red-hot and offensively capable Trojans (5-1 league, 7-2 overall), who crept within a half-game of the idle Middletown Mustangs (5-0, 6-2) atop the North Central League I varsity football standings. Middletown’s home game Friday with Fort Bragg was postponed because of the unhealthy air quality created by the Kincade Fire burning in the vicinity of the Sonoma County-Lake County line. Middletown will play Fort Bragg on Monday afternoon in Middletown if the air quality permits, if not the game will be moved to Fort Bragg on Monday night.
The victory did not come without significant cost for the Trojans, who lost offensive lineman/linebacker Jose Garcia to a fourth-quarter ejection, his second ejection this year, which means his season is done. They also lost starting offensive lineman Julio Ruiz to an ankle injury that could end his year.
“Garcia is a huge loss because he starts both ways for us,” Jakubowski said of the junior. “He’s one of our strongest kids and one of our most physical kids. Now I have to go into my final league game against St. Helena (4-2, 7-2) without one of my best linemen. Ruiz is a senior and has been a solid guy all year. He’s a big loss, but he starts only one way.”
Lower Lake hosts St. Helena next Friday in the league and regular-season finale for both teams.
Clear Lake (2-4, 3-6) also lost two key players, running back Treppa Marcks (shoulder) and receiver Rolando Amaya (concussion). The Cardinals did a good job keeping the game close for a half as they trailed 13-7, 20-14 and 26-19. That’s when the Trojans began to gain some separation as a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Vann Wilkins to wide receiver Gavin Watson made it 33-19 right before halftime.
Lower Lake lengthened its lead to 47-19 in the second half on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Wilkins to Semaj Clark in the third quarter and a 33-yard Aries Brooke run in the fourth quarter, capping a big night by the senior who had the best game of his career.
“Aries made a lot of guys miss,” Jakubowski said of Brooke’s 252 rushing yards on a modest 14 carries with four touchdowns. “He didn’t carry the ball that much, but he ate up a lot of ground.”
Brooke also scored on runs of 51 yards in the first quarter and 4 and 76 yards in the second quarter.
“He broke some big ones … 51, 76, 34 and 33 yards,” Jakubowski said.
Wilkins had a modest night considering some of the eye-popping stats he’s posted for the Trojans this year. The junior completed 15 of 26 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns, two of those TDs going to Clark (eight catches for 89 yards) and the other to Watson (four catches for 71 yards).
“We struggled a little bit with the passing game in the first half, but we did a pretty good job establishing the running game with Brooke,” Jakubowski said.
Jakubowski gave high marks to the play of his defense in the second half as the Trojans allowed only one score over the final two quarters, that coming with 3:27 left in the game.
“We did what we were supposed to do and shut them down,” Jakubowski said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t expecting. Two of their three touchdowns (during a 19-point second quarter) were set up by a big kickoff return and a long pass where we blew the coverage.”
Clear Lake scoring and statistics were not available.
The Cardinals return home next Friday to play Kelseyville in the annual Bass Bowl game that closes out the regular season for both teams.
