LAKE COUNTY — Clear Lake won back-to-back Bass Bowl games in 2011 and 2012 to open up a 2-1 series lead in the rivalry game between the Cardinals and their archrivals, the Kelseyville Knights.
That was a long time ago. The series now stands at 7-2 in Kelseyville’s favor and meeting No. 10 — Bass Bowl X if you will — takes place Friday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport where the host Cardinals get another crack at ending some pretty serious domination by the Knights in the last six meetings.
While Clear Lake-Kelseyville always has been a big rivalry in football, and every other sport for that matter, the contest between the two schools took on the Bass Bowl moniker in 2010, named after the large wooden bass trophy awarded to the winners.
Both of Clear Lake’s wins came in Lakeport, which has hosted six of the previous nine games. The Cardinals are 2-4 at home and 0-3 on the road.
Kelseyville has outscored Clear Lake 264-136 in the first nine games combined, only two of which have been decided by less than a touchdown — 11-8 in Kelseyville’s favor in 2014 and 7-3 in Clear Lake’s favor in 2011.
A Civil War-era cannon used to fire after a score by either team, a practice that was discontinued a few years ago because those living close to the Clear Lake and Kelseyville football fields complained about the excessive noise.
While the Bass Bowl is a big game for the two schools involved, a game of much more importance in regard to the North Central League I race and the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs will be taking place at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake where the red-hot Trojans, winners of five in a row, draw the powerful St. Helena Saints.
Middletown’s scheduled game at Cloverdale has been postponed until Nov. 8 because of the PG&E power shut-off and the Kincade Fire. The game was rescheduled when the North Coast Section announced Wednesday it was pushing back the start of the playoffs a week to accommodate those teams affected by the Kincade Fire and PG&E power shut-off.
Also Friday, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves play at Willits — the Mendocino County version of the Bass Bowl.
Kelseyville at Clear Lake
If the Knights are going to hoist the Bass Bowl trophy for the seventh year in a row, they’ll have to do it without two-way starter Chase Larsen (linebacker and tight end), who is out with a foot injury.
Head coach Erick Larsen, Chase’s dad, said his son has played well on offense and defense this season and is the team’s leading receiver.
“He’s been great for us on both sides of the line of scrimmage, so that’s a huge blow,” Larsen said.
In his fifth season with the Knights (1-5 league, 2-7 overall), Larsen is undefeated (4-0) in the Bass Bowl.
“Sometimes the ball just bounces your way,” Larsen said. “But when you play Clear Lake, you can throw everything out of the window. Records don’t matter. Both teams are going to play hard.”
Win or lose, the Knights’ disappointing season will be over when the game ends while Clear Lake (2-4, 3-6) will be advancing to the North Coast Section Division 7 playoffs as an at-large team because of its .500 record against Division 7 teams this season, including a non-league win over Ferndale, which is 7-2 overall and 5-0 in the Humboldt-Del Norte Little 4 standings.
“We would love to end our season with a win against them,” Larsen said. “It’s always a fun game.”
The Knights will look to wear down Clear Lake’s defense with a running attack led by Robert Chavez, Dylan McAdon and Brandon Garcia.
“We feel like we have a good running attack and with Brandon Garcia back at 100 percent (following an injury), that gives us three backs we can rotate in there,” Larsen said.
“And we expect them (Cardinals) to throw the ball and throw it a lot because of the problems we’ve had in our secondary,” Larsen added.
Clear Lake is unlikely to have junior running back/defensive end Treppa Marcks on the field although Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said Marcks will suit up. He left last week’s 47-27 loss at Lower Lake with a shoulder injury while teammate Rolando Amaya also was knocked out of the game with what appeared to be a concussion, according to Cory.
“It wasn’t a concussion. I’m really not sure what it was,” he said. “But the doctor cleared him to play and he’ll be playing.”
Cory, who is coaching the Cardinals in the Bass Bowl for a fourth straight season and looking for his first win, said Clear Lake needs to worry about its own game and nothing else.
“It’s a great rivalry, awesome for football,” he said. “I think it’s good for the game to have games like this, but from our standpoint it’s more about us than it is about them. We need to do what we do. If we do, we’ll have success.”
While attacking a Kelseyville secondary that has struggled mightily this season sounds like a good idea, Cory said the Cardinals have played their best this season when they’re mixing up their runs and passes.
“If we go to an extreme one way or the other, that hasn’t worked to our favor,” Cory said. “We threw the ball 46 times in one game earlier this season and didn’t have that much success.”
Looking at the year both schools have had to this point, Cory said, “Both teams are not where they wanted to be, but when you start the game (Friday) that doesn’t really matter. The kids don’t care. They just want to go out there and win.”
Clear Lake also will be honoring its seniors during the final home game of the regular season.
St. Helena at Lower Lake
The Lower Lake Trojans (5-1, 7-2) need a win over St. Helena (4-2, 7-2) to secure no worse than a second-place finish in the league standings and possibly a co-championship if Middletown (5-0, 6-2) stumbles in its final game Nov. 8 at Cloverdale. A loss eliminates them from title contention.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” Lower Lake coach Jeremy Jakubowski said. “They make big play after big play. Their running backs are fast and getting some space.”
Limiting the number of big plays by the Saints is key, according to Jakubowski, who said the Trojans’ defense did a good job of doing exactly that in their two toughest league games to date, a 42-19 loss to Middletown and a 33-26 win over Willits (4-2, 6-3).
“I feel like we did a decent job against those two teams, who are comparable to St. Helena,” Jakubowski said.
“If we can score first and make them play catch up, it puts us in a good situation. They don’t throw the ball well,” Jakubowski said of the Saints’ run-dominated offense.
Lower Lake’s powerful passing attack has added a run element — senior Aries Brooke — as the 2019 season has progressed and Jakubowski said the loss of two linemen in a win over Clear Lake last week — Julio Ruiz was injured and Jose Garcia was ejected — leaves the line a bit vulnerable in the run-blocking department.
“We get the ball out fast (when passing), but we’ve finally got the run game going and now we don’t have two or our linemen,” Jakubowski said. “It’s a huge loss.”
St. Helena’s defense, which has been vulnerable to the run and pass this season, will have its hands full against the Trojans’ dynamic aerial game led by quarterback Vann Wilkins and a host of receivers, including senior Semaj Clark, his favorite target.
“We’re a matchup problem for them,” Jakubowski said.
Both teams are headed to the postseason win or lose — Lower Lake to the Division 6 playoffs and St. Helena to Division 7. A victory could help both teams when they are seeded.
“We’re hoping to get a first-round home game,” Jakubowski said.
