LAKE COUNTY >> For at least one night during a remarkable 2019 season for Lower Lake High School quarterback Vann Wilkins, the spotlight fell on another as the Lower Lake Trojans knocked off the Clear Lake Cardinals 47-27 in a physical North Central League I varsity football battle at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake.
With the start of the 2020-21 season delayed until mid-December because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lake County Record-Bee is taking a look back at the players and the teams who were making headlines during the 2019-20 season.
Football
With Lower Lake’s high-powered passing offense on something of a roll, led by Wilkins and a host of talented wide receivers such as Semaj Clark, Gavin Watson and Makhi Johnson and Lorenzo Zuniga, it was the Trojans’ running game and senior running back Aries Brooke who dominated on this night as the Trojans rolled to a big homecoming victory, Lower Lake’s fifth straight win overall.
Brooke, a steady performer for the Trojans all season, turned in a career performance with 252 rushing yards on only 14 carries, including touchdown runs of 4, 33, 51 and 76 yards. Wilkins, who would go on break the county’s single-season passing yardage record, had a quiet night by his lofty standards, passing for 185 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Clark and another to Watson. Clark finished with eight catches for 89 yards while Wilkins also rushed for 98 yards.
It was a costly outing for both teams. Clear Lake lost All-League running back Treppa Marcks to a shoulder injury and teammate Rolando Amaya to a concussion. Lower Lake lineman Julio Ruiz left the game with an ankle injury while fellow lineman Jose Garcia was ejected, his second ejection of the season, which made him ineligible for the remainder of the 2019 campaign.
Lower Lake would go on to finish 5-2 in league and 7-4 overall.
