UPPER LAKE — A team can survive an interception return for a touchdown, also known in the football world as a “pick six,” but not three of them.
And the Upper Lake Cougars achieved that dubious distinction Saturday night while throwing five interceptions in all in a 34-14 homecoming loss to the Williams Yellowjackets in non-league 11-man varsity football action at Upper Lake High School.
In the span of just a few minutes the Cougars (2-2) went from being thoroughly engaged with the Yellowjackets (3-2) to thoroughly out of it. In fact, Upper Lake had an 8-0 lead just a few minutes into the game as Williams lost fumbles on each of its first four possessions and had five lost fumbles for the game, one that featured 11 turnovers in all.
“I don’t think we were playing over our heads against these guys,” Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said of his eight-man team stepping up to to play an 11-man team for the second game in a row. “Williams was turning over the ball and we were moving it, but then we had the turnovers and it kind of flipped the script.”
The difference was the damage those turnovers did on the scoreboard. Williams scored 22 points as a result, Upper Lake only six.
A Williams fumble on its first drive was recovered by Upper Lake’s Kyle Grandi and the Cougars needed only five plays to reach the end zone from 45 yards away, a 28-yard pass from quarterback Cody Banks to wide receiver Elijah Alvarez accounting for the biggest chunk of yardage. A 5-yard Grandi run set up a Banks 6-yard keeper for the score. Bradley Sneathen punched in the conversion run for a 8-0 lead.
The Cougars were on the move again minutes later as Banks recovered a fumble to end Williams’ second possession. Again taking over at the Williams 45, Upper Lake moved the ball down the 27 and converted a fourth-and-two on a Sneathen 2-yard run.
And then disaster struck. Rolling out on first down, Banks was under intense pressure and about to be sacked, but he released a wobbly pass as he was falling to the ground, and the only person near it was Williams middle linebacker Jose Campos, who had a clear path to the end zone 72 yards away.
“He would have been better off taking the sack,” Moran said. “It was only first down.”
Even with that touchdown, Williams continued its fumble fest on each of its next two possessions, but the Cougars couldn’t take advantage, turning the ball over on downs once when a fourth-and-two run fell short and punting on another occasion.
It remained 8-6 in the Cougars favor until the final two minutes of the half when Williams, starting at its own 36 following an Upper Lake punt, moved the ball down the field with a mix of runs and passes, plus a roughing-the-passer penalty, to reach the Upper Lake 4 with 34.3 seconds left and no timeouts remaining. The Yellowjackets went ahead on the next play as quarterback Omar Lomeli hit tight end Jaime Campos on a slant pattern over the middle for the touchdown, Lomeli adding the conversion run for a 14-8 lead.
And that’s where things should have remained with only 34.1 seconds left in the half. They didn’t.
Upper Lake took over at its own 32 with 26.6 seconds left following the Williams kickoff. On first down Banks threw another ill-advised pass, this time into triple coverage with no Upper Lake receiver nearby, and it was picked off by cornerback Greg Gonzalez and returned 45 yards for a touchdown and a 20-8 Williams lead.
It was like a punch to the gut for the Cougars, who never recovered, according to Moran.
“It went off the rails with that,” Moran said of his team’s solid first half up to that point.
And it was about to get even worse.
Upper Lake made a quarterback change at halftime, bringing in promising freshman Jerod Rosales, who has a strong arm and nerves of steel as he would later prove under a relentless Williams pass rush. Unfortunately Rosales’ first pass of the night, coming on the first play of the second half, turned into another pick six for the Yellowjackets as it was deflected at the line of scrimmage into the arms of defensive end Oscar Mendoza, who weaved his way into the end zone from 29 yards out. Lomeli’s conversion run had the Williams squad up 20 points just like that — 28-8 — deflating whatever homecoming spirit was still in the air on a pleasant fall evening on the Northshore.
From that point on, Williams’ defense disregarded Upper Lake’s running game and simply teed off on the quarterback every chance it could get.
And Rosales didn’t flinch, hanging tough in the pocket and completing 11 of 22 passes for 105 yards. He just missed a touchdown at one point, delivering the ball a bit early because of the intense pass rush.
“And he’s the quietest kid on the team, never says a word,” Moran said.
Both Rosales and Banks would throw one more interception in the game, but neither produced any points for the Yellowjackets.
Moran said the move to Rosales isn’t necessarily a permanent one as the Cougars have been playing with the combination of Rosales at quarterback and Banks at wingback throughout the season.
“Cody can run and catch and he gives us another weapon when he’s out there,” Moran said.
And Rosales, freshman or not, has a strong arm that can deliver some bullets.
“He’ll get more playing time, but I’m not sure if it will be a regular thing,” Moran said of Rosales’ move behind center.
After the pick-six score to open the second half, the Yellowjackets got the ball back on a punt and wasted no time adding to their lead as a 45-yard pass from Lomeli to running back Jayr Ramirez put the game out of reach at 34-8.
The Yellowjackets were content to keep the ball on the ground and use up game clock after that.
Upper Lake picked up a cosmetic score with 9.2 seconds left in the game as Sneathen scored on a 2-yard run, capping a 66-yard drive that featured Rosales completing all three of his passes — all to Grandi — for 53 yards.
After facing 11-man teams Williams and Maxwell in their last two games, the Cougars move back to 8-man football for the start of their North Central League II schedule, which opens this Friday at home against Potter Valley. After that Upper Lake hosts Round Valley on Oct. 15 before hitting the road for its final two games against Anderson Valley (Oct. 22) and South Fork (Nov. 5).
Game notes: South Fork finished with 206 yards of offense to Upper Lake’s 146, of which the Cougars had only nine rushing yards … Grandi had two fumble recoveries and also had four catches for 46 yards … Williams had five different players intercept passes … Upper Lake also lost a fumble on the final play of the first half … Sneathen, the Cougars’ leading rusher with 20 yards, was named homecoming king at halftime. Zoey Petrie was named homecoming queen.
