WILLITS — Playing their third overtime game in league play, the Willits Wolverines beat the previously undefeated Clear Lake Cardinals 15-14 on Friday night in Willits, a victory that leaves the North Central League I standings in a jumbled mess entering the final week of the regular season.
While Clear Lake (5-1 league, 8-1 overall) was still able to clinch a share of the North Central League I title thanks to Middletown’s 14-6 loss to Kelseyville, the question is how many teams will the Cardinals have to share that championship with?
Going into next week’s league finale at Cloverdale, Clear Lake owns a one-game lead over Kelseyville, Middletown, Willits and Cloverdale — all of them tied at 4-2. If Clear Lake beats Cloverdale, the Cardinals are the outright champions. If they lose, the league will end in at least a two-way tie but could also finish in a three-, four- or even five-way tie depending on how next week’s round of games go — Lower Lake (0-6) visits Kelseyville, Willits travels to Fort Bragg (1-5), and Middletown hosts St. Helena (2-4).
All eyes will be on the scoreboard next week in Cloverdale, that’s for sure.
“We didn’t make the plays when we needed to make them,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said of several missed opportunities against the Wolverines. “My kids played their butts off, we just didn’t get the plays we needed. It had more to do with us than them.”
Tied 7-7 at the end of regulation, Willits won the coin flip and let Clear Lake’s offense go first in the overtime. The Cardinals started at the Willits 25-yard line and drove to the 4 where quarterback Jake Soderquist and tight end Cody Hayes connected for the touchdown. Jesse Hayes came on to kick the extra point for a 14-7 lead.
Willits’ overtime possession came down to a fourth-and-goal play from the half-yard line. A quarterback sneak for the touchdown was followed by a Jadyn Arnold two-point conversion run for the winning points.
In its two previous overtime games, both on the road, the Wolverines fell 15-14 to Middletown (losing on a two-point conversion run) and 36-29 in double-overtime to Cloverdale.
“I thought about going for two after we scored,” Cory said. “But I let Jesse kick the extra point and left it up to our defense.”
Willits took a 7-0 lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Clear Lake tied it at 7-7 on a Hank Ollenberger 2-yard run in the third quarter, a touchdown set up by a blocked punt.
Both teams had other chances in regulation to score, none better than the Cardinals’ first-and-goal from the Willits 1-yard line in the second quarter. Ollenberger and Soderquist were each dropped for 2-yard losses before consecutive incomplete passes gave the Wolverines the ball back on downs.
In the third quarter, Clear Lake drove inside the Willits red zone where the Cardinals dropped a fourth-down pass at the Willits 5.
Clear Lake was on the move again late in the fourth quarter but a desperation pass in the final seconds resulted in an interception, one of three thrown by Soderquist. He finished the night 12-for-27 for 248 yards. Jesse Hayes caught four passes for 108 yards and Cody Hayes four more for 63 yards, including the overtime touchdown.
“We battled down to the end,” Cory said.
Looking ahead to next week’s game against Cloverdale, Cory said, “It’s going to be a good one. Unfortunately tonight it didn’t go our way. We’ve got to show up next week and let this one go.”
Willits also won the junior varsity game 20-14.
— Mike Hansen contributed to this report.
