UPPER LAKE — Unable to generate a running attack, the Upper Lake Cougars fell 13-0 to the Calistoga Wildcats on Friday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section eight-man football playoffs at Upper Lake High School.
Upper Lake (5-5) beat Calistoga 38-12 a little more than a month ago in Upper Lake during a North Central League II game, but the Cougars never came close to finding the end zone on Friday night.
“Not really,” Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said. “We weren’t able to get our running game going at all. In the first game we were able to wear them down with our running game and break it open with some big plays in the second half. They (Wildcats) did a really good up front against our line.”
Special teams play in the first two quarters set up both of Calistoga’s touchdowns, giving the Wildcats a short field to work with each time.
Upper Lake went three-and-out on its first possession of the game and punted the ball. Calistoga returned the punt to the Cougars 20-yard line before scoring on a run a few plays later for a 6-0 lead.
The Wildcats blocked an Upper Lake punt deep in Cougars territory in the second quarter to set up their next score, which came on a pass.
Calistoga (5-4-1) suffered a major blow in the second half when its chief offensive weapon, quarterback Edgar Caldera, sustained a knee injury while blocking on an Upper Lake punt return. He had to leave the field in an ambulance, according to Moran.
“They stepped it up more in his absence,” Moran said of the Wildcats. “We just couldn’t get anything going against them.”
Upper Lake was without one of its top weapons, running back Benjamin Beecher, who missed the game because of illness. The Cougars did welcome back Joey Franklin, who was sidelined early in the year with an injury. Though limited in what he could do, he was was able to play.
“It was nice having him back,” Moran said.
Upper Lake had only 135 yards of offense, more than half of that through the air as quarterback Jerod Rosales went 7-for-15 for 79 yards.
Leading the Cougars on defense were Jonathan Barnes with 17 tackles and Daylin Hamby with 12 tackles.
It was Upper Lake’s final game as an eight-man football team. The Cougars move up into the 11-man North Central League I next season, joining Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Middletown, Lower Lake, Cloverdale, St. Helena, Willits and Fort Bragg.
