The varsity football Eagles weathered arguably their toughest defeat of the 2016 campaign in an Oct. 28 visit to Clear Lake, falling to the Cardinals in an overtime heartbreaker, 12-6.
The game, contested on a rain-soaked field, deteriorated into a muddy quagmire shortly after the opening kickoff and went downhill from there, forcing both teams to wage a gritty trench battle much of the night. The game featured a combined total of just seven passes.
In the end, Clear Lake broke a 6-6 deadlock with a five yard touchdown run in overtime to pull out the victory.
“The guys played hard all night, we just made some mistakes that cost us the game,” CHS Chad Talley said. “We’re putting in the work this week to hopefully send our seniors out on a winning note.”
The Eagles (2-5, 2-7) will try to do just that when they play host to Lower Lake in the season finale at Allen Field this Friday, Nov. 4 on Senior Night. Kickoff times for the JV and varsity are 5 and 7:30 p.m.
The Trojans (4-3, 5-4) are currently riding a three-game win streak, including a 44-22 win over St. Vincent on Saturday to stay in the hunt for a North Coast Section playoff berth. They will no doubt represent a tough opponent for Cloverdale this week.
“Lower Lake is a lot like us offensively, using similar formations,” Talley noted. “They like to run the ball up the sidelines and throw ‘out’ passes to their receivers.”
Eagles grounded in overtime
Cloverdale entered the Oct. 28 meeting at Clear Lake relatively fresh following a bye week, going to a bruising ground game led by senior running back Tristen Rege. Both teams sputtered on offense in a defensive first half, going to the locker room knotted in a scoreless tie.
The Eagles drew first blood early in the third quarter when Rege broke loose for an electrifying 90-yard touchdown run. The PAT was no good and Cloverdale led 6-0 at the end of three.
The Cardinals answered on their opening possession of the fourth quarter, finding pay dirt on a 35-yard reverse to knot the contest and eventually send it into overtime knotted at 6-6.
As overtime rules dictate, each team would get a possession on their opponent’s 10 yard line. Clear Lake got the ball first, scoring on a five-yard run on third down to grab a 12-6 lead.
The Eagles’ bid to tie the game ended moments later when a fumbled exchange at the Cardinal’s 10-yard line was recovered by the defense to seal a 12-6 Clear Lake victory.
Rege finished up a strong night to lead the Cloverdale offense with 120 rushing yards and one touchdown. Other offensive standouts included all-purpose backs BJ Grady and Shane Scalese, who combined for 60 yards on the ground.
Defensive leaders included linebackers Scalese, Chaz Mrkvicka and Drew Edens, along with an outstanding effort from lineman Ray Sayago.
