Exciting comeback comes in NCL 1 opener
The varsity football Eagles sent a strong message to all league opposition in the NCL 1 opener on Friday against perennial power Fort Bragg — we’re for real.
In a game that could have gone either way, Cloverdale erased a 19-16 deficit with a late touchdown to pull out a 24-19 win, their first of the league campaign and third overall in four season outings.
“I was proud of how resilient our team was and when we got down late there was no panic,” Eagle’s head coach Greg Alexander said. “Our guys played their tails off and I couldn’t have a better group of kids that work hard and earn it everyday.”
Cloverdale (1-0, 3-1) will resume league action this Friday, Sept. 21 when they visit Willits in a 7 p.m. varsity kickoff.
The Wolverines (0-1, 0-4) remain in search of their first season win after dropping a 32-13 decision to Clear Lake on Friday, but rest assured the Eagles will not take them lightly.
“Willits is a tough, hard-nosed team and we need to handle ourselves mentally and treat this as a business trip,” Alexander noted. “Our goal is to play at our level and eliminate the mistakes. We need to work the process, let the results come and not play outside of ourselves. Our focus is to simply just do our job with full focus each snap,” he added.
Cloverdale in win column
The Eagles were expecting a dog-fight on Friday against visiting Fort Bragg and that’s exactly what they got. The Timberwolves controlled the ball for most of the first quarter, but a touchdown pass from quarterback Shayne Turner to Cesar Buenrostro had Cloverdale trailing 7-6 after one.
With both defenses digging in, Turner directed his second scoring drive in the second period, this one resulting in a touchdown burst from Jone Wesele as the teams went to the halftime locker room tied at 13-all.
Doubling as the Eagles’ kicker, Buenrostro accounted for the lone points of the third quarter with a short field goal and a 16-13 lead heading into the final period.
The Timberwolves surged ahead with a touchdown drive midway through the fourth quarter for a 19-16 advantage, but the Eagles would answer with a minute left on the clock. Turner engineered a drive culminating in the winning touchdown on a quarterback keeper, lifting Cloverdale to a 24-19 victory.
“We turned the ball over way too much and if we play to our ability I think we win by a few scores,” Alexander said later. “However, credit to Fort Bragg, they gave us all we could handle.”
Turner finished up a solid outing with six completions on 12 pass attempts for 109 yards and one touchdown, while rushing for four yards and a score on the ground. Other offensive leaders were Jone Wesele (18-106 yards rushing, TD), Buenrostro (3-67 yards receiving, TD), and Garrett Robertson (3-42 yards receiving).
