Cloverdale visits unbeaten Fort Bragg Friday in league finale
The varsity football Eagles saw their title hopes dashed on Friday in a key home clash with visiting Middletown, falling to the resurgent Mustangs 13-0.
Middletown used tough play in the trenches and a stifling goal-line defense to do what no team has done this season – throttle the Eagles running game. It was the first shutout suffered by Cloverdale this season.
The loss dropped Cloverdale into a tie with Middletown for third place in the NCL-1 standings at 4-2, dropping the Eagles to 7-2 overall.
The Eagles will be out to finish league on a high note this Friday, Nov. 6, when they visit unbeaten Fort Bragg in the NCL-1 finale. The Timberwolves (6-0, 9-0) are coming off a huge 27-14 win over St. Helena and will attempt to complete their first-ever undefeated league season.
“We’ve got a tough game coming up against Fort Bragg,” CHS head coach Chad Prieskorn predicted. “We’ll have to play well but it’s a winnable game for us. We have to bounce back, refocus and start playing Cloverdale football again before the postseason.”
The Eagles are a good bet to land a high seed in the upcoming North Coast Section Division-5 playoffs, which start next week. The NCS seeding committee will meet this Sunday to fill out the divisional playoff brackets. Check the NCS website at www.cifncs.org for bracket information as it becomes available.
Middletown throttles running game
Cloverdale was not without its chances against a solid Middletown squad on Friday, with three drives inside the Mustangs five-yard line resulting in no points. “It was a very physical game, and a hard-hitting game with an 18-man roster this late in the season isn’t an ideal situation,” Prieskorn noted. “Middletown played a great game, but we made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. Execution, not effort is what killed us.”
The Mustangs set the tone early in the first quarter, mounting a 70-yard, four-minute drive resulting in a 16-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead. The Eagles answered with a promising drive of their own, highlighted by a 50-yard scamper by running back Luke Bernardi ending at the Middletown three-yard line.
The Mustangs went up by two scores midway through the second quarter, when a Cloverdale fumble set up an eventual seven yard touchdown run to make it 13-0 Middletown at the break.
The second half was a physical battle in the trenches, with another pair of Eagles’ drives coming up short inside the Mustangs red zone. The Middletown defense stiffened in a scoreless second half en route to a 13-0 win.
Eagles offensive leaders included Luke Bernardi (16-100 yards rushing), Chris Harms (8-13, 61 yards passing, 5-47 yards rushing) and Jayden Mrvicka (4-38 yards receiving).
Leading tacklers were Jacob Peterson (10 tackles, forced fumble), Pat Ojeda (8 tackles, forced fumble), Adrian Bernardi (8), Travis Kitowski (8), Tristan Rege (7) and Jared Hibbeln (6).
The Cloverdale JV team continued a great season with a 21-19 win over Middletown.
