The varsity football Eagles got another reminder that there are no easy dates on the league schedule this season, suffering their second straight setback in Friday’s 54-14 loss at Lower Lake.
The Trojans used a potent aerial attack and a strong defensive effort to jump out to a big early lead, never allowing the Cloverdale offense to get untracked.
“Our biggest issue was tackling, we didn’t run to the ball and we expected others to make the tackle, and they turned routine plays into huge gains and touchdowns,” head coach Greg Alexander said. “Offensively, we were unable to sustain drives and had a couple of turnovers early that put us in a position to play catch up.”
The Eagles (1-2, 2-4) will need to regroup quickly with a critical match-up with visiting Kelseyville looming on the schedule on Oct. 11 (7 p.m.). The Knights (0-3, 1-5) are in the throes of a down season and remain in search of their first league win following a 25-20 loss to Fort Bragg last week.
“This is a typical Kelseyville team, big, tough and disciplined, and they will run the split veer at you until you stop it,” Alexander noted. “This is a big game for us for a variety of reasons, but most of all we need to put together a complete game and get back to basics with running, blocking and tackling.”
Trojans ground Eagles
It was the Van Wilkins show in Cloverdale’s Oct. 4 visit to Lower Lake, as the Trojan quarterback connected early and often with his receivers in piling up a career high 365 passing yards and six touchdowns.
Things looked promising early on when the Eagles answered a Lower Lake touchdown with a short scoring run from all-purpose back Logan Axell. As it turned out, the Trojans were just getting started, finding pay-dirt twice more in the first quarter to take a 21-7 lead.
Lower Lake put the hammer down with three more scores in the decisive second period to open up a 41-7 halftime cushion.
With a running clock and the Trojans well in command, the Axell found the end zone in the fourth quarter as Lower Lake cruised to a 54-14 victory.
“Lower Lake is a good team but we did not play to our potential, which was frustrating and has been the theme of the year for us thus far,” Alexander said. “Offensively we had some bright spots, with a few big runs from David Alvarez, along with a few receptions that netted big yards for us. His improvement as a sophomore has been great to see.”
