Eagles grounded in 49-0 grid loss to Fort Bragg
There was little joy in Allen Memorial Stadium in week five of the fall high school gridiron campaign, as the varsity football Eagles took one on the chin in a 49-0 drubbing at the hands of visiting Fort Bragg.
It was the second straight crushing loss and fourth of the season for the Eagles, who have been outscored 175-55 in their five outings this year.
“Our mental toughness is not where it needs to be right now,” CHS head coach Chad Talley said. “Watching the game film (from the Fort Bragg game) we saw that it was a lack of focus that led to a lack of effort.”
Cloverdale (1-4, 1-2) will attempt to regroup this Friday, Sept. 30 when they play host to visiting Kelseyville in the annual Homecoming Game. Kickoff for the JV and varsity are 5 and 7:30 p.m.
“Regardless of the score, we want to see the effort and our guys competing,” Talley said. “If we do that, we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
Kelseyville (3-1, 1-1) has been solid this season with wins over Healdsburg and St. Helena on their resume. On Friday, the Knights recorded a 46-7 non-league victory over South Fork. Their lone loss was a 40-8 loss to Middletown.
Slow start for Eagles
The Eagles had their hands full with Fort Bragg’s relentless offensive attack on Friday. Led by quarterback Lucas Triplett the defending NCL-1 champions engineered five first half drives resulting in touchdowns.
“Early in the game we had a questionable defensive pass interference call go against us that kind of turned the tide,” Talley noted. “It led to their first touchdown and after we got down 14-0 it went downhill from there.”
Triplett was a human highlight reel, throwing first-half scoring passes of 39, 48 and 34 yards, while adding rushing touchdowns of 80 and 47 yards.
The Timberwolves led 42-0 at the half before making wholesale line-up changes after intermission. With a running game clock, the T-Wolves cruised to a 49-0 victory.
