Cougars bring home title in Week 11

LAKE COUNTY >> Put another regular season in the books for Lake County high school football.

Friday night

Upper Lake 36, South Fork 0 Kelseyville 6, Lower Lake 0 Cloverdale 26, Clear Lake 12 St. Helena 35, Middletown 7

Upper Lake certainly did so in style Friday night by knocking off South Fork 36-0 in Miranda

to claim the North Central League II championship.

Upper Lake and Kelseyville, a 6-0 winner over Lower Lake, ended their respective league seasons on a high note while Middletown and Clear Lake lost in NCL I action — Middletown 35-7 at St. Helena and Clear Lake 26-12 against Cloverdale in Lakeport — in their regularseason finales.

Upper Lake, Clear Lake and Middletown are all advancing to the North Coast Section playoffs beginning this Friday night (see related story for more details).

The Cougars’ league title is their first since 2015, they’re inaugural year of eight-man football, when they played in the NCL III under then-coach Frank Gudmundson.

LAKEPORT >> After running the table during the regular season, the 10-0 Westshore varsitylevel Cardinals were upset 20-16 by Sonoma in the opening round of Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League playoffs Saturday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport.

It was the only upset in six MLEJFL playoff games held Saturday, three of which took place in Lakeport and the other three in Middletown. First-round games pair the 1 and 4 seeds and 2 and 3 seeds based on regular-season records. Winners advance to the championship round this Saturday in Kelseyville.

Westshore (10-1) defeated Sonoma (7-4) earlier in the year. In the playoff rematch, Sonoma jumped out to a 12-0 lead before Westshore battled back.

“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way, which was the case Saturday night,” Westshore head coach Derek Butcher said. “We played a great game, we prepared well, we executed well, played with heart, with passion, and we played to win.”

Westshore took a 16-12 lead late into the fourth quarter but a short Sonoma pass completion turned into a 55-yard go-ahead touchdown and 20-16 lead with 1:38 left. The Cardinals couldn’t rally in the time remaining.

Sonoma built a 12-0 lead on the strength of a 25-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and a 75-yard run in the second quarter. Westshore closed to 12-8 with 17 seconds left in the first half as quarterback A.J. Bruch and running back Jesse Hayes connected for a 47-yard touchdown pass. Hayes added the extra-point kick (worth two points in youth football).

Clear Lake pushed in front 1612 late in the third quarter on a Hayes 4-yard run and Hayes’ extra-point kick.

The Cardinals were driving for another score with 3:40 left to play when Sonoma’s defense stopped the Cardinals on fourth-and-one from the Sonoma 40-yard-line. Sonoma took over on downs and was facing a fourth-and-five with less than two minutes remaining when it scored the winning touchdown.

“Sonoma did a great job, too,” Butcher said. “They had a good game plan for us and played a championship-caliber game. We had our chances but we just didn’t come up with the big plays when we needed to and they did. That was the difference in the game.”

Hayes rushed for 93 yards against Sonoma and Mikel Compton added 54 on 10 carries. On defense, Ryken Villanueva and Nathan Boomer each had five solo tackles and three assists. Zane McAuley added four tackles, two assists and an interception while Colton Mendoca had two sacks.