UPPER LAKE — Upper Lake's regular-season home finale couldn't have gone much better Friday night against the Round Valley Mustangs of Covelo.

Behind three scores from Kyle Grandi, one of them a 97-yard interception return, and three touchdown passes by freshman quarterback Jerod Rosales, the Cougars improved to 2-0 in the North Central League II standings — 3-0 if you count next week's forfeit victory against Anderson Valley — with a 46-0 win over the Mustangs (0-1 league, 0-2 overall), who were making their league debut and playing only their second game of the season.

Upper Lake players chase after a Round Valley fumble in the first quarter. The Cougars eventuall recovered the ball after a long scramble. (Brian Sumpter/Record-Bee)

"They're a physical team, more physical than we expected," Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said of the Mustangs. "I'm proud of the way my guys played through it."

While the Cougars got off to a bit of a bumpy start when the snap from center soared over Rosales' head on Upper Lake's first play from scrimmage, leading to a fumble recovery by Round Valley, the Cougars played pretty much mistake-free football the rest of the way.

"Will Henry, our center, dislocated his finger the other day and it was all taped up," Moran said. "That probably had something to do with it (high snap)."

So the Cougars moved Henry to guard and shifted Nick Barnes to center for the rest of the game.

"He did a great job," Moran said of Barnes.

Upper Lake fullback Bradley Sneathen rushes for a first down. The senior finished with 77 yards on 11 carries, including a touchdown.

So did the rest of a young Upper Lake line that created holes for its running backs and gave Rosales the time he needed on most of his 16 passes.

"Our linemen are starting to grow up a little bit," Moran said.

Round Valley turned the ball over four times in all, including on its first three possessions although Upper Lake was only to convert one of those into points. A Cody Banks interception set up the Cougars' first touchdown, a six-play, 35-yard drive capped by Adrian Avalos' 1-yard run.

Playing football for the first time, Avalos brings a little more quickness and another good set of hands to the Upper Lake backfield, according to Moran. He finished 40 yards on only six carries, the final 20 coming on the game's last play as he scored his second touchdown of the night.

Sandwiched between Avalos' two touchdowns were five more Upper Lake scores. Grandi had three of them — a 23-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter that made it 12-0, a 97-yard interception return early in the second quarter for a 18-0 lead, and a 20-yard touchdown grab midway through the third quarter that made it 40-0.

Upper Lake freshman quarterback Jerod Rosales spots a receiver breaking free down the field. He passed for 106 yards and three touchdowns in a 46-0 win over Round Valley.

After Grandi's interception return, Rosales and Banks hooked up on a 15-yard touchdown with 6:14 left in the first half. Bradley Sneathen's conversion run made it 26-0. Upper Lake went 61 yards on its final drive of the second quarter to score again, this time on a 14-yard Sneathen run on a third-and-goal play. Banks added the conversion run for a 34-0 halftime lead.

On a night when the Cougars were without their top wide receiver, Elijah Alvarez (COVID-19 protocol), Rosales still went 8-for-16 for 106 yards and no interceptions. Two plays stood out for the freshman, the first one his 15-yard scoring strike to Banks on a fourth-and-13 play. Under a heavy rush, Rosales stood his ground even though he knew he was going to take a hit, which he did, but he got the pass off with plenty on it and Banks ran underneath it for an easy score.

Later in the second quarter, Rosales rolled out to his right on a first-and-goal play from the Round Valley 7-yard-line. He gave his receivers all the time he could buy them with his feet before the Round Valley pursuit caught up and sacked him.

"That play impressed me more than anything else," Moran said of the decision-making ability of the ninth-grader. "There was no one open, but he didn't try to force a pass into coverage. He did the right thing."

Though the Cougars lost seven yards on the sack, they got them all back two plays later when Sneathen burst down the Upper Lake sideline for the touchdown.

"He's on it," Moran said of Rosales. "He looked good in pre-game warmups, too."

Upper Lake finished with 179 yards on the ground, with Sneathen gaining 77 on 11 carries. Grandi's only two receptions went for touchdowns. His night on defense was just as productive as he had the pick-six interception as well as a fumble recovery.

Upper Lake's defense held Round Valley to 132 total yards. Joseph Franklin had three of the Cougars' four sacks.

Game notes: While the Cougars will receive a forfeit next week against Anderson Valley as far as the league standings are concerned, they might also have a game in the works as Moran is trying to secure a road contest — eight- or 11-man — with North Tahoe High School (2-4) of Tahoe City. Moran said the Cougars should know by Monday if that game will take place. As far as the open date on the Cougars' schedule Oct. 29, it doesn't look like it will be filled. If the North Tahoe game doesn't happen next Friday, Upper Lake's next scheduled game isn't until Nov. 5 against South Fork in Miranda, the NCL II finale for both schools.