UPPER LAKE — California School for the Deaf made the Upper Lake Cougars pay dearly for every mistake they made in the first half while building a 28-0 halftime lead in the North Central League II opener for both of these eight-man football teams Friday night in Upper Lake.
Upper Lake (0-1 league, 3-1 overall) couldn't quite catch up in the second half and fell 28-20 to the Eagles, their first loss of the season.
"We were making our own mistakes and they were taking advantage," Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said.
Upper Lake closed to 28-14 after three quarters and crept to within a score of CSD late in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jerod Rosales to Delaney Allison. After missing the two-point conversion, the Cougars went for the onside kick but the Eagles (1-0, 3-1) recovered and ran out the clock.
"They are really big and have lots of speed," Moran said of the Eagles. "They're a good football team. By the second half we realized we could play them, got some momentum going and got our confidence back, we just didn't have enough time."
Upper Lake opened the game with a drive deep into CSD territory but lost possession on downs when a fourth-down pass into the end zone went off the fingers of a Cougars receiver. The Eagles scored on the very next play, a long run.
Worse yet, CSD recovered the ensuing onside kick and scored again to go up 14-0.
"We let the mistakes get to us," Moran said.
Upper Lake forced a punt on CSD's next possession before things went south again.
"We fumbled the punt return and they scored again to go up 22-0," Moran said.
A long CSD touchdown run right before halftime made it 28-0.
Upper Lake worked its way back into the game with a 14-0 third quarter and it was Nick Foster scoring both touchdowns, the first coming on a fumble recovery in the end zone when CSD couldn't handle the punt snap, and the next on a 13-yard pass from Rosales.
Benjamin Beecher gained 142 yards on 11 carries, including a 60-yard run, for Upper Lake.
Both teams committed three turnovers and Upper Lake's defense recorded four sacks.
Foster (14 tackles, fumble recovery for TD) and Daylin Hamby (13 tackles, fumble recovery, interception and one sack) anchored the Cougars' defense.
Upper Lake hits the road next week to play Stuart Hall of San Francisco.
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