LAYTONVILLE — The Upper Lake Cougars held a 16-0 lead less than a minute into the game as they rolled to a 74-0 win over the Laytonville Warriors in the season opener for both of these eight-man football teams Friday night in Laytonville.
Upper Lake (1-0) led 36-0 after one quarter and 58-0 at halftime. The Cougars scored on the opening kickoff as Nick Foster motored 70 yards for a touchdown and Delaney Allison ran in the conversion for an 8-0 lead. Only seconds later Foster recovered a fumble in the end zone for another score and a 16-0 Upper Lake lead as Joey Franklin added the conversion run.
"Laytonville is just getting back into it," Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said of the Warriors' football program, which has been idle since the 2019 season. "They are down in numbers right now and not very big."
Upper Lake's defense added a second score in the opening quarter as Will Henry recovered a fumble in the end zone. The Cougars scored again after a blocked punt, this time on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Jerod Rosales to Allison.
Franklin's 10-yard touchdown run made it 36-0 by quarter's end.
"Our defense had such a good game," Moran said of the two defensive scores. "They played so well our offense really didn't have the opportunity to put drives together."
Upper Lake's defense recovered four fumbles and intercepted two passes. Franklin also had a sack.
The Cougars' scoring parade continued in the second quarter as Rosales, Allison and Benjamin Beecher all had rushing touchdowns.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Cougars punched in two more touchdowns on Mikel Compton and Dylan Aragon runs in the fourth quarter.
Beecher was Upper Lake's leading rusher with 61 yards on 17 carries. Rosales attempted only three passes, completing all three.
"This wasn't a good gauge of where we're at," Moran said. "We'll get a better idea next week."
Upper Lake hosts Roseland University Prep of Santa Rosa, a team the Cougars scrimmaged last month, next Friday in Upper Lake.
"They've got pretty good size," Moran said.
In other football action Friday:
Rio Vista 70, Lower Lake 0
At Rio Vista, the Lower Lake Trojans fell behind early and couldn't recover in their season opener against a Rio Vista team playing its third game of the year.
"They ran a lot of trick plays, a lot of misdirection," Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said.
While Lower Lake (0-1) was able to move the ball at times, penalties and turnovers kept the Trojans out of the end zone along with a healthy dose of Rio Vista defense.
"We marched the ball to the 3 and turned it over," Jakubowski said of his team's best scoring opportunity.
Lower Lake's defense did pick off two passes in the end zone and force two fumbles, but it wasn't nearly enough.
"They probably ran 100 plays to our 40," Jakubowski said.
One bright spot was the play of linebacker/wide receiver Charles Jones, according to Jakubowski.
"He had 13 or 14 tackles and had a couple of catches," Jakubowski said.
Steven Felder also had a handful of kickoff returns of 30 or more yards.
Lower Lake stays on the road Saturday, Sept. 10 to play Berean Christian in Walnut Creek.
Bradshaw Christian 28, Middletown 13
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs fell to 0-2 in the preseason with a loss to Bradshaw Christian of Sacramento.
A toss offense team, Bradshaw Christian (2-0) mounted a handful of time-consuming scoring drives.
"They are a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust type of team," Midldetown head coach Bill Foltmer said. "They slowly and methodically chip the ball down the field."
The Pride scored first on quarterback Ethan Rickert's 1-yard run in the first quarter. Middletown tied it up at 7-7 when quarterback Hunter Hartzog connected with running back Elijah Diaz for a 7-yard touchdown. Hartzog also kicked the extra point. Brandon Costlow's 41-yard run helped set up the Mustangs' first score of the season.
Bradshaw Christian moved back in front to stay in the second quarter on a Nathan Zeppieri 3-yard run, which capped a nine-minute drive. The Pride kicked the extra point for a 14-7 lead, which was the halftime score.
The Pride pushed its lead to 21-7 in the third quarter on a 30-yard play-action pass and to 28-7 in the fourth quarter on a Brandon Burden 71-yard touchdown run with 9:42 remaining.
Costlow scored on the final play of the game to give Middletown its final points. No extra point was attempted as time had expired.
"We struggled a little bit, but it was better than last week (a 7-0 season-opening loss to St. Mary's of Albany)," Foltmer said. "We improved a little bit. We're moving in the right direction for when we get into league."
After failing to get a single rushing first down last week against St. Mary's, the Mustangs racked up 146 rushing yards against Bradshaw Christian. Costlow led the way with 93 yards on 15 carries.
Hartzog went 6-for-9 passing for 49 yards, most of that going to Diaz (five catches for 38 yards).
Middletown's defense had its first two takeaways of the season as Costlow and Troy Taber recovered fumbles.
The Mustangs close out their preseason schedule next Friday on the road against St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo.
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