Small-school football roundup: Cloverdale beats Kelseyville 21-6

Cloverdale (4-1, 1-1) got a critical 21-6 NCL I football win on Friday night against host Kelseyville (1-4, 0-2). For the Knights, it was a game of lost opportunities.

'We fumbled the ball twice which didn't help,' Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said. 'We had the ball in the red-zone four times but were unable to capitalize on that.

The Knights' one score was a 5-yard run by running back Manny Sanchez (64 yards on 13 rushes).

'We leaned on the run game and played great defense,' Eagles coach Chad Prieskorn said.'

Luke Bernardi did the damage on the ground for the Eagles.

'Cloverdale had a tailback (Bernardi) that ran well and gave us some trouble,' Larsen said. 'They moved the ball on us.'

St. HELENA 38, LOWER LAKE 0

The visiting Saints (6-0, 3-0) remained tied with Fort Bragg atop the NCL I by dominating the Trojans (3-3, 0-3). The Saints led 10-0 at half time but scored two touches in both the third and fourth quarters to ice the game. The St. Helena defense gave up only 136 yards in total offense to Lower Lake, including only 24 yards rushing.

'We played defense and ran the ball real well tonight,' St. Helena coach Brandon Farrell said. 'We executed a lot better in the second half.'

FORT BRAGG 28, MIDDLETOWN 14

It was a game for three quarters, but host Middletown in its first home football game since the deadly Valley fire, could not hold back Fort Bragg's vaunted offense and talented quarterback Kaylor Sullivan.

The Mustangs (2-3 overall, 2-1 NCL I) got on the board first with a 14-yard run by senior Coleman Drew. The Timberwolves (6-0, 3-0) knotted the score at 7 in the second quarter on a 14-yard pass from Sullivan to Austin Trujillo.

In the fourth quarter, Brad Jacomella scampered 5 yards for the touchdown, followed by a 14-yard catch by Shane Giaccani to make the score 21-7. But the Timberwolves weren't finished. Senior Lucas Triplett made a soaring snag of Sullivan's 10-yard pass for the touchdown to make it 28-7 with two minutes remaining. The Mustangs scored in the waning moments on an 8-yard run by Drew, his second touchdown of the night.

CALISTOGA 50, TOMALES 0

The host Wildcats (5-0) used their option run game to gash the Braves (3-3) in a NCL III game.

Calistoga ran for 274 yards on 24 carries (11.4 yard average) and had scoring runs of 48, 47, 52, 32, 19, 46 and 24 yards. Wildcat Dustin Anderson led all rushers with six carries for 99 yards and three touchdowns.

We scored on a lot of big plays,' Calistoga coach Mike Ervin said. 'Give credit to our offensive line.'

The Braves only had 10 players see action and couldn't stop the run or generate much offense of their own.

Kerry Benefield contributed to this report.