This week’s Fall Football Preview is following the county’s high school teams as they get ready for the upcoming season.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Any way you crunch them, the numbers are coming up small at Clear Lake High this football season.
Consider the number of returning starters on offense (3) or on defense (4). Or the number of Cardinals who led the team in noteworthy statistical categories last year, such as rushing, passing, scoring, receiving or tackling: 0.
Or the number of varsity players who, though obviously too old for Pop Warner ball, tip the scales under that league’s 145-pound size limit: 10.
There are fewer players this season, too.
“We’re low on numbers, “said head coach Glenn “Milo” Meyer, who, as of Tuesday, had 22 varsity players and 23 on his JV team.
The junior varsity turnout was the smallest in his years at Clear Lake, Meyer said. “Usually, we’ll have 40 on the JVs.”
But amid all the shrinking numbers, Cardinal fans can find solace in some other stats that light up the corridors of Clear Lake High’s football annals.
As Meyer starts the second year of his second stint as Clear Lake’s coach, his record of turning out winners stokes the embers of optimism.
In a 12-year stretch from 1997 to 2008, his teams won 76 games and four league titles, and were fixtures in the North Coast Section playoffs.
The Cardinals won the NCS title in his second year (1998), beating a tough Kelseyville team that had a quarterback named Rob Ishihara, who’s now in his third season as Kelseyville’s head coach.
Meyer stepped down after the 2008 season. “It was combination of things,” he said to explain his two-year leave of absence from the varsity coaching job (though he did remain as the school’s athletic director).
“There was some burn-out involved, plus my wife’s health wasn’t the greatest. The thing about coaching football, it takes up so much time. There are a lot of late nights.”
Schad Schweitzer took over in 2009 and coached for two seasons. Then he lost his day job and had to move out of the area to find work.
So Meyer took the reins again last year and the first thing he did was bring back his three assistants who were on his first staff at Clear Lake in ’97, and were there the following year when the Cardinals won the NCS title.
Steve Newnham is again the defensive coordinator, Rick Hayes is the offensive coordinator, and Mike Hansen coaches the running backs and linebackers.
The Cardinals suffered some blowouts early last season and opened the North Central League at 0-3.
Then they got competitive.
They were in three close games – and pulled out three league victories: 34-26 over Lower Lake, 7-3 over Kelseyville, and, in the league-opener that ultimately gave them fourth place, a 21-14 win over Fort Bragg.
Clear Lake finished at 4-6 overall and 4-3 in the NCL behind St. Helena, Willits and Middletown.
The strong finish didn’t surprise anyone familiar with Meyer’s coaching skills.
“Milo is organized and structured – he has a definite plan for what he wants to do,” said Hansen, his long-time assistant. “We’ve worked with him long enough to know the drills. But the thing about Milo is, he knows how to adjust to the kind of players we have. On this level, you have to adjust.”
Some adjustments will no doubt be required this season as the coaches search for ways to remain competitive with a small and inexperienced lineup.
The biggest kids are up from a JV team that went 4-6 last year: junior tight end and defensive lineman Gabe Strong (6-6, 225 pounds) and sophomore lineman Julian Lewis (5-10, 230).
But the rest of the “big guys” are more the size of senior Josh Larsen (6-0, 185), the only returning starter from last year’s line.
Indicative of their smallness is when 5-6, 160-pound Andre Buendia, a cornerback last year, was switched to linebacker.
Still, Buendia has 20 pounds on the Cards’ starting quarterback, 5-7, 140-pound Kenny Henninger.
“It’ll be a challenge for us,” Meyer said. “We haven’t had a team that’s this small and with so little experience.”
But he adds that this season will provide some important continuity to the rebuilding process.
When Meyer left in 2008, so did his option veer offense, which takes a couple of years for the players (especially the quarterbacks) to master.
In the meantime, coaches around the league aren’t about to overlook Clear Lake this season.
“You always have to prepare to face a team Milo coaches,” said Middletown coach Bill Foltmer. “He and his assistants do a great job. You can never overlook them.”
On Thursday: The Middletown Mustangs get set for the season.
Rich Mellott can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Clear Lake Cardinals
Coach/Record: Glenn “Milo” Meyer (14th year), 80-56-3.
Assistants: Offensive coordinator Rick Hayes, defensive coordinator Steve Newnham, RB/LB coach Mike Hansen.
Last year: 4-6.
League: 4-3 (4thth place).
JVs: 4-6.
Offense: Option veer.
Returning starters: 3 on offense, 4 on defense.
Top players: OL/DL Josh Larsen (5-10, 185), Sr.; TE/DL Gabe Strong (6-6, 225), Jr.; OL/DL Julian Lewis (5-10, 230), Soph.; QB/DB Kenny Henninger (5-7, 140) Jr.; RB/LB Andre Buendia (5-6, 160), RB/LB Luke Punzalan (5-9, 185) Sr.
Keep an eye on: Whether the coaches can get their undersized and inexperienced players ready to compete with league rivals Fort Bragg, Lower Lake, Kelseyville and Cloverdale; or looking at it another way, how long will it take for the inexperienced players (including some decent athletes playing football for the first time) to start contributing.
Key games: How the Cardinals do in early NCL games at Fort Bragg and at home against Cloverdale will say a lot about their prospects for a successful season.