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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – In a tightly fought battle, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves narrowly defeated the Lower Lake Trojans football team 49-42 in Lower Lake Friday night.
It was a seesaw offensive battle Fort Bragg head coach Jack Moyer called a “tit-for-tat back and forth game.”
After the Timberwolves lost the ball on downs on their opening possession, the Trojans drove 66 yards in 10 plays to score first, capped by a two-yard dash into the Fort Bragg end zone by quarterback Devante Scott.
Fort Bragg’s Cody Ryden ran the ensuing Trojan kickoff 53 yards downfield to Lower Lake’s 37-yard line, and nine plays later caught a Brandon Freitas pass from the three-yard line for their first score of the night. The extra point by Eric Herrejon put the Timberwolves ahead 7-6.
Lower Lake answered with a nine-play, 74-yard drive of their own, scoring their second touchdown of the night when runningback Jack O’Hara carried the ball 9 yards into the Timberwolves’ endzone to reclaim the lead for the Trojans 12-7.
But the Wolves need just one play – a 70-yard pass from Freitas to Ryden – to take back the lead 14-12.
“They were able to score at will on us,” Lower Lake Head Coach Stan Weiper said after the game.
When the Trojans fumbled the ball deep in their own territory and Fort Bragg recovered, the Timberwolves took advantage of the turnover, scoring on a nine-yard Freitas pass to Michael Mehtlan for their third touchdown of the night, bringing the score to 21-12.
Lower Lake answered with a touchdown of their own, and when Alphonza Daniels made the two-point conversion, the Trojans trailed by only one, 21-20.
“They came right after us,” Timberwolves head coach Moyer said after the game. “They scared me is what they did.”
But Fort Bragg scored once more in the first half on a 16-yard Freitas pass to wide receiver Alfredo Huerta, and when Eric Herrejon made his fourth extra point of the night, the Wolves went ahead 28-20.
Lower Lake tried to score again, but with just 4 seconds left in the second quarter and down to their last play, quarterback Devante Scott was stopped on a four-yard run just inches from the goal line.
“That was a critical play,” Weiper said. “I had the wrong personnel in the game, and we just didn’t get a good play call.”
When the Trojans fumbled on their opening possession of the second half, the Timberwolves recovered and scored on another Freitas-to-Ryden pass, this one for 20 yards, increasing Fort Bragg’s lead to 35-20.
But running back Roy Percoats had a 51-yard touchdown carry for Lower Lake on their next possession, and that narrowed the score to 35-26.
The Wolves answered with their own 50-plus yard touchdown run by Caleb Cunha, and Fort Bragg increased their lead 42-26.
“I’ll be rolling in my sleep tonight on a couple of those plays,” Weiper said after the game, noting his team made “a couple of key mistakes.”
When Lower Lake’s Roy Percoats took the ensuing Timberwolve kickoff 70 yards downfield, the Trojans benefited from a facemask penalty against Fort Bragg, and O’Hara scored his second touchdown of the night on a 3-yard run. After O’Hara made the 2-point conversion, the score stood at 42-34.
“We knew they were good, and they had a lot of speed,” Timberwolves coach Moyer said. “They’ve got so many guys that have good team speed, it’s really hard to cover them.”
Lower Lake forced the Timberwolves to punt on their next possession, but fumbled the ball deep in their territory, and Freitas threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night, bringing the score to 49-34.
The Trojans fought back with their longest drive of the night, using 11 plays to charge 62 yards downfield for another touchdown. After a successful 2-point conversion, Lower Lake was in striking distance, down by 49-42.
Fort Bragg threatened to score once more, but Freitas relinquished his only interception of the game when Lower Lake defensive back Alphonza Daniels made a spectacular, acrobatic catch on the Trojans’ one-yard line.
“He’ll catch impossible catches,” Weiper said of his defensive back.
With less than four minutes left in the game, Lower Lake tried to drive downfield again, but Ryden intercepted a Hail Mary pass by the Trojans, and Fort Bragg ran out the clock.
“We played real well on offense, and not so well on defense,” Moyer said after the game. “It’s hard getting these road wins.”
Fort Bragg runningback Caleb Cunha carried the ball 18 times for 142 yards, and quarterback Brandon Freitas completed 13 out of 18 passes for a total of 257 yards.
“The kids played hard,” Weiper noted about the Trojans (now 4-2 overall, 0-1 in league play) adding, “We just ran out of time.”
Lower Lake’s JV team also fought a close match Friday night, but they prevailed over the JV Timberwolves by a score of 8-0.
Lower Lake travels to Kelseyville (5-1 overall, 1-0 in league play) next Friday night to take on the Knights, while the Timberwolves (6-0 overall, 1-0 in league play) host Middletown (5-1 overall, 0-0 in league play) in Fort Bragg.
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