It’s a commonly held belief that teams cannot be deemed rivals unless they have defeated one another.
Every two or three years, the St. Helena High football team and Clear Lake engage in a North Central I rivalry that determines the winner.
On Friday night in Lake County, Clear Lake defeated St. Helena 53-6 to snap a three-year losing streak to the Saints. Clear Lake had defeated the Saints in 2016 and 2017, but lost the following three encounters.
St. Helena (4-3, 2-3 NCL I) dropped into a fifth-place tie with Fort Bragg, while the unbeaten Cardinals moved to 5-0 in the NCL I and 7-0 overall.
After recovering two of the Saints’ fumbles, Clear Lake limited them to 131 yards overall. Senior quarterback Wynton Meyer completed 3 of 8 passes for 59 yards, including an interception and a 15-yard touchdown strike to Dean Sommer (two catches, 58 yards). In addition, he led St. Helena in rushing with three carries for 41 yards. Sam Beck had seven carries for ten yards, Jhony Covarrubias had one for four, Russell Wilms had one for two, and Sam Raunegger had eight for fifteen yards.
Bryan Alfaro recorded nine tackles, which led the St. Helena defense. Wilms added six, Ben Brakesman five, Andrew Rayner and Covarrubias four, Tom Woods eight, Sommer seven, and Wilms six.
However, with three clubs near them in the league standings, the Saints have a decent chance of running the table from here on out. On Senior Night, they play Kelseyville (3-2 NCL I), the former employer of St. Helena head coach Erick Larsen, after visiting Cloverdale (1-4 NCL I) and Fort Bragg (2-3 NCL I).
