South Fork Football Rolls Over Roseland Collegiate Prep 42-14

South Fork High’s varsity football team bettered their record to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the NC3 8-Man Football League, dominating Santa Rosa private school Roseland Collegiate Prep 42-14 last Saturday in Santa Rosa.

The game was shortened when RCP’s quarterback became injured about half way through the second quarter and could not return. The RCP coaching staff requested a running clock from that point forward, and South Fork head coach Andy Olsen agreed. The Cubs were already up 30-0 at that point, and likely would have produced a lot more offense had the clock not been running. “We probably only ran twenty offensive plays,” said Olsen.

The Cubs got off to strong start when, for the second time in two weeks, senior running back Gabe Malley put the Cubs on the board with a touchdown run on the first offensive play of the game, this time a 45 yard carry into the endzone.

Next, senior linebacker and defensive standout Aaron Etherton blocked a punt that put South Fork on the RCP 3-yard line. Senior running back Scott Coffelt carried it in for another score.

Junior Cody Wyatt got in on the act next when he recovered an RCP fumble and ran it into the endzone for another TD.

Junior quarterback CJ Van Meter was 5 for 13 in the short game, connecting twice with senior wide receiver Ryder Pfau for touchdowns. Malley rushed for a second TD and the Cubs made three 2-point conversions to bring their total points to 42.

Despite the lop-sided score, Coach Olsen said, “We were not as sharp as we have been the last two weeks and Roseland’s record (1-5) doesn’t show how good they are.”

This Friday, South Fork will face the only other undefeated team in the league, Upper Lake, at Upper Lake with a 7 pm kick-off. Upper Lake is 5-1 overall and, like South Fork, their only loss came at the hands of SC3’s southern powerhouse Stuart Hall.

The game is essentially a battle for first place in the NC3 and the #1 seed in the post-season tourney guarantees a home game in the first round of play-offs.

“We haven’t had this meaningful of a game for quite a while,” said Olsen, “they (Upper Lake) are a very solid team.” This will be the biggest team the 8-man Cubs have faced this season, both in physical size, and number on the roster. Upper lake has 36 players, and relies on a senior running back who averages over 100 yards per game for much of their offense.

“Where they have one big weapon, we have 4 or 5 guys who can do damage”, said Olsen. “We are capable of big plays and haven’t turned the ball over much this year,” he added. The Cubs will have to contend with 200-pound linemen, but Olsen figures that the quickness of Malley and Pfau will offset that factor.