Injury scare takes center stage in NCL II clash

By JEFF CASPERSEN/The Daily Journal

MENDOCINO — Rarely is a coach relieved after a loss. Such was the case for Mendocino’s Rick Smith following Saturday's 26-7 defeat to visiting Point Arena.

The loss shot down the Cardinals’ chances of a North Central League II title, but it was a bit of good postgame news about an injured player that perked Smith’s mood.

Cardinal Eli Cline lost consciousness and even temporarily stopped breathing after suffering a neck injury while making a special-teams tackle for the Mendocino punt return unit early in the second quarter. Cline left the field in an ambulance after being tended to by paramedics. He was released from the hospital later in the afternoon, news that was spread to the team just moments after the game.

“I was scared to death,” said Smith. “He wasn’t breathing and they had to intubate him. They stuck a tube down his throat to get the blood out. That would have been my last game if something more serious had happened.”

Smith said that when Cline regained consciousness, he wanted back on the field.

“He wanted to play,” Smith recalled. “He didn’t know where he was going, why he was being taken off the field.”

Mendocino seemed to gain inspiration from the incident, but just couldn’t get over the hump against last year’s NCL III champs.

The Cardinals (4-1-1 overall, 2-1-1 NCL II) broke open the scoring shortly after Cline’s injury when quarterback Jayson Hughes — filling in for starter Wayne Jones, who went to the bench early in the game with a hand injury — hit Aaron Bauman on a 4-yard touchdown pass.

Cline’s tackle of punter Reese Miner — who opted to run rather than kick on the punt attempt — actually forced the turnover on downs that set up the scoring drive, which spanned 50 yards and nearly 4 minutes.

Point Arena (6-1, 4-0) surged back with a TD of its own with 14 seconds left in the half when quarterback Chris Washington capped a 52-yard drive with a 12-yard scoring strike to Justin Moore. That was the first TD of the day for Washington, who would finish with three passing scores and a 6-for-6, 130-yard clip. A conversion attempt went awry, making it 7-6 in favor of the Cardinals at intermission.

The Pirates used a little fake-punt trickery to post their go-ahead score as the third quarter came to a close. Miner found a wide-open Jordan Washington on a 75-yard TD pass to go up 12-7.

From there on out, Point Arena was in control. Chris Washington hit brother Jordan Washington for a 75-yard passing TD later in the frame. Chris Washington would later hook up with Moore on a 25-yard TD toss to round out the scoring.
Jordan Washington finished with 158 receiving yards on three catches, while Moore hauled in two receptions for 37 yards.

Ben Buechner led the Point Arena ground game with 83 yards on 13 carries.
Defensively, Jordan Washington, Chris Washington and Reese Miner all had interceptions for Point Arena. George Frost added two sacks.

Running back Ryan Hinshaw paced the Mendocino offense with 92 yards on 20 carries. Hughes finished the day 7-for-13 passing for 51 yards.

Phil Kling and Will Lennox each had two sacks for the Cardinals.

Point Arena, which remained atop the North Central League II race, will host Tomales (3-3-1, 3-0-1) next Saturday in a showdown for the league title. Tomales was scheduled to play Brookside Christian today, but the game was canceled.
Next Saturday’s game is a rematch of last year’s North Coast Section Class B championship game, which was won by the Pirates.

“It’ll be a good game,” said Point Arena coach David Contreras. “They play what they call smash-face football. It’ll be an extremely physical game.”