In the first half of last Friday’s Sierra Valley Conference road game, the Cordova High School football team produced many points.

But the Lancers trailed 26-25 at halftime on a slick field on Union Mine’s field in El Dorado. That changed in the second half that led to Cordova posting a 53-26 win over the Diamondbacks.

The victory keeps Cordova (2-0 in the SVC, 5-2) in the thick of the conference title race with El Dorado and Liberty Ranch, which faced off also last Friday in Placerville in which El Dorado won 27-24. El Dorado is also 2-0 in the SVC, 6-1 and Liberty Ranch 1-1, 5-2.

Leading the Lancers’ ground game against the D’backs was senior running back Deante McCullough, who had 19 carries for 204 yards and four touchdowns. His yards, alone, doubled the D’backs’ total rushing yards at 83.

“Our running game was working,” said Cordova head coach Darren Nill, whose Lancers had 271 rushing yards. “That’s where the big difference came from, our rushing game in lousy weather. He (McCullough) was knocking off some big chunks (of yards).”

The Lancers’ three other TDs came from running backs Kelechi Njoku, who had two, and Kenneth Haney, who accounted for the other. They combined for 61 rushing yards.

The start of the third quarter showed signs of the game going into the Lancers’ favor. Union Mine received the second half opening kickoff, but went three and out on offense. Then Cordova scored its lone touchdown in the quarter for the lead.

“From then on, the wind kind of left their (Union Mine) sails,” Nill said.

Despite the ball being wet and the field slippery because of rainstorms hitting earlier in the day into the early evening hours, Cordova controlled the game from the offensive standpoint in the final two quarters that resulted in points or long possessions, keeping the ball out of Union Mine’s hands.

In the first half, part of the D’backs’ success was based on the between quarterback Mike Griffiths and Eschleman. The duo accounted for all of their team’s touchdowns.

“That kid (Eschleman) is something special,” said Nill of the D’backs wide out. “He took advantage of us a couple of times.”

Total offensive yards for Cordova was 462 yards; 271 on the ground and 191 in the air. Lancer quarterback Xavier Johnson completed 13-of-19 passes for 191 yards.

On defense, Lancer linebacker Yusef Pugh led the team in tackles with 11. Haney, a middle linebacker, had nine and defensive back Bryan Estrada eight.

The Lancers were without the services of six starters on both sides of the ball. Two because of injury and four who were suspended for what Nill described as “conduct detrimental to the team.” He praised the guys who started in place of all the starters for doing their assigned jobs.

“They guys rallied,” Nill said.

In the frosh/soph game, Cordova also improved to 2-0 in the SVC with a 20-12 win over Union Mine. The Lancers lost all of their non-league games before the start of conference play.

Tonight, Friday, Cordova will play its final regular season home game at Lancers Stadium when El Dorado pays a visit. The Cougars’ high-potent offense averages 36.6 points per game, but defense is responsible for giving up 22.3 points per game.

“They are a lot bigger than us, and we are a lot quicker than them,” said Nill of El Dorado. “I think they are going to do some things to exploit their size. And we’re going to go after their secondary that we think their defensive backs are not as good as our receivers. So we’re going to go after them.”

Cordova, which closes out the regular season with road games at Liberty Ranch and Rosemont, and El Dorado are scheduled to kick-off the varsity game at 7:30 p.m.