Taking a look back at all the Week 5 games, highlights and lowlights
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(Stats updated to include Lower Lake totals)
LAKE COUNTY >> Scoring, scoring and more scoring took place everywhere Friday night during Week 5 of the high school football season with the notable exception of Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake.
While Kelseyville held a 35-0 halftime lead at Cloverdale and Middletown took a 20-7 lead into halftime against Clear Lake in Lakeport, the visiting Upper Lake Cougars and Lower Lake Trojans were exactly where they began the game – 0-0 – at halftime in Lower Lake.
In fact, the game went to overtime tied at 6. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime but missed two-point conversions, forcing a second OT. Upper Lake scored and added the two-point conversion, meaning that the best the Trojans could do was hope for a third overtime by scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion of their own. Unfortunately for Lower Lake, a fourth-down run came up inches short of the first down, at which point the game ended.
Upper Lake is now 2-1 in league and 3-2 overall. For those Upper Lake aficionados out there, that’s two more total victories than the Cougars had in their last three 11-man seasons combined – 1-8 in 2023, 0-10 in 2014 and 0-9 in 2013. Upper Lake played eight-man football from 2015-2022.
Yep, Upper Lake is most certainly back on the radar scope in the 11-man football arena. The Cougars have played competitive football in all five of their games this season, while their toughest NCL I games are still ahead of them, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about the direction Northshore football is heading (but maybe just skip last weekend’s youth football results against Middletown).
Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights and lowlights from Week 5 games.
Statistics
Rushing – Middletown’s backfield duo of Trenton Griffith and Tyler Galamay certainly shined against Clear Lake. Both players carried the ball 21 times in a 34-28 win over the Cardinals. Griffith gained 218 yards and scored three times while Galamay added 151 yards and a touchdown. Kelseyville’s Michael DeJohn filled in more than adequately for an injured Kyle Watkins in the Knights’ 41-8 win at Cloverdale, gaining 199 yards and scoring four times. Sophomore Bryce Keener, also of the Knights, cracked the 100-yard mark for the first time at the varsity level with 104 yards and a touchdown. Upper Lake’s Brody Blancas had 95 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown in the first overtime and a two-point conversion in the second overtime. Clear Lake quarterback AJ Bruch had 69 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns. Lower Lake’s Zakai Vilmenay had 69 yards and a TD for Lower Lake.
Passing – Lower Lake’s Ashton Hartmann went 17-for-28 for 234 yards and a touchdown against Upper Lake. Clear Lake’s aforementioned AJ Bruch had the best game of his short varsity career, completing 18 of 41 points for 214 yards with no interceptions and two touchdowns. Upper Lake’s Jerod Rosales had only 37 yards worth of completions, but two of those completions went for touchdowns – a 25-yarder to Brody Blancas in regulation and a game-winning 4-yarder to Delaney Allison in the second overtime against Lower Lake. Kelseyville’s Brock Barrick went 7-for-12 for 76 yards in the win over Cloverdale. Middletown didn’t attempt a single pass against Clear Lake.
Receiving – Clear Lake’s Payton Portlock caught seven passes for 78 yards while teammate Adrian Truby had three catches for 52 yards and a TD. Lower Lake’s Luke Campbell had seven catches for 66 yards and Christian Rodriguez had two catches for 60 yards. Upper Lake’s Brody Blancas had three receptions for 33 yards and a TD.
Special teams
Pretty much automatic – Kelseyville placekicker Jose Juarez nailed his first five extra points against Cloverdale and went 5-for-6 overall.
Defense
Honorary running back – Cloverdale should of made Kelseyville senior defensive end Jayden Teabo an honorary running back Friday night because No. 42 spent as much time in the Eagles’ backfield as did Cloverdale’s players. Teabo registered three quarterback sacks and dropped a Cloverdale running back for an eight-yard loss on another occasion.
Tackle leaders – Clear Lake’s Kaden Graham was in on 10 tackles against Middletown and teammate Zane McAuley eight. Upper Lake’s Delaney Allison had nine total tackles against Lower Lake while teammate Blake Sneed had an interception. Kelby Shook and Logan Urbina led Middletown in tackles with eight and seven, respectively.
None bigger – Middletown’s Tyler Galamay recovered a Clear Lake fumble late in the fourth quarter with Clear Lake on the move trailing 34-28. There was no bigger takeaway during Week 5.
Miscellaneous
Hate that stuff – Middletown lost a second key starter, most likely for the season, on Friday night when Jon Hawkins sustained a wrist injury blocking on a running play. He was engaged with a Clear Lake player when one of his teammates collided with him, jamming the wrist. Head coach Bill Foltmer said the injured was diagnosed as a “broken growth plate.” Middletown lost starting quarterback Blake Costlow to a broken foot in Week 2. The good news is both Hawkins and Costlow are juniors, so they’ll be back.
Trends – All Clear Lake did in the second half against Middletown was throw the ball – quarterback AJ Bruch finished the game with 41 attempts but no interceptions. All Middletown did all game was run the ball. The Mustangs didn’t attempt a single pass. After being denied on its first possession against Cloverdale, Kelseyville scored on its next four possessions to break the game wide open.
No apparent injuries – Cloverdale, which had to forfeit its game with Fort Bragg a week earlier because it didn’t have enough healthy players, opened the game with 16 players against Kelseyville and still had 16 by game’s end. The week before forfeiting to Fort Bragg, Cloverdale lost at home against Lower Lake, 20-8, in a game that was called with 1:24 left in the third quarter after numerous injuries left the Eagles with only 11 players.
Streaks – Middletown ended a three-game losing streak to Clear Lake with its 34-28 victory on Friday in Lakeport. Clear Lake, now 0-4 on the season, has dropped five straight dating back to last season.
Homecoming – It was homecoming Friday at Lower Lake and while the Trojans lost both the junior varsity and varsity games, one LLHS grad enjoyed his evening. That would be Upper Lake head coach Stan Weiper, Class of 1965. Weiper is also the last coach to lead the Trojans to a North Central League I championship (2007).
Sad news – The two columnists I hired at the Lake County Record-Bee during my time at the newspaper (1984-2023) are sadly gone. John Berry, author of On the Links going back to the mid-1980s, passed away Sept. 9. Outdoors columnist Terry Knight, who I hired in 1985, was involved in a traffic accident last week and will be out of action for some time owing to his injuries and other medical factors. Two finer gentlemen you’ll never meet.
Pie eater – Kelseyville High School varsity lineman Ethan Watkins, a sophomore, won the pie-eating contest Saturday at the Kelseyville Pear Festival.
Not to be outdone – Middletown High School’s Isa Barnes, sophomore setter on the varsity volleyball team, won the Pear Festival essay contest. The subject of her paper was how the pacific flathead borer, an invasive pest, was threatening the county’s pear trees. She also rode in the Pear Festival parade, a prize for her contest win.
Comings and goings – Veteran coach Norberto Quiroz, Middletown High School’s first-year varsity volleyball head coach, resigned his position on Wednesday after leading the team to a 2-3 league mark and 13-7 overall record. Junior varsity head coach Erika Galvan will guide the team the remainder of the season. Quiroz replaced longtime head coach Vanessa Davis, who was forced out after last season. Davis continues to coach at the middle school level.
Thank you – To South County Sports for providing videos of overtime action during the Upper Lake-Lower Lake varsity football game and for freelance photographer Ed Oswalt for submitting still photos of the game, including the touchdowns scored in overtime by both teams. Lake County Sports relies on contributing photographers such as Trett Bishop, Bob Minenna and Geri Costlow to provide us with photos since we have no staff. Everyone is volunteering his/her time and working for nothing. Oh, in my case the verb should be hobbying.
Win No. 311 – Bill Foltmer, coaching his 40th and final season at Middletown, now has 311 career wins, 292 of them for the Mustangs.
Our word of the week – “Discombobulated,” used by Bill Foltmer to describe the mental state of his team after losing Jon Hawkins to an injury late in the second quarter.
Serving the time, didn’t commit the crime – Upper Lake head coach Stan Weiper was ejected for the first time in his long and storied career Friday night, the ejection coming early in the fourth quarter, after his assistant picked up two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in the double-overtime win over Lower Lake. Weiper has to sit out this coming Friday’s game at home against Cloverdale.
Undefeated JVs – Middletown’s JV football team is 2-0 in league and 4-0 overall.
Undefeated JVs Part II – Kelseyville’s JV girls volleyball team is 6-0 in league.
The quickest way to get banned – Make it personal, be a complete ass.
Last week’s soccer report — …
Gold standard – Lower Lake High School varsity volleyball head coach Shannon Tubbs hasn’t won a league match this season (0-6) but he’s called in every match.
Still kicking butt – Former Middletown High School cross country star Grace Southern, a senior for the Academy of Art University squad, won the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Challenge on Saturday with the second-fastest 6K time of her career, 21 minutes, 7.2 seconds. She led the entire way and finished two seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Southern is one of the biggest cross country talents to come out of Lake County.
