Cougars host Knights in game of the week

Lower Lake visits Clear Lake, Middletown hosts St. Helena in other Week 7 action

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(Updates with health of Kelseyville players)

LAKE COUNTY >> If the first six weeks of the high school football season have demonstrated that the Upper Lake Cougars are for real in 2024, their Week 7 home game Friday against the Kelseyville Knights should also answer if they are championship caliber.

Kelseyville (3-0 league, 4-1 overall) enters Upper Lake (3-1, 4-2) fresh off a bye week, healed up, and looking to maintain its status as an undefeated title contender in the 2024 North Central League I race. Willits (4-0, 5-1) visits Cloverdale (0-4, 1-5) on Friday, the only other undefeated team in the league entering this weekend’s round of games.

Upper Lake has the opportunity to cut in half the number of undefeated teams with a win over the Knights while keeping pace with Willits, a team the Cougars won’t play until Nov. 1 at Willits. Kelseyville can all but wrap up the league title with victories in its next two games – at Upper Lake on Friday and home against Willits on Oct. 18 (at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport).

The Cougars’ road to a NCL I championship, something they haven’t won since 1992, includes several tests ahead, of which Kelseyville and Willits are just the first two. They still have a Nov. 8 road game at Middletown to wrap up the regular season, and Bill Foltmer’s final regular-season home game for the Mustangs in his 40^th and last season with the team is sure to be a packed and emotionally charged event.

Kelseyville and Willits have already played and beaten Middletown this season although both were close games against a Middletown team missing key players because of season-ending injuries.

The Knights defeated Cloverdale 41-8 two weeks ago despite missing starting running back Kyle Watkins (600 yards rushing, 12 TDs) and wide receiver Reme Strong (13 catches for 254 yards, 2 TDs), two of their chief threats on offense. Strong is not expected to play Friday while Watkins is doubtful for the Cougars. As a result, the Knights are promoting freshman Hugh O’Boyle and sophomore Nick Arredondo to beef up their roster.

Upper Lake is coming off a 24-0 homecoming win over Cloverdale last week, a game during which senior running back Delaney Allison scored all three of the Cougars’ touchdowns.

In other Week 7 action involving Lake County teams, Lower Lake (1-3, 3-3) visits Clear Lake (0-3, 0-5), and Middletown (1-2, 2-3) celebrates its homecoming against St. Helena (2-1, 2-3).

Lower Lake at Clear Lake

After starting the season 3-0, the Lower Lake Trojans will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak against the still-winless Cardinals. Lower Lake has pushed its last two opponents to overtime, falling 43-37 a week ago at home against St. Helena, that after rallying from a 34-0 deficit, and losing 20-12 in a double-overtime thriller at home to Upper Lake two weeks ago.

Clear Lake stayed close to Fort Bragg for the better part of three quarters a week ago in Fort Bragg, but a 13-13 game quickly got out of hand for the Cardinals, who ended up on the wrong end of a 41-13 decision.

Clear Lake has won each of the last three meetings between the two schools, a streak the Trojans are in a position to end this season.

The Cardinals won a combined 28 games from 2021-23, eight more than any other Lake County team, but has now gone nearly a calendar year since its last win. If head coach Mark Cory’s squad can pull it together at home this week, it will be the team’s first victory since a 39-0 shutout of Cloverdale last Nov. 3.

St. Helena at Middletown

The St. Helena Saints got the scare of their lives last season, nearly blowing 34-0 and 37-8 leads before beating Lower Lake in overtime. They’ll be gunning for a third straight league win Friday at Bill Foltmer Field.

While the Saints have had their ups and downs this season, the last thing they’ve been is boring. Their only league loss, a 20-14 setback at Willits, came down to the final seconds with the Saints just yards away from the end zone when the game ended. They beat Upper Lake 32-28 at Upper Lake in another thriller, and last week’s overtime win over Lower Lake was about as exciting as it gets. During their preseason, the Saints also lost 20-17 at home in overtime to down-the-road neighbor Justin-Siena of Napa.

Middletown’s season has been defined by a pair of injuries to two of its best players – first quarterback Blake Costlow (broken foot) and then Jon Hawkins (wrist). Even with such devastating losses, the Mustangs still possess a dangerous running attack spearheaded by junior Trenton Griffith and freshman Tyler Galamay. They played Kelseyville tough last month, losing 24-21 in Middletown (minus Costlow), and gave Willits all it could handle last week in Willits (minus Costlow and Hawkins).

Middletown is 1-1 in its last two games despite not completing a pass in either. The Mustangs attempted no passes in a 34-28 road victory against Clear Lake and just four passes last week at Willits.

If the Mustangs can stay healthy – or at least close to it – the rest of the way, they do have a schedule that mostly works in their favor. After St. Helena, they close with games against Cloverdale (home, Oct. 18), Fort Bragg (away, Oct. 25) Lower Lake (away, Nov. 1) and Upper Lake (home, Nov. 8).

As a sidenote, the junior varsity game Friday between Middletown and St. Helena matches the league’s co-leaders at 3-0.