Clear Lake returns home to face Willits Wolverines
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LAKE COUNTY >> Before the Middletown Mustangs can reach the North Coast Section football playoffs in head coach Bill Foltmer’s 40th and final season, they need to qualify, and given the injuries the team has sustained this season, that’s not going to be easy.
Middletown, 2-3 in league and 3-4 overall, likely needs wins in two of its final three games, beginning Friday night when the Mustangs make the long trip over to the Mendocino County coast to play the Fort Bragg Timberwolves (3-2, 4-3), a team that is definitely in the playoff hunt this season.
In other NCL I games on Friday, the league-leading Kelseyville Knights (5-0, 6-1) hit the road to play the Lower Lake Trojans (1-4, 3-4), and the Clear Lake Cardinals (1-4, 1-6) are home to face the Willits Wolverines (5-1, 6-2). Cloverdale (0-7, 1-8) has forfeited its game with St. Helena (5-1, 5-3) because it doesn’t have enough healthy players. Upper Lake (3-3, 4-4) has a bye.
Middletown at Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg has won two straight and is coming off a 34-14 victory at Upper Lake. The Timberwolves’ two league losses were 41-14 against Kelseyville and 29-20 to Willits, both on the road. They are 3-0 at home this season.
Middletown ended a two-game losing streak with a 27-0 home victory last week against Cloverdale, a game the Eagles forfeited at halftime because of too many injuries.
“Matchup wise it’s a tough one for us,” Foltmer said of going up against a Timberwolf offense that is all about senior running back Alex Nicholson (854 yards, 8 TDs), who is averaging 9.1 yards a carry.
“They’re all about different ways of running No. 5 (Nicholson) off-tackle,” Foltmer said. “We know what’s coming. It comes down to my seniors like Jay-J Gerst, (Jacob) Pullman and (Nicholas) Guerrero play. We’ll go as they go. If my seniors play well, we’ll be in the game.”
In previous outings against power football teams like the Timberwolves this season, the Mustangs have been worn down and overtaken by the likes of Kelseyville, Willits and St. Helena, although all three were one-score games.
“We’ve struggled just a little bit to stop that,” Foltmer said.
Middletown lost players to injury even before the season began but in-season injuries to starting quarterback Blake Costlow (broken foot) and Jon Hawkins (backup quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back, kicker) has severely curtailed Middletown’s playbook on offense.
“We’ll have Kolton Costlow in there (at quarterback) and he can throw a little bit; I hope that will take some of the pressure off of our running game,” Foltmer said.
Fort Bragg is the first of two straight games for the Mustangs on the road. They travel to Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake on Nov. 1 before returning home Nov. 8 to take on Upper Lake, which could be Foltmer’s final game and most certainly his last home game.
Middletown’s veteran coach, who at 312 victories is the state’s winningest active coach, needs one more win to move into a tie for ninth place on the list of all-tie victory leaders. Getting that win at Fort Bragg would not only move the Mustangs back to .500 in league play and overall but be a big step toward furthering the team’s hopes of landing a postseason at-large berth and extending Foltmer’s career by at least one more week.
Middletown beat Fort Bragg 35-12 a year ago at Bill Foltmer Field and has won each of the last four meetings with the Timberwolves. Fort Bragg’s last win over the Mustangs was 18-14 at home in league play in 2018 although the Mustangs avenged that loss with a 29-22 playoff victory, also at Fort Bragg.
Kelseyville at Lower Lake
Two teams headed in the opposite directions square off Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field where the visiting Kelseyville Knights, winners of five in a row, face off with the Lower Lake Trojans, losers of four straight but with an opportunity to play spoiler as a tight NCL I race enters the homestretch.
Lower Lake hasn’t gone quietly during its four-game, losing two overtime games (one a double-overtime battle) and a last-second 29-27 loss to Clear Lake in Lakeport where the Trojans couldn’t convert a short field goal in the final seconds. Coming off a bye week, the Trojans have games remaining against Kelseyville, Middletown (home Nov. 1) and Fort Bragg (away Nov. 8). Much like Middletown, they’ll likely need to win two of their remaining three to have a shot at the playoffs.
Kelseyville is coming off a 20-17 win over Willits, a victory that left the Knights as the league’s last undefeated team. Now the Knights need to hold serve on the road – they face Clear Lake in Bass Bowl XIV in Lakeport on Nov. 1 – before returning home for their league and regular-season finale Nov. 8 against St. Helena. Depending on how both the Knights and St. Helena fare each of the next two weeks, that Nov. 8 game could have a big say in how the race ends.
Kelseyville running back Kyle Watkins, who played a week ago against Willits but did not carry the ball as he recovers from an ankle injury, is expected to get a limited number of carries this week. Wide receiver Reme Strong is still out with a shoulder injury and will undergo an MRI next week. Running back Bryce Keener (hamstring) is not expected to play.
Willits at Clear Lake
Willits is coming off its first league loss, a 20-17 setback to Kelseyville, and the Wolverines return to Don Owens Stadium for a second straight week (Kelseyville is also using Don Owens Stadium as its home this season as its own field undergoes renovations).
The Cardinals certainly will have their hands full each of the next weeks as Kelseyville is up next for head coach Mark Cory’s squad.
Clear Lake jumped out to a 14-0 lead against St. Helena in its last game and led 21-13 at halftime before the Saints reeled off 29 unanswered points in the second half for a 42-21 win. The Cardinals followed a really productive first half with a bad second half, their struggle to put four solid quarters together in one game ongoing.
The Cardinals beat Willits 26-10 last season in Willits but lost starting quarterback Jake Soderquist to a season-ending injury in the process. They still went on to clinch a share of the league title but won only one of their final three games. In 2022, Willits won 15-14 in overtime at Willits, the Cardinals’ only league loss that season and their first setback after eight straight victories.