Kelseyville reels off 42 unanswered points after Lower Lake scores on opening kickoff
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LOWER LAKE >> The Kelseyville Knights didn’t shut out the Lower Lake Trojans on Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field, but they did shut out the Lower Lake offense during a 42-8 North Central League I varsity football win that moves them a step closer to the league title.
In fact, Kelseyville (6-0 league, 7-1 overall) can clinch no worse than a co-championship next Friday with a victory over Clear Lake in Bass Bowl XIV at Don Owens Stadium.
Lower Lake (1-5, 3-5) scored on the opening kickoff, Zakai Vilmenay taking it back 85 yards and then adding the two-point conversion to give the Trojans an 8-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game.
And that was as good as it would get for Lower Lake during a fifth straight loss.
Kelseyville, a winner of six straight, had a 15-8 lead barely three minutes later as running back/outside linebacker Michael DeJohn took matters into his own hands, first scoring on a 6-yard run to cap the Knights’ first drive of the game, then returning an interception, one of four picks on the night by Kelseyville, 40 yards for a touchdown. Jose Juarez added the extra point.
Kelseyville spent the rest of the game adding to its lead. Though Lower Lake’s defense forced the Knights to punt on each of their next two possessions, Kelseyville struck again with 1:05 left in the half on a Brock Barrick 12-yard touchdown pass to Hugh O’Boyle, the first varsity TD for the freshman, to make it 22-8.
After interceptions by DeJohn and Adrian Garcia, Kelseyville picked off another Ashton Hartmann pass only to have it wiped out by a roughing-the-passer penalty.
Kelseyville received the second-half kickoff and upped its lead to 28-8 with 8:31 remaining in the third quarter on a Max Lee 17-yard run. River Calhoun’s interception put the ball back into the Knights’ hands although they gave it right back when Lower Lake recovered a fumble.
Hartmann’s tough night ended a short time later when Kelseyville’s Daniel Anderson reys delivered a hard hit, forcing Lower Lake’s junior quarterback to the bench.
Kelseyville pushed its lead to 35-8 with 1:11 left in the third quarter, a pair of DeJohn runs and two Kyle Watkins receptions helping set up a Barrick 23-yard scoring strike to Watkins.
The Knights scored a final time early in the fourth quarter on a Lee 41-yard run.
O’Brien gave the Kelseyville defense its fourth interception of the night a short time later.
DeJohn continued his push toward 1,000 yards rushing with 107 on 15 carries while Lee added 86 yards on only eight carries. Barrick topped 1,000 yards passing by completing 9 of 12 attempts for 121 yards. Watkins finished with 92 yards receiving on six catches and also rushed for 35 yards. Barrick added another 49 yards on the ground.
DeJohn and Garcia each had nine total tackles to lead the defense. Close behind them were Anderson reys, Calhoun and Adam Astrup with seven tackles apiece. Anderson reys and Astrup also had sacks.
