Clear Lake hosts K’ville in Week 10 football action; Trojans host Mustangs, Cougars at Willits
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LAKE COUNTY >> While the Kelseyville-Clear Lake football rivalry has been a big thing since well before the artificial entity known as the Bass Bowl was created in 2010, the two archrivals once again collide Friday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport.
Bass Bowl XIV appears to be a huge mismatch on paper as the Kelseyville Knights (6-0 league, 7-1 overall) have won six straight since losing to Orland 44-21 in non-league action way back on Sept. 6. Meanwhile the Clear Lake Cardinals (1-5, 1-7), who won more games the last three seasons than any other county school, have but one victory to show for their efforts this so far this year though they have shown multiple flashes of competitiveness, including in each of their last two games when they led St. Helena (5-1, 5-3) and Willits (6-1, 7-2) at halftime. In fact, the Cardinals and Willits were tied 39-39 a week ago in Lakeport before the Wolverines pulled out a 46-39 win in the final seconds.
Kelseyville leads the Bass Bowl series 8-5, including a 42-14 win last season in Kelseyville that was never in doubt. Clear Lake was minus its starting quarterback, Jake Soderquist, in that one because of an injury and while the Cardinals still went on to claim a share of the league title, they weren’t able to overcome that injury.
The Knights return virtually the same team this year and that senior-led squad has certainly lived up to all the expectations placed on it. If Kelseyville beats Clear Lake in the Bass Bowl, it can do no worse than a tie for the NCL I title. If the Cardinals can somehow pull off the upset, the final Friday of the regular season on Nov. 8 will determine everything as far as the league race is concerned.
While Clear Lake-Kelseyville is certainly the Week 9 headliner in Lake County, it’s not the only game with league title significance. Fort Bragg (4-2, 5-3) travels to St. Helena on Friday night while Willits closes out its league and regular-season schedule at home against Upper Lake (3-3, 4-4). The Wolverines have a bye next weekend. Also on the Friday schedule is Middletown (2-4, 3-5) at Lower Lake (1-5, 3-5), a game that doesn’t have any bearing on the league race but certainly has playoff implications for both squads.
Kelseyville at Clear Lake
While both Bass Bowl rivals call Don Owens Stadium home this season as Kelseyville’s home field undergoes renovations, Clear Lake is the official home team Friday night. This is not only the Cardinals’ final home game, but it’s their last game of the season as they will receive a forfeit win from Cloverdale in Week 11 (the Eagles shut down the varsity squad last week because of too many injuries). The junior varsity teams will play next week in Cloverdale.
While this is the 14th Bass Bowl meeting, not many of the earlier games have had much of an impact on the league race. The 2022 game was probably the best in the series’ history, with Clear Lake holding off Kelseyville 43-33 in Lakeport on its way to winning the undisputed league championship with a 6-1 record to Kelseyville’s 5-2. That Bass Bowl also served as the league opener for both teams. They would meet again in the semifinals of the North Coast Section playoffs, Clear Lake winning another hard-fought battle 28-22 at Lakeport.
While last year’s game won by the Knights, which took place on the second-to-last week of the league schedule, certainly was a sweet victory for head coach Leo Flores’ squad, Kelseyville wasn’t in the running for the league title at that point though the Knights were headed to the postseason – both Clear Lake and Kelseyville ended up losing in the sectional semifinals.
During the nearly decade-and-a-half existence of the Bass Bowl series, Kelseyville owns the longest winning streak as the Knights won six in a row between 2013-2018. Clear Lake had a three-game run between 2019-2022. No Bass Bowl took place in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only three Bass Bowl games have been decided by seven or fewer points and none since 2019 (37-30 Clear Lake win).
In terms of extremes, the lowest-scoring Bass Bowl game ended with a 7-3 Clear Lake win in Bass Bowl II. The most lopsided game was Clear Lake’s 53-6 victory in 2021.
On the outside chance that both Willits and St. Helena lose at home Friday night, Kelseyville would clinch the outright league championship with a win against Clear Lake.
Kelseyville running back Michael DeJohn, a junior, could eclipse 1,000 rushing yards for the season during Friday’s action. The team leader in rushing and receiving yardage entering play, DeJohn needs 83 yards to reach 1,000.
Upper Lake at Willits
The Cougars can do themselves and Kelseyville a big favor by beating the Wolverines on Friday night. Upper Lake lost two straight at home, falling to Kelseyville and Fort Bragg, before going into its bye week. They have an opportunity to jump back above the .500 mark both in the league standings and overall, which would definitely bolster their chances of reaching the postseason in 11-man football for the first time since 1992.
Willits passed for 464 yards and five touchdowns last week against Upper Lake although the Wolverines are also quite capable of moving the ball on the ground. Quarterback Corey Rockey and splitback Kolbe Burfardeci will be plenty active no matter what the Wolverines decide to do with the ball. Rockey passed 2,000 passing yards on the season (2,004) against Clear Lake while Bufardeci, one of the most productive wide receivers in the entire state this year, caught 19 passes for 354 yards and four touchdowns against Clear Lake, pushing his season receiving yardage total to 1,301 yards.
Willits shut out Upper Lake 47-0 last season in Upper Lake. The two teams haven’t played each other in Willits since 2010 when the Wolverines won 36-8. Upper Lake won 35-8 at Willits in 2008.
Middletown at Lower Lake
What could be the final away game in the long and successful career of 40-year Middletown coaching veteran Bill Foltmer takes place under the lights at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake, a fitting venue given that Foltmer and Sadler were great friends – and Sadler later served as Foltmer’s very successful offensive coordinator at Middletown, helping him win a sectional title in 2001.
The Mustangs return home the following week to play Upper Lake in what is certainly Foltmer’s final home game. The Mustangs’ head coach since the 1985 season, 293 of his 312 career wins have come at Middletown, and the state’s active wins leader needs just one more victory to move up a notch (to ninth place) on the state’s all-time wins list.
More to the point, Middletown also needs a win to keep its postseason hopes alive and well this season. The Mustangs have rarely missed the playoffs or finished under .500 during Foltmer’s tenure. They can still reach .500 in league play and overall with wins against the Trojans and Cougars, teams Foltmer has dominated during his stay at the school.
Injuries to quarterback Blake Costlow and Jon Hawkins have derailed the Mustangs’ season to be sure, but they’ve still battled hard against all the league’s top teams, losing 24-21 to Kelseyville, 14-7 to Willits, 9-7 to St. Helena and 37-26 to Fort Bragg.
Despite its five-game losing streak, the Trojans have battled for the most part, too, losing a pair of overtime games as well as a 29-27 decision to Clear Lake decided in the final seconds. They struggled a week ago against Kelseyville, falling 42-8 while the Mustangs fell on the road at Fort Bragg.
Middletown beat Lower Lake 35-7 last season at Bill Foltmer Field, and the Mustangs have taken 15 straight against the Trojans. Lower Lake’s last victory in the head-to-head series came in 2007 when the Trojans, then coached by Stan Weiper, beat the Mustangs 15-13 at Middletown to clinch the NCL I North championship.