DeJohn, Watkins fuel league-clinching 48-27 victory over Saints
By Mike Hansen, senior correspondent, and Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKEPORT >> Kelseyville’s offense continued a season-long trend of coming up with big scoring plays while trouncing the St. Helena Saints 48-27 and clinching the undisputed North Central League I varsity football championship Friday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport.
Kelseyville wrapped up a perfect league record (8-0) while winning its first NCL I championship since 2018, also with an undefeated mark (7-0). One common thread between the two league titles was coach Erick Larsen. He guided the 2018 Knights to that league title, but on Friday he was on the opposing sideline watching Kelseyville celebrate. St. Helena’s second-year coach was hoping for a different outcome as the Saints (6-2, 6-4) needed a win to earn a three-way share of the title.
Both Kelseyville and St. Helena will await Sunday’s at-large and seeding meeting to find out who, when and where they’ll be playing next week in the North Coast Section playoffs.
While St. Helena did its best to keep Kelseyville in its sights, the Saints were never closer than eight points after cutting Kelseyville’s lead to 27-19 with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Jhony Covarrubias to wide receiver Dean Sommer just 55 seconds into the third quarter.
St. Helena scored right before halftime on a 4-yard pass from Covarrubias to running back Sam Beck to slice Kelseyville’s lead to 27-12, that after the Knights had built a commanding 27-6 advantage on the strength of a 60-yard Kyle Watkins touchdown run midway through the first quarter, an 80-yard Michael DeJohn touchdown run with 3:49 remaining in the quarter, a 14-yard DeJohn scoring run with 6:37 left in the second quarter, and an 18-yard Watkins run three minutes later.
After Kelseyville moved out to a 14-0 lead on Watkins’ and DeJohn’s touchdowns in the first quarter, St. Helena closed to 14-6 on a Covarrubias-to-Sommer 11-yard touchdown pass.
When the Saints once again narrowed the Knights’ lead to just eight points early in the third quarter, the Knights put the game away in a hurry.
Just 10 seconds after Covarrubias and Sommer hooked up on their second touchdown of the night to make it 27-19, DeJohn scored on the very next play from scrimmage, breaking free for a 65-yard touchdown, his third score of the night.
DeJohn’s fourth touchdown, this time on a 33-yard run after a Watkins TD run was wiped out by a penalty on the previous play, made it a 40-19 game with 37 seconds left in the third quarter.
Another huge play for the Knights, this time a 71-yard touchdown pass from Brock Barrick to Watkins, gave Kelseyville its biggest lead of the game at 48-19 with 5:59 left.
St. Helena recovered a fumble in the end zone with three seconds remaining… to close to 48-27.
Kelseyville’s offense had a night to remember, piling up 554 rushing yards and six touchdowns, led by DeJohn and Watkins. DeJohn ended up with 242 yards on 14 carries while Watkins had 188 yards on nine carries. Barrick added 84 rushing yards while going 7-for-13 in the passing department for 139 yards, one touchdown and one interception. In all, 693 yards of total offense for the Knights, who now have a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in the junior DeJohn and the senior Watkins, who reached that milestone for the second year in a row. Both have 15 rushing touchdowns.
Watkins also led the Knights with five receptions for 94 yards and a TD.
While Kelseyville gave up the most points its allowed in a league game this season, the Knights sacked Covarrubias five times. The Knights piled up the tackles, too. Daniel Anderson Reyes had four unassisted tackles, five assists, including two sacks, while River Calhoun had three solo stops and five assists. Adam Astrup (sack), Jayden Teabo, Jeffery Ballard, Bryce Keener Milez Gambria (sack) and Adrian Garcia (sack) each had seven total tackles.
Larsen coached Kelseyville from 2015-2022 before leaving for St. Helena last year. He was on the winning end of a 17-14 decision with the Knights in 2023.
