Clear Lake’s game at Pierce won’t happen; Knights, Mustangs play at home Friday
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> It’s only week two of the high school football season in Lake County, but there are some banged up teams out there, some more than others.
Clear Lake (0-1), which suited up only 15 players in a 30-6 season-opening road loss to St. Bernard a week ago, is down to an even dozen and won’t travel to Arbuckle on Friday night to play the Pierce Bears (1-0). Compounding head coach Augie Perez’s situation is the lack of a quarterback.
Injured starter AJ Bruch is out again this week though he’s projected to start the Cardinals’ league opener next week at home against Fort Bragg. Backup quarterback Zane McAuley, who passed for 236 yards and a touchdown against St. Bernard, is also out this week with a swollen knee, according to Perez.
“Monday he couldn’t move on it,” Perez said. “I’m not going to put my guys in that position with no quarterback. We’ve got to get ready for league.”
Clear Lake and Pierce are trying to locate a replacement team to keep the Bears from having no game this week. If that can’t be achieved at this late date the Cardinals will take a forfeit.
While varsity teams generally pull up players from their junior varsity squad when these situations arise, Clear Lake’s JV team is also hurting for numbers. The JV game against Pierce is still on for 5 p.m.
“We also have some kids with nagging injuries from last week,” Perez said of the loss to St. Bernard. “We just need to get healthy for league.”
In other action Friday night, Kelseyville (0-0) opens its season at home against Orland (1-0), Middletown (0-1) hosts Piedmont (0-1), Lower Lake (1-0) travels to Healdsburg (0-1), and Upper Lake (0-1) visits Stuart Hall (1-0) for a varsity-only game in San Francisco.
Orland at Kelseyville
The Knights had a bye last weekend as the other county teams opened their season, and Kelseyville used that extra week of practice to prepare for one tough customer in the Orland Trojans, who are coming off a season-opening 21-18 victory against Paradise.
Orland has been piling up the wins, regular season and postseason, in recent years. The Trojans went 10-3 a year ago and lost in their section championship game to Lassen, that after posting an 11-2 record and winning a section championship in 2023 when they lost in the opening round of the state playoffs. In 2022, Orland (15-0) won a section championship and beat Clear Lake 42-21 in the opening round of the state playoffs before going on to capture the state title with a 20-7 victory over Shafter.
“They’re a great program, very competitive,” Kelseyville head coach Leo Flores said. “I like putting my boys against that kind of competition. It opens their eyes. I’m going to try and get these guys (on our schedule) the next couple of years.”
Kelseyville is coming off a 9-2 season in 2024, including an 8-0 record in league play, but the Knights graduated the majority of the impact players who made it special year. Most, but not all.
Senior running back Michael DeJohn, an All-League first-team selection in 2024, anchors the Knights’ backfield again this season after rushing for a team-best 1,270 yards and 16 touchdowns last year. He also was among Kelseyville’s top receivers with 21 receptions for 268 yards and two TDs.
“I’m looking for him to have another big year,” Flores said. “He gives me everything he has every play. He believes in my system and it’s important to have kids believe in what you’re doing out there.”
DeJohn was part of a sensational Kelseyville backfield in 2024 that featured a pair of 1,000-yard rushers – Kyle Watkins was the other one – as well as a quarterback, Brock Barrick, who passed for 1,518 yards and 13 TDs. This year, DeJohn is joined in the backfield by senior quarterback Maxwell Lee, who is new to the position, as well as running backs Brayton Thomas, Jayden Fabisch and Andrew Souza.
Kimo Brown, the projected starter at quarterback, is healing from an elbow injury that is likely to sideline him for several more weeks. His replacement, Lee, has a strong arm, according to Flores.
Kelseyville’s offensive line, another of the team’s strengths in 2024, remains a work in progress, according to Flores.
“The extra week of practice helped us,” Flores said. “I think they’re gelling. I’ve tweaked some things, moving people around to find what works best.”
Kelseyville has another bye next week as the other eight NCL I schools open their league schedules. The Knights thought about trying to fill that bye with another non-league game but decided against it.
“We didn’t want to do any last-minute things,” Flores. “We’ll use the extra week to better prepare us for our first league game (Sept. 19 at Fort Bragg).”
Another bye also will let the Knights, who should suit up 20 players against Orland, heal any bumps and bruises they incur during their season opener.
“They (Trojans) are a well-disciplined team, and they play with relentless effort,” he said. “We found that out last year when we played them. It was a good experience for us to see that kind of competition.”
Orland won last year’s meeting 44-21, also in week two, the only loss for the Knights until a 13-12 playoff setback to Del Norte more than two months later.
At least the Knights will be able to play on their own field in 2025, something they couldn’t do last year when “home” games took place at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport because of field renovations at Kelseyville.
Lower Lake at Healdsburg
Lower Lake and Healdsburg play a varsity-only game that kicks off 7 p.m. at Recreation Park in Healdsburg. Lower Lake’s JVs play Maxwell in a non-league game Thursday at 5 p.m. in Lower Lake.
The Trojans, much like Clear Lake, have been hit hard with injuries in the early going. While Lower Lake was able to put that all aside in a 22-7 home win over Esparto in week one, they face a bigger challenge this week, according to head coach Jay Jakubowski.
Lower Lake began the week with only two healthy starting linemen. One sustained a non-football injury last weekend, another is nursing an existing injury, and still another has been sick since Monday.
“I had to pull up three kids from the JV team just to get through practices,” Jakubowski said. “Hopefully we’ll be in better shape by Friday. It’s just been a nightmare so far this week.”
Wednesday was the first day of full practice for the Trojans this week owing to the manpower shortage.
Lower Lake is also likely to be without one its top defensive linemen, Noel Pereira, because of injury.
“We’re pretty much in the same situation we were going into last week,” Jakubowski said. “We’re just hoping for the best.”
Perhaps the only break for the Trojans is that the Healdsburg Greyhounds, coming off a heartbreaking 35-34 home loss to Washington in their opener last week, are also missing some key players owing to suspensions.
Even so, the Greyhounds have more weapons than Esparto, which had to forfeit to Lower Lake late in the first half because of an excessive number of injuries.
“They have a couple of guys who look good,” Jakubowski said. “They have two athletic wide receivers, an athletic quarterback, and some size. I think they’re going to have something when they’re 100 percent.”
Piedmont at Middletown
The Mustangs welcome senior Jon Hawkins back this week as they open their home schedule against a Piedmont team that handed them a 42-21 loss last year in Piedmont.
Hawkins missed the Mustangs’ 22-14 loss to Berean Christian a week ago in Walnut Creek because he was showing animals at the Lake County Fair. While Middletown is stacked with talent at the skill positions, Hawkins’ presence gives them an added dimension on both sides of the football.
“He’s one of the best athletes to come through Middletown in a long time,” Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. “We’re excited to have him back.”
The Mustangs were also missing a handful of linemen in their season opener. Their status for the Piedmont game is less certain, according to Woodard, who said he should know more about their availability late Thursday or early Friday.
“We’ve had a good week in practice, more focused and dialed in,” Woodard said. “We’ve been conditioning a little more, maybe that was part of what went wrong last week.”
Then again, maybe not. Middletown’s loss to Berean Christian came in triple-digit heat on a hot Saturday afternoon in Walnut Creek, a situation made worse by the artificial surface the teams were playing on. Two heat delays totaling more than an hour slowed everything down.
“We were in gear for five hours in those conditions,” Woodard said.
Piedmont lost 41-17 on the road to Salesian in its season opener last weekend.
“Piedmont played a tough Salesian team,” Woodard said.
Middletown’s loss at Piedmont a year ago came against a senior-dominated Highlanders squad, and that game had a lasting effect on the Mustangs’ season even if they didn’t realize it at the time. Middletown quarterback Blake Costlow sustained a broken foot late in the game, an injury diagnosed after the loss, and he didn’t return to the lineup until the final game of the season. Hawkins went out with an injury a few weeks later, complicating the situation.
Both Hawkins and Costlow are back healthy for their senior year, and the Mustangs are looking for a better result this year against Piedmont.
“We’re optimistic about how our guys measure up to their guys,” Woodard said.
Middletown will be without sophomore tackle/defensive lineman Josue Gutierrez, who has a torn meniscus. No one worked harder in the offseason for the Mustangs, according to Woodard.
“It’s a little bit of a bummer for him.” Woodard said. “He’ll put in the rehab time and get back as soon as he can. No one works harder than that guy.”
Upper Lake at Stuart Hall
While Clear Lake and Lower Lake are both struggling with injury issues this week, the Upper Lake Cougars aren’t far behind.
Travis McCutcheon, a junior tackle/defensive end, sustained an arm injury late in the fourth quarter of Upper Lake’s 40-0 loss to Los Molinos and could miss six to seven weeks.
“He was engaged in a block, landed on it wrong and he said someone fell on it (the arm),” Upper Lake head coach Derek Milhaupt said.
Also out is senior wide receiver Trevan Fabisch with a wrist injury.
Illness has also kept players out of practice this week, according to Milhaupt.
“We’re trying to more some people around to see what works,” Milhaupt said.
What didn’t work a week ago was Upper Lake’s offense, which couldn’t stay on the field long enough to do much. The Cougars had almost no running game and only 38 yards of total offense, and that left the Upper Lake defense on the field far too long.
“It’s back to the basics for us,” Milhaupt said. “We need to put together an offense that can move the ball a little bit. We’ve been focusing on line play, and we need our quarterback to hit some open people.”
Because there is no JV game this week, Upper Lake has moved up some players to help out, according to Milhaupt. Varsity kickoff is 6 p.m.
Stuart Hall is transitioning from eight-man football to the 11-man game, and the Knights will play both eight- and 11-man games this season.
“They definitely have enough players for 11-man,” Milhaupt said. “They looked good and physical last week.”
Stuart Hall beat Mammoth 26-12 a week ago in the season opener for both teams, an eight-man game.
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