Clear Lake, Middletown, St. Helena, Willits look like top teams moving forward
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Clear Lake, Middletown, St. Helena and Willits take undefeated North Central League I records into next weekend’s round of games, officially week five for the 2025 season.
Clear Lake, Middletown and St. Helena are 2-0 while Willits, which beat Healdsburg 69-34 last weekend during its league bye, is 1-0. Willits travels to Middletown this Friday as the Mustangs, off to a 3-1 start under new head coach Kurtis Woodard, celebrates their homecoming.
St. Helena is 4-0 and off to its best start since 2015. The Saints visit Kelseyville on Friday while Clear Lake travels to Upper Lake (0-4), and Lower Lake visits Fort Bragg.
If there was a surprise game during week four, it was Fort Bragg’s 8-6 victory over Kelseyville in Fort Bragg. The Knights held a 6-0 lead almost until the end, giving up the lead with 1:41 remaining as the previously winless Timberwolves scored a touchdown and made the all-important two-point conversion. It was the first points of any kind for Fort Bragg since week one.
NCL I teams still looking for that elusive first league win are Lower Lake, Upper Lake and Cloverdale, all 0-2, and 0-1 Kelseyville.
While Lake County won’t have an undefeated varsity team this season, the Middletown junior varsity squad is still perfect at 2-0 in league and 4-0 under head coach Paul Silva. Middletown took care of business Friday against a solid Upper Lake team, winning 32-6.
Here’s a look back at some of the highlights and lowlights from Week 4:
Statistics
Rushing – Clear Lake’s Jesse Hayes rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 28-14 homecoming win over Lower Lake. Tyler Galamay and Trenton Griffith of Middletown didn’t see that much action in a 50-0 victory over Upper Lake, but they made the most of their playing time. Galamay rushed for 77 yards on four carries with one TD and Griffith had 31 yards on six carries with two TDs. John Finney actually led the Mustangs with 90 yards and a TD while teammate Ryan Halverson scored on a 57-yard run, his only carry of the game. Lower Lake quarterback Ashton Hartmann finished with 43 yards and a TD against Clear Lake. Teammate Anthony Russell added 37 yards and a TD. Kelseyville’s Max Lee and Michael DeJohn finished with 56 and 50 yards, respectively, in the Knights’ 8-6 loss to Fort Bragg.
Passing – Clear Lake’s AJ Bruch went 8-for-24 for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Middletown’s Blake Costlow completed three of six passes for 154 yards and a TD. Lower Lake’s Ashton Hartmann went 10-for-16 for 107 yards and an interception.
Receiving – Clear Lake’s Jesse Hayes had five catches for 139 yards and a TD. Hayden Xavier had an 83-yard touchdown reception for Middletown. Also for the Mustangs, Griffith had two catches for 71 yards.
Special teams
Game-winning score – Clear Lake placekicker Copper Garrity’s 23-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in the third quarter put the Cardinals ahead to stay, 15-14, in their homecoming win over Lower Lake.
To the house … again – One week after returning a kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown against Cloverdale, Middletown’s Tyler Galamay returned the second-half kickoff against Upper Lake 80 yards for a TD.
Defense
Plenty of pressure – Clear Lake and Lower Lake combined for five sacks on Friday night in Lakeport. Both schools had the other team’s QB scrambling for his life at times, so much so that the Trojan defense drew two intentional-grounding penalties during a four-play span in the third quarter.
Pick-six – Kelseyville’s Logan Farfan-Broyles returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown for the Knights’ only points against Fort Bragg. In the same game, Kelseyville’ Adrian Garcia was in on 13 total tackles, six of them solo stops. Broyles and Gordon Astrup were in on nine tackles apiece.
Miscellaneous
Streaks – Middletown has won three in a row since falling to Berean Christian in its season opener. Upper Lake has dropped six straight dating back to last season (all of them shutouts).
Still waiting – Kelseyville’s defense did score against Fort Bragg, but not the offense, which has been shut out in each of its two games this season.
Important stretch – Middletown celebrates its homecoming Friday against Willits (1-0 league, 3-0 overall) and hits the road Friday Oct. 3 to play St. Helena (2-0, 4-0).
Injured – Clear Lake lost a key player, senior Zane McAuley, to a shoulder injury Friday night against Lower Lake. The extent of the injury isn’t known yet.
In the JV ranks – Middletown improved to 2-0 in league and 4-0 overall with a 32-6 win over Upper Lake. Kelseyville opened league play with a 6-6 tie at Fort Bragg. Quarterback Deake Lyndall’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Carson Stone accounted for the Knights’ points. Case Pivniska rushed for 79 yards, had eight tackles and defense, and blocked the extra-point kick after Fort Bragg’s touchdown.
All or nothing – In the Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League ranks this past weekend, all three Westshore teams shut out all three Lower Lake teams, and all three Kelseyville teams did the same thing to their Northshore opponents.
Big week in volleyball – Cloverdale, Fort Bragg and Kelseyville all begin the week 4-0 in the North Central League I varsity volleyball standings. Cloverdale hosts Fort Bragg on Tuesday and then hits the road Thursday to play Kelseyville. Stay tuned.
Just a FYI – If you team plays on a given night and results/statistics are reported two days later, just save yourself the trouble and don’t report them. Things move fast and furious during the fall sports season and there’s really no time to play catch-up. Scores/stats should be reported the night of the game.
Always a big thanks – To Trett Bishop, Amber McIntire, Ed Oswalt, Geri Costlow, Bob Minenna, Skye Mateer, Ashlee Lee and Heather Wurm for sending me game/match photos and videos.
Useless endeavor – Arguing with official from the sidelines. You’re never going to win.
Yellow flags here, yellow flags there, yellow flags everywhere – Lower Lake was penalized 15 times for 116 yards against Clear Lake, which drew 13 penalties for 97 yards. And that doesn’t count offsetting penalties on three other occasions.
Have yourself a day – Clear Lake senior Jesse Hayes rushed for 199 yards (2 TDs), had 139 receiving yards (TD), intercepted a pass that sealed the Cardinals’ 28-14 win over Lower Lake, and was named homecoming king at halftime. Not bad for a guy who was on the shelf for almost two full football seasons recovering from a knee injury after a sensational freshman year.
Taking no prisoners – The Kelseyville High School girls soccer team is 3-0 in league and 12-1 overall. Nine of their 12 wins have been shutouts.
