Mustangs coming off hard-fought 41-34 loss; Knights looking for second straight win
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> When you allow as many rushing yards as the Middletown Mustangs did a week ago in a 41-34 loss to the St. Helena Saints, there is always cause for concern.
That doesn’t mean head coach Kurtis Woodard’s squad is in panic mode after giving up 408 yards on the ground to the Saints (4-0 league, 6-0 overall), but the Mustangs (3-1, 4-2) certainly are paying a little closer attention to went on up front against St. Helena as they prepare for the ground-oriented Kelseyville Knights (1-2, 1-3) on Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field.
“We definitely didn’t want to overreact,” Woodard said of the loss to St. Helena, a game between undefeated league leaders that wasn’t decided until the final second when the Saints snapped a 34-34 tie. “It was a great game. They’ve got a solid offensive line, good-sized and experienced. We’ve got a good line of mostly sophomores. We can’t wait to see where our guys are when they’re seniors. We still have all the confidence in them in the world.”
While St. Helena dominated up front both on offense and on defense, also holding Middletown’s ground game to 102 yards, Woodard said the Mustangs will learn from the experience and address areas where improvements can be made.
“We’ve challenged the offensive line this week and they’ve responded,” Woodard said. “And we’ve taken a different approach with our defensive line in practice this week after watching film on Saturday and Sunday.”
While the manhandling the Mustangs experienced up front against St. Helena was “humbling for all of us,” according to Woodard, Middletown’s first-year coach said he is plenty excited about his team’s four remaining league games and any postseason action to follow.
The first of those four games is against Kelseyville. That will be followed by road contests at Fort Bragg (Oct. 17) and Lower Lake (Oct. 24), and a home game Oct. 31 against Clear Lake.
Along with Kelseyville at Middletown on Friday night, Upper Lake (0-4, 0-6) travels to Cloverdale (0-3, 1-4), Clear Lake (3-0, 3-2) visits Willits (2-1, 4-1), and Fort Bragg (3-1, 3-3) plays at St. Helena. Lower Lake (0-4, 2-4) has the league bye.
Kelseyville at Middletown
Kelseyville is coming off its first win – both league and overall – of the season after a 40-7 drubbing of the Cloverdale Eagles a week ago in Kelseyville. The Knights moved the ball on the ground and through the air as starting quarter Kimo Brown returning to the lineup after missing the team’s first three games with an injury.
Getting players back from injuries helped fuel the Kelseyville rout, according to head coach Les Flores, and not just Brown.
Michael DeJohn, the team’s top running back a year ago, also returned to the lineup after missing time with an injury and gained 101 yards on only 10 carries. Max Lee, who filled in at quarterback while Brown was out, moved back to his natural position of running back and gained 40 yards, and sophomore Andrew Souza had 71 yards.
Junior running back Bryce Keener also saw limited action while recovering from an injury.
“We gave limited carries to Michael and Bryce because we didn’t want them to aggravate their injuries,” Flores said. “Having Max back at running back was big. He’s a phenomenal runner.”
Brown also got into the act with 114 passing yards and two touchdowns.
With nearly 270 rushing yards against Cloverdale, the Knights figure to test out a Middletown defense that struggled against St. Helena.
“We need to establish the run to get our passing game open,” Flores said.
“I’m sure they’re not discouraged by what they saw,” Woodard said of the Kelseyville coaching staff’s reaction to Middletown’s struggles against the St. Helena running game.
Woodard said both DeJohn and Keener provided the Mustangs with a challenge a year ago when the Knights, on their way to a perfect league record of 8-0, beat Middletown 24-21 at Middletown.
“Our work ethic is not to take an easy approach to this week, and we haven’t,” Woodard said of preparing for Kelseyville.
“They’re at home, there’s not much to say about them,” Flores said of the Mustangs. “They have athletes over there with some speed.”
While appreciative of getting in the win column last week against Cloverdale, Flores said there are plenty of things the Knights can improve at this week.
“We made a lot of small, fundamental mistakes that can cost you a game if you’re not careful,” Flores said.
Putting the ball on the ground on three straight offensive possessions was one such thing.
“We gave them a chance to get back into the game,” Flores said. “There’s a lot of stuff we need to fix.”
Keys for Kelseyville against Middletown are simply eliminating the mental mistakes, according to Flores, and keeping their heads up if things don’t break their way right away.
“We can’t put our heads down, we need to play through adversity,” he said. “Our senior captains need to keep the team moving forward.”
There was some other good news for Kelseyville on the injury front. Lineman Elijah Watkins’ knee injury last week wasn’t a torn ACL, according to Flores, who said a MRI revealed only a knee contusion that while painful wasn’t season ending.
In fact, there’s an outside chance he could play against Middletown, according to Flores.
“It’s not looking like he’ll be out there (Friday), but I can’t rule it out. It’s a game-to-game thing. We’ll take it slow. His health comes first.”
Clear Lake at Willits
Coming off a 36-21 non-league loss to Mt. Shasta, a game that was called early in the fourth quarter because Clear Lake had run out of players because of injuries, the Cardinals resume league play, putting their 3-0 NCL I mark on the line against the 2-1 Wolverines, who struggled to beat an understrength Lower Lake squad 21-14 a week ago in Lower Lake.
A Clear Lake win combined with a St. Helena loss at home to Fort Bragg would leave the Cardinals alone atop the NCL I standings.
Although the weekly grade checks Clear Lake conducts every week won’t cost the Cardinals any players this week, injuries continue to be a problem. Two-way lineman Jake Ingham is out for the season with a knee injury while another two-way lineman, Colton Mendonca, is out this week with a shoulder injury.
“We would have only 13 players, but I’m pulling up four or five JVs because there is no JV game,” Clear Lake head coach Augie Perez.
Clear Lake’s JV team has lost too many players to grades and injuries, so it will forfeit against Willits, freeing up players to join the varsity.
“That will allow us to give our starters some breaks, like on special teams,” Perez said.
The varsity game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. When it does, it could be wet as a chance of rain is in the forecast.
“If it does rain, whoever runs the ball best usually wins,” Perez said. “We’re going to see who wants it more.”
Added Perez, “I think our offense we’ll be fine.”
Willits had trouble moving the ball a week ago against a Lower Lake team that started its backup quarterback and played the entire second half with its third-string quarterback. In fact, the game-winning score was a pick-six interception that snapped a 14-all tie.
“They’re big, physical kids,” Perez said of the Wolverines. “They run the ball well and mix in some passes.”
Upper Lake at Cloverdale
Someone is coming away with their first league win as the winless Cougars and Eagles collide. It’s likely the Cougars’ best chance for a victory this season as their remaining games are against Lower Lake (home), Kelseyville (away) and St. Helena (home).
Cloverdale is coming off a 40-7 loss at Kelseyville while Upper Lake fell 18-6 to Fort Bragg a week ago at home.
Cougar fans are reminded that halftime of next week’s Lower Lake-Upper Lake game will feature the presentation of longtime football and basketball coach Craig Kinser as the first member of the school’s Hall of Fame. Kinser will be officially inducted Oct. 18 during a dinner at Twin Fir Ranch in Upper Lake.
