Mustangs roll past Fort Bragg Timberwolves 38-8 in North Central League I action
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FORT BRAGG >> Blake Costlow tied a Middletown record with four touchdowns in one game as the Mustangs beat the Fort Bragg Timberwolves 38-8 in North Central League I varsity football action at Timberwolf Stadium.
Costlow went 8-for-11 for 208 yards, four touchdowns and one interception as the Mustangs improved to 5-1 in the league standings and 6-2 overall.
“He’s trusting his receivers on some throws into difficult coverages,” Woodard said of the senior Costlow, who is putting his experience behind center to good use so far this season. He has 10 touchdowns in the last three games alone.
Costlow divided those touchdowns between three different receivers, including Hayden Xavier, who had scoring grabs of 53 and 22 yards, his only two receptions on the night.
“One of things we wanted to do was to get the ball in his hands more often, something we talked about before the game,” Woodard said of Xavier. “We got it to Hayden and he did the best he could do with it.”
A 10-yard crossing route to Xavier turned into a 53-yard touchdown that opened the scoring. Tyler Galamay ran in the conversion for an 8-0 Middletown lead less than a minute and a half into the game.
Middletown scored later in the same quarter on a Galamay 13-yard run to go up 14-0. Galamay finished with 81 yards on seven carries on a night when Fort Bragg loaded up the box against the Mustangs’ running game. While that might have slowed Middletown down in recent seasons, not this year with a healthy Costlow in the lineup (he missed most of the 2024 season with a foot injury).
“We have a passing game this year,” Woodard said. “They had a lot of guys in the box, and that opened up the pass.”
Costlow’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Xavier in the second quarter and Costlow’s conversion run pushed the Mustangs lead to 22-0. Fort Bragg (3-3, 3-5) closed to 22-8 with 25 seconds left in the half on Beau Hebden’s 1-yard run. Erik Kamstra added the two-point conversion run.
Hebden cracked the 100-yard mark with 105 yards, but he had to earn it with 27 carries against the Middletown defense, according to Woodard.
“They pounded us up the middle pretty good, but if that’s the worst thing to happen to us, that’s OK,” Woodard said of the Mustangs’ bend-but-don’t-break defensive philosophy, and his team’s ability for the quick strike on offense once it does get the ball back.
Trenton Griffith’s 22-yard touchdown catch and his two-point conversion run late in the third quarter pushed Middletown’s lead to 30-8, which is where the score remained until Costlow and Jon Hawkins hooked up on a 13-yard touchdown pass with four minutes left in the game, a throw that raised a few eyebrows along the Fort Bragg sideline given the score at the time.
“Nothing like that was in our minds,” Woodard said of running up the score. “Looking back, it probably would have been an opportunity to run the second-string guys in there, but they (Timberwolves) were packing the box, and the pass was open. There was no intent to run up the score.”
The touchdown grab was Hawkins’ fifth catch of the night for 111 yards overall.
“We were rather confused why whey would be running five-wide receiver formations and be throwing at the end of the game,” said Fort Bragg assistant coach Justin Sipila, a 20-year coaching veteran. “Our head coach (Cody Lowe) considered taking knees to end the game when we go the ball back. He decided to run some offense but was not going to call timeouts to prolong the game. The game ended with the ball on the Middletown 1-yard line.”
Griffith, the target of Fort Bragg’s defense much of the night, according to Woodard, finished with 50 yards on nine carries.
Middletown’s defense was led again by Ryan Halverson with 24 total tackles, his second 20-plus tackle game in a row. Xavier and EJ Rose both had 10 tackles, and Xavier also had an interception.
Woodard said he was pleased with the overall effort against the Timberwolves, a team that beat Middletown 37-26 last year in Fort Bragg.
“Shooting on all cylinders for the most part,” Woodard said. “Fun football.”
Middletown stays on the road next Friday to play Lower Lake (1-4, 3-4) before finishing up its league and regular-season schedule at home Oct. 31 against Clear Lake (4-1, 4-3). The Mustangs have a bye on Nov. 7, the final Friday of the regular season.
Middletown’s junior varsity team won its first-place showdown with Fort Bragg 36-0 to remain perfect in league play (6-0) and undefeated on the season (8-0).
