Knights win final home game after slow start, beat Upper Lake 41-6
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KELSEYVILLE >> It hasn’t been an easy season for the Kelseyville Knights in 2025, but the team’s seniors certainly had a night to remember Friday during a 41-6 victory over the Upper Lake Cougars in North Central League I varsity football action at Kelseyville.
Honored during the final home game of the season were seniors, Michael DeJohn, Max Lee, Logan Farfan-Boyles, Jose Juarez, Roman Mathis, Adrian Garcia, Milez Gambria, Tucker Murray, Michael Little and Cody Holmes.
DeJohn, coming off a 243-yard rushing game a week earlier against Willits, finished with 216 yards officially, and it would have been more than 300 had he not had runs of 89 and 42 yards called back on penalties, a real bugaboo early on for the Knights (2-4 league, 2-5 overall) against the winless Cougars (0-7, 0-9). He did all of that on only 11 carries and finished with two touchdowns.
Lee also stepped into the senior spotlight with 78 yards rushing, including a 30-yard touchdown, and like teammate DeJohn his total would have been higher had he not had a long run wiped out by penalty. Garcia and Gambria, both linemen, made the most of their only carries during the game, Garcia scoring from six yards out and Gambria on a 2-yard run.
On defense, seniors Mathis and Lee had interceptions while Farfan-Boyles recovered an onside kick. Tackle leaders were the senior trio of Garcia (nine, including a half-sack), Gambria (seven) and DeJohn (six). Other leaders were Jayden Fabisch (six) and Andrew Souza (four and a half-sack).
Juarez made his final home game a memorable one, too, going 5-for-5 on his extra-point kicks. A bad snap following the Knights’ final touchdown let to unsuccessful two-point run.
Bryce Keener finished with a team-best 80 yards of rushing that included a 49-yard touchdown.
Stymied by penalties until late in the first quarter, the Knights took a 7-0 lead with 1:42 left on the clock as Lee scored and Juarez added the extra point. Gambria’s touchdown with 10:04 remaining in the first half followed by a DeJohn 5-yard run later in the second quarter made it 21-0.
Kelseyville recovered its own onside kick following the DeJohn touchdown, Farfan-Boyles dropping on the ball, to put the ball right back in the Knights’ hands. DeJohn scored again, this time on a 37-yard run with 1:13 left in the half, for a 28-0 lead.
Running out of healthy players, Upper Lake asked for a running clock in the second half and Kelseyville obliged. Mathis’ interception set up Keener’s 49-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, pushing the Knights’ lead to 35-0. The Cougars finally broke through with 2:13 left in the quarter to make it 35-6.
Garcia’s touchdown midway through the fourth quarter capped the scoring and lifted the Knight to their second league win, both coming at home.
JV game
Kelseyville won the junior varsity game 18-14 to improve to 3-2-1 in the league standings while Upper Lake fell to 3-3.
Kelseyville went up 6-0 on a Case Pivniska 5-yard run before Upper Lake pushed ahead 8-6 in the second quarter. Quarterback Deake Lyndall’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Carson Stone with 1:44 left in the third quarter put the Knights back in front to stay at 12-8.
The Knights increased that lead to 18-8, recovering a fumble and punching the ball into the end zone on a Jayden Merrill 4-yard run with four minutes left in the game. Upper Lake answered with a touchdown of its own with 1:15 remaining before Kelseyville ran out the clock.
GAME NOTES: Kelseyville attempted only six passes in the game and completed just one, a 15-yarder to DeJohn … The Knights play their final two games on the road but won’t leave Lake County. They travel to Lower Lake next Friday for a Halloween game with the Trojans and visit Lakeport on Nov. 7 to meet Clear Lake. They would reach .500 in league play with wins against both the Trojans and Cardinals. Kelseyville has won its last two meetings with Clear Lake in the annual Bass Bowl game.