Kelseyville hoping to extend winning streak to three games
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Bass Bowl XV, first contested in 2010 with one miss in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, returns to Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport Friday night as the Kelseyville Knights call on the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Kelseyville (3-4 league, 3-5 overall) and Clear Lake (4-3, 4-5) have an outside chance of making the playoffs with a win, but even if both teams entered the game winless, this one is still a biggie for these archrivals.
This year’s game falls on the final week of the regular season and the Knights, who lead the series 9-5, are looking to pick up a third straight victory. Clear Lake’s last win came in 2022.
“It’s for bragging rights for the year,” said Augie Perez, who is appearing in his first Bass Bowl as head coach of the Cardinals. “It sets the tone for the rest of the year … basketball, wrestling, baseball.”
Third-year Kelseyville head coach Leo Flores, who is voluntarily stepping down as head coach at the end of the season, is 2-0 in the Bass Bowl series.
The Knights, winners of two straight entering play, can finish league play at .500 with a third consecutive victory, and beating Clear Lake in this rivalry game definitely has the Knights’ full attention, according to Flores.
“The past couple of weeks the kids have been having fun and they are in good spirits,” Flores said.
There will be no junior varsity Bass Bowl as Clear Lake’s JV team is forfeiting for the second straight week because of a lack of players.
“We had 11 to begin the week, but one got in trouble at school, so we only have 10,” Perez said.
Clear Lake offered to play an eight-man game against Kelseyville, but the Knights had no interest, according to Flores.
“The kids took a vote and didn’t want to,” Flores said. “They want to play basketball (basketball season officially opened Monday with the first day of practice).”
As a result of the JV forfeit, the varsity Bass Bowl game kicks off at 6 p.m. at Don Owens Stadium.
In other Week 11 action around the North Central League I, St. Helena (7-0, 9-0) can wrap up the undisputed league championship with a win at Upper Lake (0-7, 0-9), Lower Lake (1-6, 3-6) closes out its season at Cloverdale (1-6, 2-7), and Fort Bragg (4-3, 4-5) is on the road at Willits (5-2, 7-2) in the inaugural Skunk Bowl sponsored by the Skunk Train that travels between Willits and Fort Bragg.
Kelseyville at Clear Lake
The Knights may able to extend their season by another game if they beat Clear Lake and earn an at-large playoff berth in the North Coast Section Division 7 field, and the same holds true for the Cardinals, who need a victory to finish with a winning league record.
Flores, a detective with the Clearlake Police Department, said his increased workload with CPD has made it impossible for him to continue on with his head coaching duties though he hopes to help out as a line coach moving forward subject to work limitations.
“I’m working graveyard shift, so coaching and going to work every day makes it pretty tough,” he said. “The kids deserve a coach who can give them 100 percent every day and that’s getting harder for me to do owing to my work.”
Flores has a strong attachment to the team’s seniors, who he has coached in one capacity or another since their freshman year.
“It will be hard to see them go,” Flores said. “They are kids you get attached to. I’ve enjoyed coaching them very much.”
Kelseyville will need to keep close track of Clear Lake senior running back Jesse Hayes just as the Cardinals will need to slow down Kelseyville senior running back Michael DeJohn. Both players have the ability to easily take over a game and have proven it several times this season.
“Jesse is a real good athlete,” Flores said.
Most importantly, according to Flores, the Knights need to limit turnovers, an early season nemesis.
“We’ve got to protect the football,” he said. “In rivalry games like this, the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins.”
The Knights have done a better job eliminating turnovers since abandoning the shotgun formation, according to Flores.
Flores said he’ll miss coaching the Knights every day.
“I love the game,” he said.
“Playing Kelseyville is always a big deal,” Perez said. “It means a lot to the kids.”
Clear Lake’s varsity will have lineman Colton Mendonca back in the lineup as well as Zane McAuely, who will play primarily on defense, according to Perez.
“About as healthy as we’ve been in a while,” Perez said. “I think we’re good to go.”
While the Cardinals lost a 30-7 decision a week ago to Middletown, Perez said he hopes to build off the second half of last week’s loss.
“We came up with some good line play against Middletown in the second half, I thought we did a great job in that half,” Perez said. “Hopefully we can keep that up against Kelseyville.”
Perez is counting on a strong effort from a defense that caused Middletown’s running attack some problems last week.
“We’ll see who plays better defense,” he said of the Cardinals and Knights.
Clear Lake certainly has an edge when it comes to throwing the football this season. While the Clear Lake field received a fair amount of rain on Wednesday, Perez said he doesn’t think it will be a huge factor Friday.
“We’ll find out,” he said.
The winning team will be presented with the wooden Bass Bowl trophy following the game.
St. Helena at Upper Lake
The winless Cougars are all that stand between the undefeated Saints and a 10-0 regular season. Talk about your mismatches on paper.
Two more starters out with concussions won’t help his team, according to Upper Lake head coach Derek Milhaupt.
“Obviously St Helena is a great team,” Milhaupt said. “They are big, physical and disciplined in what they do.”
Added Milhaupt, “We’re going out there and try to put together a couple of drives.”
Upper Lake is trying to avoid its first winless season since the 2014 squad went 0-10, prompting the football program’s switch to an eight-man game in 2015. The Cougars resumed 11-man football in 2023.
Lower Lake at Cloverdale
The Trojans and Eagles are playing for pride as both teams were long ago eliminated from the league race and playoff contention.
“Just to get them to go out there and play the best football they can,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said when asked what Lower Lake’s goal is in its season finale.
“Everyone is pretty healthy,” he said.
Neutralizing a big Cloverdale line is key, according to Jakubowski.
“I’m sure they’ll try to be physical with us up front,” he said. “I though we did a pretty good job against Kelseyville’s running game (last week in a 28-26 loss).”
Added Jakubowski, “We need to eliminate big plays.”
Kelseyville had a handful of those last week against the Trojans while rallying from a 26-14 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Fort Bragg at Willits
The Willits Wolverines can improve their chances of reaching the postseason with a victory against Fort Bragg, a Mendocino County rivalry that compares with Kelseyville-Clear Lake. This is the 85th meeting between the two schools and Fort Bragg leads the series 58-26, though Willits has won the last four meetings, which is the best the Wolverines have ever done in the head-to-head series.
Now the two teams actually have something to fight for as the Skunk Bowl trophy goes to the winner.
Seeding, at-large meeting
The North Coast Section at-large and seeding meeting takes place Sunday. Middletown (7-1, 8-2), which has the league bye this week, should make it, most likely in Division 7. The Kelseyville-Clear Lake and Fort Bragg-Willits winners are also at-large spossibilities.
