37-23 victory over Piedmont lifts Middletown into NorCal playoffs for first time
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
NAPA >> The adversity Kurtis Woodard has been preparing his team for the better part of the last month finally showed up late in the second quarter Friday night as the Middletown Mustangs battled the Piedmont Highlanders in the North Coast Section Division 7 championship game at Justin-Siena High School in Napa.
Leading 16-0 and on the verge of running away with yet another playoff game – much like they did in 36-7 and 48-8 victories in their first two postseason outings – the Mustangs took a left-right combination of punches from the Piedmont Highlanders, who came within a missed two-point conversion of going into halftime tied at 16-16.
“Since day one, I’ve been telling them that at different points of the season we were going to face adversity, that they needed to keep their composure and not freak out. That’s what good teams do,” said Woodard, Middletown’s first-year varsity coach who now owns a section title after watching the Mustangs keep their composure in the second half and beat Piedmont 37-23, the school’s fifth section title in football and first since 2018.
The Mustangs (11-2), a winner of seven straight, will find out Sunday who they are playing, what day and where, in the NorCal championship game next weekend. If the Mustangs prevail there, they’ll play for a state championship the weekend of Dec. 12-13 at one of three venues in Southern California.
There certainly would have been no NorCal berth for the Mustangs, who have never advanced this far before in the postseason, if they had not dealt with Piedmont (8-5) in an efficient manner during a pivotal third quarter.
And make no mistake about that, the third quarter was the turning point in this game.
“Coach talks to us all the time about facing adversity and dealing with it,” Middletown sophomore running back Tyler Galamay, a section championship medal draped around his neck, said after rushing for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the Mustangs’ win. “We haven’t faced any adversity since St. Helena (a 41-34 loss at St. Helena on Oct. 3). We knew it was going to happen at some point.”
Middletown built a 16-0 lead on a 33-yard run by senior running back Trenton Griffith (145 yards, 2 TDs) with 3:51 left in the first quarter, the seventh and final play of a 77-yard drive, and a 10-yard run by Galamay with 10:06 remaining in the second quarter after the Highlanders failed to convert a fourth-and-four play. Griffith ran in the conversion after the first score while quarterback Blake Costlow connected with wide receiver Jon Hawkins after the second score.
And that’s when the Highlanders responded to a bit of adversity themselves. After taking the kickoff from Middletown, Piedmont moved 67 yards in 10 plays, overcoming 20 yards worth of their own penalties and also taking advantage of a huge mistake by the Mustangs, who jumped offside on a fourth-and-three play at the Middletown 38-yard line. While Piedmont kept the ball on the ground for the first nine plays of the drive, six of those runs gaining seven or more yards, it was a 12-yard pass from quarterback Jimmy Lagios to a wide-open receiver Cash Panico that got the Highlanders on the scoreboard. Xavier Henderson’s conversion run made it 16-8 with 2:30 left in the first half.
Middletown then marched from its own 8-yard line to the Piedmont 25 with 45.9 seconds remaining when a Costlow pass headed in the direction of Hawkins was underthrown and picked off. The return took the ball out to Piedmont 41, but a penalty backed up the Highlanders to their own 26 with just 32.3 seconds.
“I called that play,” Woodard said. “He just threw it too wide or Jon could have probably reached it and batted it down. I’ll take Jon in a jump ball situation any time.”
Although the Highlanders still had a long, long way to go to get near or reach the end zone, a short screen pass from Lagios to Henderson turned into a 73-yard completion to the Middletown 1-yard line with 11 seconds remaining. At least three missed tackles made Henderson’s run after the reception possible, but a few nice moves by Henderson during the return also put the ball just outside the goal line.
“They were getting a little tired,” Woodard said of his players. “They felt like they could take a play off, and you can’t. That’s the reason why.”
Colby Hong’s 1-yard run closed the gap to 16-14 as the conversion pass fell incomplete.
What had been a jubilant and upbeat Middletown teams only minutes earlier trotted into the locker room at halftime knowing that Piedmont would receive the second-half kickoff. The Highlanders had all of the momentum.
“We knew we had to come out in the second half and stop them, then score,” Galamay said. “We took it personally. We needed a huge stop on defense.”
Middletown delivered on both of Galamay’s points.
Though the Highlanders picked up first downs on each of their first two plays in the third quarter – a 10-yard run by Rehan Mumtaz followed by a 15-yard run by Henderson (105 yards for the game) — a holding penalty backed the Highlanders up. Two straight incomplete passes brought up a third-and-18 and Legios never had a chance as the Middletown pass rush sacked him – Jack Harper, Anthony Munoz and Ryan Halverson were on the sophomore before he knew it and Galamay was right there as well.
After a punt, Middletown took over at its own 32 and didn’t do anything fancy while moving 68 yards during a time-consuming 12-play drive, all of them runs. Galamay’s 3-yard touchdown on third-and-goal made it 22-14. Costlow and Hawkins then hooked up for another conversion pass for a 24-14 lead.
Still, the Highlanders kept the Mustangs in their sights, punching the ball down to the Middletown 7 before Matias Seelenberger booted a 24-yard field goal with seconds left in the quarter to once again make it a one-score game at 24-17. The key play in the drive was a 33-yard pass from Legios to wide receiver Diego Hurwitz on a fourth-and-three from the Piedmont 33-yard line.
Middletown responded immediately, the call of adversity being answered just as soon as Griffith could get his hands on the ball, which turned out to be on the kickoff return. He motored 33 yards to the Piedmont 46, and when the Highlanders were penalized 15 yards for a facemask on the return, Middletown ended up with the ball at the 31.
Eight straight running plays put the ball at the Piedmont 7 where Costlow hit Hawkins with a touchdown pass and a 30-17 Middletown lead, Costlow’s 26th touchdown of the season.
The coup de grâce followed moments later when Middletown’s Jamisen Jackson picked off Legios and the Mustangs took over at the Piedmont 47. Griffith’s 20-yard capped a five-play drive as Jackson’s extra-point kick pushed the Mustangs’ lead to 37-17, and the celebration was under way on the Middletown sideline.
While the Highlanders did score on a Legios-to-Jack Meyjes touchdown pass in the final seconds, it only was a bit of window dressing as far as the final outcome was concerned.
Woodard, contemplating the section victory in his first season, even before he’s won a league title at Middletown, said it was just meant to be.
“If we had won the league, they probably would have moved us up into Division 6 (which is what happened to St. Helena),” he said. “The ball has bounced our way all season and now we can look ahead to the NorCals.”
While the Mustangs would love to be home for the first NorCal appearance in school history, they are more than willing, according to Woodard, to play wherever they’re told to go.
“Right now you have to put this team in the discussion for the best Middletown team of all time,” Woodard said. “And I played on one of those other good teams (winning a section title).”
Added Woodard, “One more win (in the NorCals) might take care of that (discussion).”
Two wins certainly would. That would mean a state championship. If you don’t believe that’s a possibility for this time, you really don’t know the Mustangs.
“Moke (Simon, defensive coordinator) told us at our first coaches meeting that we were going to win state,” Woodard said.
GAME NOTES: When all was said and done, Middletown’s final margin of victory, 14 points, was nearly identical to the Mustangs’ 32-17 non-league win over Piedmont on Sept. 5 in Middletown … Griffith (1,111) and Galamay (1,268) are both over 1,000 yards rushing for the season. Galamay, who is two years behind Griffith in school, credits Griffith with a lot of his success. “I’ve been watching him for a long time; he was a role model for me before I reached high school. Last year (freshman year) I got to play with him, and it was a big goal of mine.” While they’re friends and teammates, Galamay said they have a “pretty good time competing against each other,” but that it’s a completely positive thing … Woodard had nothing but praise and love for his offensive linemen, thought to be the weak link on the Middletown team at season’s start, but that’s no longer the case. “Would they catch up with our skill players? That was the question. They’ve caught up … 100 percent,” Woodard said. “They’ve allowed only four sacks all season.” … Piedmont snapped Middletown’s string of allowing eight or fewer points to an opponent at six straight games, but the Mustangs aren’t really concerned as long as the team wins, which is the bottom line, especially in the playoffs … If the Mustangs beat their NorCal opponent, they will tie the school record for most wins in a single season. Both the 2001 (12-0) and 2010 squads (12-2) won 12 games. The county record for most wins in a single season is also 12.
