Veteran Kelseyville team looking for big things in 2024
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
KELSEYVLLE >> Home is wherever the Kelseyville Knights find themselves on a given Friday night during the 2024 high school football season.
At least that’s the feeling among the Knights going into their season opener Friday night in McKinleyville, some 200 miles away from where the game was originally supposed to take place – on their own field in Kelseyville, which is one place head coach Leo Flores’ squad won’t see this season because of scheduled field renovations. Why exactly those renovations are taking place during football season, well, that’s for someone in a higher pay grade to figure out.
An early plan to play home games at nearby Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake fell through, but at least the Knights did manage to secure three “home” games at an ever nearer Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport, home of Kelseyville’s archrival Clear Lake. Sept. 13 (Fort Bragg), Oct. 18 (Willits) and Nov. 8 (St. Helena) are the Knights’ official home games, and they’ll also play Clear Lake in Lakeport on Nov. 1, the annual Bass Bowl game hosted by the Cardinals.
The scheduling shuffle left insufficient time to save the McKinleyvile home game, so the Knights are off to Humboldt County, but with a caveat. They’ll be wearing their black home jerseys for the season opener.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the McKinleyville coach letting us do that,” said Flores, who enters his second season with the Knights. In 2023 he led Kelseyville to a 5-3 league record (fourth place in the North Central League I), 8-4 overall mark and a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs where they went 1-1, reaching the semifinals before losing at Willits 31-7.
Flores said the distraction of where the homeless Knights would be playing this season has been a minor one at best. Returning a solid core of players, including four of five linemen and all his primary skill position players, the veteran Knights haven’t spent much time dwelling on the subject, if for no other reason because there’s nothing they can do about it. It wasn’t their decision, that’s for sure.
“This team, this group of players, they’ve always been positive,” Flores said. “We don’t care where we’re playing, we just want to go out and play hard, play well. That’s what we’re concerned about.”
Hard work is what his players are accustomed to on and off the field and they never back away from the challenge, according to Flores.
“A lot of our players work (summer jobs), so we had to move the start of our practices to 6 p.m. so they can make it to practice on time,” Flores said. “They’re tired when they get here but they still go out and do everything they need to do. They don’t complain.”
Since losing to Willits in the playoffs a year ago, the Knights have put in all the time that’s been asked of them, in the weight room, during open field workouts, spring ball and passing league.
“I’m proud of how hard they’ve worked in the offseason,” Flores said.
Now that the season is here, Kelseyville’s coach said his players, especially his seniors, are primed for a big year.
“All my linemen return except for one and the new guy (sophomore Elijah Watkins at left tackle) is pretty good,” Flores said. “My only concern is we don’t have depth, so we’ll need to stay healthy.”
From left tackle to right tackle, the Knights line up Watkins, Adam Astrup, Landon Johnson, Milez Giambra and three-year veteran and team captain Alexis Martinez.
Both of Kelseyville’s returning running backs – seniors Kyle Watkins (1,226 yards, 14 TDs last season) and Max Hommer (900 yards, 8 TDs last season) give the team a formidable 1-2 punch. They averaged nearly 200 rushing yards a game in 2023.
While quarterback Brock Barrick, a senior, didn’t make the All-League team a year ago, he nevertheless put up some solid numbers – 875 yards passing and 17 TDs. Even so, last year’s scouting report on the Knights was that they were a one-dimensional team who could throw the ball if they had to.
“I see a lot of improvement from Brock since last season, he looks great and he even looks faster,” Flores said. “I think we’re going to be able mix it up a little more this year.”
Senior tight end Jayden Teabo, who will soon become a member of the school’s 1,000-pound club (for his extraordinary work in the weight room), and senior wide receiver Reme Strong provide Barrick with two more downfield targets. Yet another is Michael DeJohn, a junior.
And if the Knights didn’t have enough firepower returning this season, they’ve also added sophomore running back and linebacker Bryce Keener from the junior varsity ranks.
“We are looking forward to a very competitive year,” Flores said. “The important thing for us, something we learned last year, is that we can’t let up. We have to keep working hard so that the competition doesn’t catch up to us. We need to show up every week and not look past anyone.”
With a varsity roster of nearly two dozen and a JV roster of around 30, the Knights are holding their own in terms of player numbers, a real challenge for area teams.
“I’ve been with a lot of these seniors since their sophomore year and I’m really looking forward to what they can do this year,” Flores said.
Kelseyville rotated players, especially in the offensive backfield, a year ago in order to keep their legs fresh for the entire season. That’s probably not going to be the case this year as many of the team’s seniors have expressed a desire to remain on the field longer, and Flores said he will accommodate them whenever possible.
“They’re seniors now and they want to be out there getting the most of their final year,” he said.
Regardless of where they play.
“Any game is a home game for us,” Flores said. “That’s the mentality we’ll have as a team.”
