It’s a bye week for Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Middletown, Upper Lake
Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Week 1 of the 2026 high school football season in Lake County is one lonely customer.
While the Middletown, Kelseyville and Upper Lake varsity teams all saw action during Zero Week, and all five of the county’s junior varsity squads played their openers, Week 1 is a veritable graveyard as Middletown, Kelseyville, Upper Lake and Lower Lake all have schedule byes (Clear Lake has no varsity team this season because of a lack of players).
The only action is a Thursday game featuring the Clear Lake JVs (1-0) taking on Redwood in Marin, and a Friday JV game with Lower Lake (0-1) at Maxwell with a 5:30 p.m. kickoff.
And that’s it for Week 1.
The county’s varsity teams return to action the weekend of Sept. 11-12, with Kelseyville, Middletown and Upper Lake all playing North Central League I interlock games. Lower Lake plays its season opener at home against non-league opponent Lindhurst.
Zero week was a mixed bag in terms of success for the county’s teams. Upper Lake posted a win over Esparto, snapping a 14-game losing streak dating back to 2024, while Middletown and Kelseyville lost thrillers – Middletown at home against Pierce, and Kelseyville on the road against Justin-Siena.
Clear Lake, Middletown and Upper Lake notched JV wins while Kelseyville and Lower Lake came up short.
Middletown
Head coach Kurtis Woodard said the early bye will be well received by the Mustangs, who need the time as banged up players heal. The off week will allow junior lineman Emmitt Lloyd to be back in action against the Willits Wolverines on Sept. 11 in Middletown.
“Just the impact of adding one player can make such a huge difference,” Woodard said. “We feel so much better about where we’re at when we’re going with him in there.”
After breaking down the Middletown-Pierce game film, Woodard said the Mustangs made a lot of mistakes in the 10-7 loss.
“A lot of mistakes, but fixable mistakes,” Woodard said.
With the bad taste of a last-second loss still lingering in their mouths, the Mustangs have stepped it up this week in practice.
“The energy this week is up … and the intensity and focus,” Woodard said.
On the scheduling front, Middletown’s non-league home game with Biggs on Oct. 2 is off. Instead, the Mustangs will hit the road that day to play St. Patrick/St. Vincent in Vallejo, but varsity only.
The Mustangs were left scrambling to fill the Oct. 2 date after Clear Lake’s varsity program collapsed, creating a void in their schedule. Woodard said he even toyed with the idea of playing Lower Lake this week since both teams are off, then take his bye on Oct. 2.
Lower Lake
The Trojans (0-0), who had no opponent in zero week, are tired of hitting each other in practice as they impatiently await their season opener Friday, Sept. 11 at home against Lindhurst (varsity only).
“They are bored with the monotony of practice,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. “They are getting chippy with each other, so I guess that’s a good thing. They’re ready to go.”
Lower Lake sustained a minor injury in practice this week while a handful of players were out with “a bug that’s going around,” according to Jakubowski.
“It’s made it hard to do 11-on-11 in practice with the way our numbers are,” Jakubowski said.
Lower Lake held a tempo practice Wednesday and things went pretty well.
“We got through a substantial number of plays,” Jakubowski said. “We’re just looking for consistency now in our passing game.”
Lower Lake is counting the days until the Lindhurst game.
“The kids can’t wait,” Jakubowski said.
Kelseyville
If you think having a bye week this early in the season is a bit weird, well, consider Kelseyville’s players are the only ones in Lake County who haven’t started school yet. It’s also Lake County Fair week, which means distractions of another sort, and the Knights won’t have to worry about that.
“The bye week is interesting,” Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick less than a week after making his head coaching debut in a 20-18 loss to Justin-Siena, a game the Knights would have won had it not been for an unnecessary clipping penalty on an interception return late in the fourth quarter. The clip occurred well behind the developing touchdown.
“On one hand guys are eager to get back to it and it feels odd having no game this early,” Barrick said. “On the other hand, I think the loss shed some light on a few issues, and this gives us a chance to really address it. It also helps having a bye this week with things like the fair. And we’ve had things like orientation and book and schedule pickup since school starts next week for us.”
Kelseyville returns to action on a Saturday (Sept. 12) with an NCL I interlock game against Stuart Hall at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco (varsity only). It’s Kelseyville’s only scheduled regular-season Saturday game.
“Our guys definitely learned a lesson in humility (against Justin-Siena), and I think that is going to be huge moving forward,” Barrick said. “Practice has had a little more attitude here and there, but a lot more focus as well. There’s a fine line and I think we are learning where that’s at. As far as injuries, Andrew Souza has a hand injury. He’s getting it checked out today. From what he’s gathered, it sounds like he won’t be out, but he probably won’t be getting the ball anytime soon. He’ll still be on defense, and offensively you might see him in a different capacity (other than running back). He’s a team guy, so he’ll do whatever we ask.”
Kelseyville is already preparing for a Stuart Hall team that likes to put the ball in the air.
“They have a lot of athletes and two big athletic receivers, so we’ll have our hands full,” Barrick said. “It’ll be a big clash in styles. They are 80/20 pass/run and that might be a conservative estimate.”
Upper Lake
The county’s first varsity team to reach the win column this season, the Upper Lake Cougars, fresh off a 40-6 season-opening win against Esparto, prepares for its NCL I interlock opener Sept. 11 at Cloverdale.
The team’s first home game is Sept. 18 against Stuart Hall of San Francisco, the newest member of the NCL I. The Upper Lake Alumni Hall of Fame’s two inductees for 2026 will be introduced during the game and then honored Sept. 19 at a celebration dinner.
Upper Lake hasn’t won two straight to open a season since winning its first three in 2022, it’s last year of eight-man football. The last time the Cougars opened with at least two straight wins as an 11-man team was 2011.