Football Week in Review — Week 3
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Kelseyville’s North Central League I interlock game with the Middletown Mustangs on Friday night in Kelseyville was a perfect example of an old sporting axiom that says it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
Kelseyville (1-2) scored the first two times it touched the ball to go up 13-0, but the Middletown Mustangs, a veteran club for the most part, didn’t panic and scored 41 unanswered points for a 41-13 victory. Middletown had a lot of help from Kelseyville in the form of penalties, something that didn’t set well with Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick, who said the Knights simply lost their heads after taking the early lead.
Since the two teams now compete in different divisions of the NCL I under the league’s new alignment plan, both could go on to win their respective titles and meet again in the North Coast Section playoffs provided they land in the same playoff division, which is no sure bet.
Middletown (2-1) returns home Friday night to play Upper Lake (1-2) while Kelseyville hits the road Friday to take on St. Helena (1-2).
In other Week 3 action, Lower Lake’s offense busted out big time in a 46-14 road win at Fort Bragg, and Upper Lake fell 39-0 to Stuart Hall in Upper Lake. In the junior varsity game between Upper Lake and Clear Lake, the two squads battle to an 8-8 tie, leaving both undefeated on the season – Clear Lake at 3-0-1 and Upper Lake at 2-0-1.
Following is a recap of some of the highlights and lowlights from Week 3:
Statistics
Rushing – Lower Lake sophomore Roy Percoats lit up the Fort Bragg defense for 191 yards and three touchdowns while Middletown’s backfield tandem of Tyler Galamay and John Finney, both juniors, each gained more than 100 yards against Kelseyville. Galamay had 115 yards and two TDs while Finney added 109 yards and three TDs. Bryce Keener had 10 carries for 40 yards and a TD for Kelseyville before leaving the first half against Middletown with a leg injury. Teammate Case Pivniska had 45 yards on 16 carries.
Passing – Lower Lake’s Brody Shields went 13-for-18 for 245 yards and three touchdowns against Fort Bragg. Kelseyville’s Kimo Brown completed seven of 12 passes for 51 yards with a touchdown and one interception.
Receiving – Lower Lake’s receiving corps had a big night against Fort Bragg, led by Raijhier McKneely with five catches for 132 yards, including a 76-yard TD, and Jordan Rohrbacker with five receptions for 65 yards with a TD. Vincent Linton added three catches for 51 yards, including a 48-yard TD. Kelseyville’s Hugh O’Boyle had two receptions for 24 yards and a TD.
Special teams
Extra-point kicks – Middletown’s Jameson Jackson went 5-for-6 against Kelseyville and is 12-for-13 for the season.
Sneaky – Middletown punter returner Ryan Halverson let the ball roll to an almost complete stop with Kelseyville players nearby before snatching it up and racing 29 yards to set up a Mustangs touchdown.
Say what? – In a play you almost never see, Stuart Hall took a knee on the conversion after scoring in the third quarter to go up 39-0 on Upper Lake.
Miscellaneous
Didn’t see that coming – Willits beat St. Helena 41-35 in overtime to post its first win of the season Friday night in Willits.
Streaks – Lower Lake snapped a five-game losing streak to Fort Bragg, who the Trojans last beat in 2019. Upper Lake has been shut out two games in a row. Middletown junior varsity player Dre Goins has at least one interception in each of the Mustangs’ first three games this season, two of them pick-six returns.
Bemidji Bowl I – Goes to Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard. Both Woodard and his Kelseyville counterpart, Logan Barrick, are Bemidji State grads. We’re working on something like a perpetual award for future meetings between the two, perhaps a Bucky the Beaver wooden trophy (the Bemidji mascot), or we’ll just repurpose the Bass Bowl trophy.
Undefeated JV teams – Middletown (3-0), Clear Lake (3-0-1) and Upper Lake (2-0-1). Middletown hosts Upper Lake on Friday.
Stat of the week – Stuart Hall quarterback Napoleon Cabading went 17-for-17 for 351 yards and three touchdowns against Upper Lake. Not exactly sure what that computes to in quarterback rating, but it’s probably pretty damn good. He also ran for a touchdown.
The Hansen report – Mike Hansen was on the sidelines Friday night in Kelseyville feeding Lake County Sports a play-by-play report of the game. Thanks Mike!
Hall of Fame – The Upper Lake Alumni Hall of Fame introduced its two newest members between the JV and varsity games Friday night in Upper Lake. Class of 2026 inductees are Marci Schaefers Psalmonds (ULHS Class of 1989) and Dennis Wilson (ULHS Class of 1968). Congrats to both. Psalmonds is also a member of the Coastal Mountain Officials Association Hall of Fame. The cost to enroll kids in the Training Wheels Preschool that Psalmonds operates just went up.
That hurt – While running the Friday Night Football scoreboard on our Facebook page Friday night, Facebook essentially shut it down by not allowing further updates for “SPAM concerns.” Made for a long and difficult night of working around the problem to update scores. Hopefully it’s corrected now but might know until next Friday. It’s something we’ve never experienced before.
Week 4 games – Upper Lake at Middletown, Kelseyville at St. Helena and Willits at Lower Lake. Clear Lake’s JVs play Stuart Hall’s varsity on Saturday at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, 5:30 p.m.
Goal-line stand — Upper Lake’s defense mounted a goal-line stand to deny Clear Lake, which had a first-and-goal at the 2-yard-line. The game ended in an 8-8 tie.
Training Wheels Preschool update – Owner Marci Psalmonds, a member of two different Hall of Fames, just raised her prices again.
Thanks to our readers – For all the great photos and videos you’ve contributed.
League play – NCL I North and South games, as in official league play, opens the weekend of Oct. 9-10. South teams have four league games and the North only three because there is no Clear Lake varsity team this season.
