Galamay rushes for 150 yards, four touchdowns in first half against Upper Lake
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
MIDDLETOWN >> When a veteran club that has been around the block a time or two runs into the young and inexperienced team trying to find its way under a new coach, Middletown’s 48-6 win over Upper Lake on Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown isn’t such a shock.
Middletown (3-1) and Upper Lake (1-3) are two teams in entirely didn’t places right now. The Mustangs, defending North Coast Section Division 7 champions, won their third straight lopsided game powered by the high-octane backfield of junior running backs Tyler Galamay (10 carries, 150 yards, four touchdowns) and John Finney (12 carries, 94 yards, two TDs), which has no problem scoring a lot of points in almost no time at all.
The second quarter, which has been the go-to quarter for Middletown this season, yielded 27 points, the last 14 coming in a span of 120 seconds.
Middletown held a 42-0 halftime lead and emptied its bench during a running-clock second half.
The game opened with Middletown receiving the opening kickoff and scoring on the first play from scrimmage as Galamay took the handoff from quarterback Jamisen Jackson, angled his way left and burst up the Upper Lake sideline 61 yards for a touchdown.
“We were lined up way wrong on that play,” Upper Lake first-year coach John Toohey said. “Those things are going to happen with a young team. Once we get that cleaned up, things will start to fall in place for us.”
The Mustangs used a little razzle dazzle on a successful two-point conversion pass, the direct snap from center going past holder Galamay and right to Jackson, who was lined up to kick the extra point. His pass to Finney made it 8-0 just 15 seconds into the game.
“We saw in film that they bring all 11 guys, so that was our opportunity to slow them down for the rest of the game,” Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said.
The rest of the first half went pretty much as planned for the Mustangs.
“We did pretty much what we set out to do,” Woodard said. “But we did have to punt the ball once.”
Upper Lake’s defense forced a three-and-out on Middletown’s second possession of the game, but the Mustangs scored the other six times they touched the ball in the first half – Galamay’s 61-yard to open the game; a Galamay 10-yard run that capped a 75-yard drive with two minutes left in the first quarter; a Jackson 1-yard sneak early in the second quarter; a Galamay 38-yard run with 7:08 left in the first half; a Galamay 10-yard run with two minutes remaining in the first half; and a Finney 2-yard run as time expired in the first half.
Galamay’s 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter boosted Middletown’s lead to 35-0 and it appeared that would be the halftime score, but the Mustangs forced a quick three-and-out and got the ball back on a punt with just 15 seconds left at the Upper Lake 48.
On first down, Jackson lofted a pass deep down the field that Colton Karp caught despite tight coverage by an Upper Lake defender. He came down at the 2 and the Mustangs called a timeout with six seconds to go. Finney bullied his way into the end zone on the final play of the first half to make it 42-0 as Jackson added the extra-point kick.
Woodard said his offensive line, and especially junior Emmitt Lloyd, turned in another dominant performance.
“I don’t know how many pancake blocks he had tonight,” Woodard said. “He handled his business.”
While the Mustangs have areas they still need to clean up, according to Woodard, the second-year coach was pleased with his team’s effort as Middletown scored 40-plus points for the third straight week.
Woodard said his players are able to handle criticism well during the team’s film sessions where many deficiencies are addressed and corrected.
“I always tell them to stay humble because we’re going to let them have it when we review the game films,” Woodard said.
Both teams scored once in the fourth quarter. Finney’s nine-yard run just 21 seconds into the quarter, his only carry of the second half, made it 48-0. Upper Lake broke up the shutout later in the quarter on a 65-yard screen pass from quarterback Corbyn Woolley to running back Jordan Reyes, who broke a handful of tackles while working his way down the Upper Lake sideline and into the end zone, the Cougars’ first points since a 40-6 season-opening win over Esparto on Aug. 28.
“It’s a play we haven’t practice much,” Toohey said. “It (the touchdown) certainly lifted their spirits. They were pretty excited.”
Toohey said he wasn’t disappointed with his team’s effort given the opponent.
“They’re a good team and we’re still learning,” he said. “We were steps away from making the play several times. Our attitude is good and it’s tough sometimes to keep the group excited after games like this, but they are still excited about playing football.”
Added Toohey of his players, “They’ve got the patience, they’ve got the skills to play this game, they just need to keep improving and trust the process. We’ll keep hammering away until we get there.”
Middletown plays a varsity-only game next Friday against St. Patrick-St. Vincent (1-4) in Vallejo (0-4). Kickoff is 7 p.m. St. Patrick-St. Vincent replaces Clear Lake, which has no varsity team this season, on the Mustangs’ schedule. Upper Lake returns home to close out its North Central League I interlock schedule against St. Helena (2-2).
GAME NOTES: Middletown quarterback Jackson went 4-for-8 for 92 yards passing while also rushing for 16 yards and a touchdown. Karp had two receptions for 58 yards … While the Cougars didn’t have a ton of offense, Reyes rushed for 29 yards in addition to his 65-yard touchdown reception, and Brody Blancas rushed for 35 yards … Upper Lake’s six possessions in the first half yielded no first downs. The Cougars punted the ball five times and turned it over on downs once … Jackson was 4-for-6 on his extra-point kicks, but he also had the two-point conversion pass following the team’s first touchdown … Middletown committed only one penalty, that in the third quarter with the game already out of reach … Neither team turned the ball over … Middletown linebacker Ryan Halverson, the North Coast Section’s leader in total tackles entering play, added nine more to his total – three solo stops and six assists. Wyatt Pullman had eight total tackles, Max Ames seven and Luke Mace six … Since dropping its season opener to Pierce, 10-7, Middletown has outscored the opposition 131-19.
