Mustangs (3-1) hit the road looking for a fourth straight victory
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Kelseyville and Upper Lake celebrate their homecomings Friday night while Middletown travels to Vallejo during Week 5 of the high school football season.
Kelseyville (1-3) hosts Lower Lake (1-2) in an all-county matchup, the host Knights looking to snap a two-game losing streak. Upper Lake (1-3) draws the St. Helena Saints (2-2) in its homecoming game, and Middletown (3-1) goes after a fourth straight win as it hits the road to take on St. Patrick-St. Vincent (1-4) in a varsity-only game.
In other games involving NCL I teams Friday, Cloverdale (3-1) travels to Willits (2-3), and Fort Bragg (1-4) hosts Stuart Hall (3-1).
Lower Lake at Kelseyville
Both the Knights and Trojans are coming off losses in Week 4, the Knights dropping a 27-24 road decision to St. Helena, and Lower Lake falling 44-14 at home to Willits.
Kelseyville will be without running back Bryce Keener (ankle injury).
The two teams played a thriller a year ago in Lower Lake, Kelseyville prevailing 28-26. The Knights have won each of the last five meetings.
“They’ve got athletes for sure,” Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick said of the Trojans. “(Roy) Percoats is explosive.”
Percoats, a sophomore running back, rushed for 191 yards two weeks ago in Lower Lake’s 46-14 win at Fort Bragg but didn’t have much of an opportunity against Willits, which jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead.
“They’ll take some deep shots, so it should be a fun test for our defensive backs,” Barrick said of a Lower Lake passing game led by quarterback Brody Shields. “As far as our defense, I like our stuff against what they run.”
With Keener sidelined for at least a week, Barrick has added a few new wrinkles to the offense, things he may or may not use against Lower Lake depending on the situation.
“They’ll come out in different defenses, so we’ll have to see,” Barrick said. “They’ve given us different looks in the past, sometime playing two safeties or other times packing the box. If they pack the box, we have a quarterback (Kimo Brown) who has been able to take his shots and make teams pay.”
Kelseyville has led at some point in all four of its games this season, losing late leads against Justin-Siena and St. Helena, and squandering an early 13-0 lead to Middletown.
“Our practices have been pretty focused this week,” Barrick said. “Homecoming hasn’t seemed to have an effect on us, but we’ll see (Friday).”
There has been competition at the placekicking position in practice this week as the team looks to iron out its PAT struggles.
Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said the Knights are a “tough matchup” for the Trojans, but the bigger battle may be the one the Trojans are fighting internally.
“We lost five players, all starters, to injuries (against Willits), including two linemen,” Jakubowski said.
Those injuries run the gamut from minor to moderate, so the Trojans are scrambling a bit as they prepare to take on the Knights.
“They have a nice balance of abilities,” Jakubowski said of Kelseyville’s run-pass attack. “They can pound the ball, but they can stretch the field. Their quarterback (Brown) can make big throws.”
While the injuries still leave the Trojans with plenty of healthy bodies, the losses on the line hurt the most, according to Jakubowski.
“We took a pretty significant hit there and will have to use some sophomores,” he said.
Getting back to a more balanced run-pass mix that was effective against Fort Bragg would be a good first step, according to Jakubowksi. Against Willits a week ago, the Trojans were forced to throw the ball more than they wanted.
“We threw more than 30 times. We were behind the chains a lot,” Jakubowski said. “We need to be to establish the run so we have more third-and-shorts and not third-and-longs.”
Mistakes early against the Wolverines put the team in a deep hole.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of penalties, but the ones we did have hurt us,” he said. “It was a humbling game, so we’ll see how well we bounce back.”
Added Jakubowski, “We need to make better decisions in critical situations.”
St. Helena at Upper Lake
The Upper Lake Cougars draw another tough assignment in the St. Helena Saints, who have had a couple of exciting weeks leading up to their trip to Upper Lake. They fell 41-35 in overtime two weeks ago in Willits but rallied from a 24-13 deficit a week ago at home to upend Kelseyville 27-24.
“St. Helena is a team on a good trajectory,” Upper Lake head coach John Toohey said. “They are definitely ascending, getting better every week. It’s a disciplined and quality program.”
Toohey said the Saints continue to add to their offense, and he doesn’t believe they have reached their full potential just yet.
“We’re bracing for what we’re about to see,” he said. “On a well-coached team like that, you know they have a plan to develop that offense even more. They’re rebuilding, but they have a very good foundation. No matter what they have at the start of the year, they’re going to develop it and keep getting better.”
St. Helena’s offense includes two productive running backs in George Filippini (408 rushing yards, four TDs) and Julian Earls (338 yards, three TDs), both seniors. Quarterback Daniel Gonzalez has passed for 313 yards and three TDs and run for another three scores, so the Saints have plenty of options. Earls also has eight receptions and two receiving touchdowns.
“The dive game is the backbone of their offense,” Toohey said. “We need everyone to do their job on defense. Everyone has a responsibility.”
Upper Lake scored a late touchdown against Middletown a week ago in a 48-6 loss at Middletown, snapping a 12-quarter scoreless streak. The Saints have allowed 128 points so far this season, so their defense is vulnerable if the Cougars can do something they’ve struggled at in their last three games, which is sustaining drives.
The junior varsity game could be a good one as St. Helena brings in a 3-1 record against a 2-1-1 Upper Lake squad coming off its first loss of the season.
Middletown at St. Patrick-St. Vincent
The Bruins did almost nothing but throw the ball in their first games – all losses. A week ago in a 54-0 home victory over Berean Christian, they ran the ball most of the night.
“Last week they ran the ball 95 percent of the time,” Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. “In their other games they were throwing 75 percent of the time.”
Added Woodard, “We’ve watched a lot of game film, and they do have tendencies that our coaching staff has picked up on. They run a lot of trips and twins. The routes their receivers run are simple and not complicated.”
Middletown’s pass defense has been barely worked this season, so the Mustangs could see their first real aerial test.
“We’re confident in the guys we have going up against their guys, and our goal is to win those battles every down,” Woodard said.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent figures to have its hands full slowing down a Middletown offense that has scored 48, 41 and 42 points the last three weeks.
Middletown’s ground attack of Tyler Galamay (470 yards, eight TDs) and John Finney (261 yards, five TDs) is complimented by a mobile quarterback in Jamisen Jackson, who has passed for 474 yards and three TDs and run for another three scores.
“They might know exactly what play we’re running, but you still have to tackle those guys,” Woodard said of Galamay, Finney and Jackson.
Middletown’s sideline will have plenty of extra help this week. The junior varsity team doesn’t have a game (St. Patrick-St. Vincent has no JV team), so Woodard is elevating all the sophomores to the varsity.
The last time these two teams met was the 2022 season when St. Patrick-St. Vincent beat Middletown 26-20 in Vallejo, scoring on the game’s final play. In 2021, Middletown routed the Bruins 53-16 at Middletown, and in 2017, St. Patrick-St. Vincent defeated the Mustangs 28-0 in the North Coast Section Division 5 championship game.
Week 6 schedule
Looking ahead to games the weekend of Oct. 9-10, North Central League I South openers feature St. Helena at Middletown (Middletown’s homecoming) on Friday, Oct. 9 and Lower Lake at Stuart Hall on Saturday, Oct. 10. Upper Lake opens its NCL I North schedule Oct. 9 at Willits, and Cloverdale visits Kelseyville in NCL I interlock action, also on Oct. 9.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent replaces Clear Lake on Middletown’s schedule.