Knights nail down homecoming win as Mustangs keep on rolling
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Here’s a crucial stat for all of you number crunches out there. Kelseyville, a 28-21 winner over Lower Lake on Friday night, is the first Lake County team to win its homecoming game this season.
OK, so it’s not so crucial.
For the record, that brings Lake County teams to 1-2 in homecoming games this season, with one remaining – Middletown (4-1) hosts St. Helena (3-2) this coming Friday in the North Central League I South opener for both teams. And just to perfectly clear, the South opener thing is way more important than the homecoming thing.
In those other riveting homecoming contests held to date, Upper Lake fell 41-22 to St. Helena on Friday night, though the Cougars managed to hang around until early in the fourth quarter, and Lower Lake lost 44-14 a week earlier to Willits, a game that held zero suspense as the Wolverines held a 34-0 lead at one point.
My fondest memory of homecoming takes me way, way back to those days covering Healdsburg High School football for the Healdsburg Tribune in the early 1980s (yeah, the year isn’t a typo). The Greyhounds had a penchant for losing homecoming games in excruciating fashion back then, which were well documented by this reporter and much hated by my readers, especially the sports moms. Oh, those loving memories of yesteryear.
Following is a look back at some of Week 5’s highlights and lowlights:
Statistics
Rushing – Even when he plays only a half, Middletown High School junior running back Tyler Galamay puts in a full day’s work. He had 113 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns in a 62-0 blowout of St. Patrick-St. Vincent. Case Pivniska (18 carries, 93 yards, TD) and Brayton Thomas (eight carries, 84 yards, 2 TDs) led Kelseyville in its homecoming win over Lower Lake. Vincent Linton led the Trojans with 10 carries for 83 yards and a TD. Jacob Weldon carried the ball 10 times for 91 yards and a TD in Upper Lake’s loss to St. Helena.
Passing – Upper Lake’s Corbyn Woolley went 5-for-13 for 180 yards, two touchdowns and an interception against St. Helena. Kimo Brown completed four of eight passes for 97 yards, Lower Lake’s Brody Shields went 9-for-15 for 93 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Middletown’s Jamisen Jackson was 3-for-3 for 76 yards and two touchdowns against St. Patrick-St. Vincent. Lower Lake’s DJ Thomas, filling in late in the fourth quarter for a banged-up Shields, went 2-fo-2 for 53 yards and a TD.
Receiving – Upper Lake’s Antario Wyman had three catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns (and he had two other TDs called back on penalties). Kelseyville’s Jayden Fabisch caught three passes for 64 yards against Lower Lake, including a 51-yarder on the team’s first play from scrimmage that set up the Knights’ first touchdown. Middletown’s Colton Karp’s only two catches went for touchdowns of 29 and 23 yards. Lower Lake’s Anthony Russell caught three passes for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Special teams
Plenty of practice – Middletown’s Jamisen Jackson went 8-for-9 on his extra-point kicks Friday against St. Patrick-St. Vincent. The miss was probably because of fatigue.
Improvement – Kelseyville went 2-for-2 on its extra-point kicks and 1-for-2 on two-point conversions against Lower Lake, a big improvement over 0-for-4 the previous week against St. Helena in a 27-24 loss.
Blocked – Kelseyville blocked a Lower Lake extra-point kick.
Defense
Two picks – Lower Lake’s Brody Shields intercepted two passes Friday night against Kelseyville.
There’s that name again – Called up along with all of Middletown’s other junior varsity sophomores on Friday night, Dre Goins picked off his first pass at the varsity level against St. Patrick-St. Vincent. Goins already has a handful of interceptions for Middletown’s undefeated junior varsity team. Middletown’s JVs didn’t have a game Friday (St. Patrick-St. Vincent doesn’t have a JV team), so varsity coach Kurtis Woodard promoted all of the sophomores.
Second shutout – Middletown’s shutout win over St. Patrick-St. Vincent was its second and effectively its third of the season. The Mustangs also blanked Willits, and they held Upper Lake scoreless until late in the fourth quarter when the Cougars finally scored against the Middletown reserves.
Made his day – Kelseyville defensive lineman Elijah Watkins intercepted a Lower Lake pass early in the second quarter to stop a Trojans drive at the Kelseyville 3-yard-line. A defensive lineman intercepting a pass is something like feeding raw meet to a lion.
Don’t do that – Both the Kelseyville and Lower Lake defenses committed costly penalties on third-and-long plays that ultimately allowed the opposition to get a fresh set of downs instead of forcing fourth-and-long plays. Kelseyville was called for a 15-yard facemask in the second quarter, Lower Lake for unsportsmanlike conduct early in the fourth quarter.
Miscellaneous
Streaks – Middletown has won four straight, Upper Lake has lost four straight.
“We’re going be here all night” – That was the wisdom offered by an official to a player who jumped offsides twice during an extra-point try Friday night. In fact, three straight penalties were called on Lower Lake, which brought nose of the football right up to the goal line by the time Kelseyville attempted the conversion (bad snap led to a failed two-point try).
The seniors, who else? – When the seniors were awarded first place for best float Friday in Kelseyville, someone on the sidelines asked, “I wonder who voted for that?” Probably the seniors because the junior float was the overwhelming winner down on the field.
Don’t look now but … — Redding Christian, the team that beat Middletown in the NorCal finals a year ago and went on to win a state championship, is 6-0 so far this season. Rematch in the works? Stay tuned.
Rolling – Middletown has scored 62, 48, 41 and 42 points in its last four games.
Reeling – Since beating Willits in their season opener Aug. 28, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves have dropped five in a row.
Maybe next year – A handful of fall sports teams have basically been dropped from the Lake County Sports roster because of “inactivity.” No loss.
Good idea – Volleyball teams should never schedule out-of-county tournaments if there’s a dance back at the school that night.
Much appreciated – Lake County Sports was overwhelmed with submitted photos and especially videos this past week, which is a good thing. Thanks for taking the time to send them to us.
Truly impressive – The fourth-quarter collapse by the Philadelphia Eagles at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. That was a master stroke of head coaching there.
Not that it matters – Yes, Deion Sanders is still the head coach at Colorado.
JV kudos – The Upper Lake Cougars took it to the St. Helena Saints, 40-12, in homecoming action Friday in Upper Lake. Standouts were, in no particular order, Brayan Vasquez (117 yards rushing, TD), Isaia Pena (234 yards passing, two TDs), Chase Noble (103 yards receiving, TD) and Angelo Macias (12 unassisted tackles, four assists, fumble recovery).
First win – The Kelseyville JVs recovered a fumble deep in their own territory late in the fourth quarter to preserve a 7-6 win over Lower Lake for their first win of the season.
Halfway there – Believe it or not, the 2026 high school football season is at the midway point. Things should get a little more interesting down the stretch as league play finally arrives, not to mention the playoffs that follow.
NCL I North volleyball battle – Kelseyville (4-0) closes out the first half of its NCL I North schedule Tuesday night in Upper Lake against the Cougars (3-1).
NCL I girls soccer battle – Kelseyville (7-0) opens the second half of its league schedule Tuesday in Lakeport against Clear Lake (4-3). The two archrivals split their first two meetings this season, Clear Lake winning a non-league game 2-0 back on Aug. 18 in Kelseyville, and Kelseyville beating the Cardinals 2-1 in league action Sept. 10, also in Kelseyville.
Homecomings – After nearly 50 years of covering them all over, Middletown’s is still the best show.
Week 6 schedule – On Friday night, St. Helena (3-2) at Middletown (4-1), Upper Lake (1-4) at Willits (2-4) and Cloverdale (4-1) at Kelseyville (2-3). On Saturday night, Lower Lake (1-3) at Stuart Hall (4-1).
