Middletown hosts Stuart Hall’s powerful passing attack in NCL I South showdown
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> The Kelseyville Knights don’t have to worry about what postseason division they’ll be playing in as they travel to Upper Lake on Friday night for their North Central League I North opener against the Upper Lake Cougars.
“If we don’t win our league, we’re not going to be in any playoff bracket,” head coach Logan Barrick said after a rough preseason/NCL I interlock schedule has left his team at 2-4 with four games remaining. “We were hoping at this point of this season we would have some cushion going into league, but we don’t have any leeway. We have to win them all.”
Kelseyville’s first-year coach has seen his team lose four games despite leading at some point in all four, and fourth-quarter letdowns have cost the Knights several times, including a week ago in a 27-19 interlock loss to Cloverdale. Kelseyville led 19-7 in the third quarter before the Eagles rallied back with 20 unanswered points.
In other Week 7 games involving Lake County teams on Friday, Middletown (1-0 league, 5-1 overall) hosts Stuart Hall (1-0, 5-1) while Lower Lake (0-1, 1-4) is home against Cloverdale (5-1) in NCL I South action. Cloverdale is making its South debut. In other action, Willits (1-0, 3-4) plays at Fort Bragg in a North game, and St. Helena (3-3) travels to Palo Alto to play Gunn High School (5-1) in non-league action.
Kelseyville at Upper Lake
Kelseyville draws an Upper Lake team that is 1-5 overall, including a 20-12 loss at Willits last week in its North opener, but the Cougars have begun to put things together the last two weeks.
“They are playing much better football this year,” Barrick said of the Cougars. “John (Toohey, head coach) has done a good job with them.”
Kelseyville is unlikely to have starting quarterback Kimo Brown (ankle) back this week although he is making progress toward returning to the lineup soon. Brown rolled his ankle late in the first half of a 28-21 win over Lower Lake two weeks ago and sat out last week’s game against Cloverdale, replaced by backup Deake Lyndall Jr.
“Kimo is practicing but I can’t say he’s ready to go,” Barrick said. “Deake is taking reps in practice and looking good. Both guys are more than capable.”
The Knights are still without running backs Bryce Keener and Andrew Souza because of injury, but Souza could be back soon, according to Barrick.
“We’re hoping to have him for Fort Bragg (Oct. 30) or Willits (Nov. 6),” Barrick said.
Only three of Kelseyville’s remaining games are league contests (Upper Lake, Fort Bragg and Willits). A fourth North opponent, Clear Lake, is not fielding a varsity team this year, so the Knights have replaced the Cardinals on their schedule with an Oct. 23 non-league game against Dougherty Valley (5-2) of San Ramon.
Looking to Upper Lake, Barrick said the Knights are working on tightening up a defense that has surrendered 20 or more points in every one of its games this season.
“We’d like to be able to score 20 points and win a game,” Barrick said. “We’ll be trying some different stuff on defense.”
Upper Lake’s offense seems to be coming online at an opportune time. The Cougars scored a season-best 22 points two weeks ago in a 41-22 homecoming loss to St. Helena, and they ran and passed the ball with success last week in a close road loss at Willits.
“We are ascending,” Toohey said of his team’s performance level. “Last week we were one penalty, one more successful play away from tying that game in Willits. They (Wolverines) were a tough team up front and we were getting beat up in the first half. I challenged them at halftime (trailing 13-0), and they responded in the second half.”
Added Toohey, “Our energy at practice has been great this week.”
The Cougars will need all of that energy to beat the Knights, a team they haven’t defeated since 2012 (the schools did not meet from 2015-22 because Upper Lake played eight-man football those years).
“Kelseyville is a classic Wing-T team,” Toohey said. “You have to be careful with their play action. Their misdirection game is a little more elaborate than Willits.”
The Cougars have watched a lot of film while preparing for the Knights, according to Toohey.
“The kids are learning how to watch film, and they’re taking it upon themselves to watch it on their own time,” Toohey said.
Stuart Hall at Middletown
Both teams bring 1-0 South records into this one. The Knights are a passing team led by junior quarterback Napoleon Cabading, a mobile quarterback with a strong arm. He has a large assortment of receivers to disperse the ball to, wide receivers and running backs alike.
Senior Jake Oenning (No. 2) is the most talented and biggest threat, but Titus Hughes (No. 11) and Trey Hughes (No. 3), both juniors, are among Oenning’s favorite targets. Cabading is the team’s leading rusher. When he breaks containment, he can be a huge problem.
“Obviously a lot of talent,” Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. “Between speed, size and ability, they check off a lot of the boxes when you’re putting a team together.”
Asked what makes Stuart Hall so dangerous, Woodard said, “It’s probably their speed and spacing around the football field. They just make the field look so wide with the routes they run. Their quarterback can run, they have a pair of downfield guys who can fly, and No. 11 out of the backfield is pretty good.”
Stuart Hall, a team that split its 2025 schedule between eight-man and 11-man games, is 3-1 against NCL I opponents this season. The Knights lost to Kelseyville 43-33 on Sept. 12 in San Francisco, beat Upper Lake 39-0 on Sept.18 in Upper Lake, defeated Fort Bragg 33-0 in Fort Bragg on Oct. 2, and demolished Lower Lake 49-0 last week in San Francisco.
“Kelseyville played them with a lot of energy,” Woodard said. “They did a really good job covering their receivers all game, and those receivers still made some nice catches.”
Stuart Hall struggled slowing down Kelseyville’s running game, and the Mustangs figure to give the San Francisco team as many if not more headaches between the running ability of Tyler Galamay and Johnny Finney, not to mention Middletown’s own mobile quarterback in Jamisen Jackson, who can also make things happen with the pass.
“We don’t know if they can stop us,” Woodard said.
This is the first meeting ever between the two schools.
“That’s what makes you nervous,” Woodard said of the lack of familiarity. “All the rankings, all those things don’t matter because you’ve never played.”
It will definitely be a test of a different sort for the Middletown defense, which hasn’t run into this type of passing offense so far this season.
“No. 2 (Oenning) is big and fast, and he kicks the ball into the end zone,” Woodard said. “He can do it all.”
This is the last bit of home cooking for the Mustangs, who finish up the regular season with three straight road games – Oct. 23 at Lower Lake (South), Oct. 30 at Cloverdale (South) and Nov. 6 at Fort Bragg (interlock).
Cloverdale at Lower Lake
The Cloverdale Eagles are enjoying their best season in years and will be looking to add their string of success against the Trojans, who barely had a pulse a week ago in a 49-0 loss at Stuart Hall.
Cloverdale has won five straight since falling 8-7 to McKinleyville in its season opener, and a sixth victory would make the Eagles playoff eligible, something that has been only a dream for the northern Sonoma County teams the last three seasons. The Eagles had back-to-back six-win season in 2021-22, and they went 7-5 in 2019. Their last playoff appearance was in 2022.
Lower Lake, a loser of four straight, is a team desperately in need of a win – any type of victory. Whatever momentum a competitive 28-21 loss to Kelseyville two weeks ago generated evaporated with last week’s blowout loss to Stuart Hall.
“We definitely need one,” Jakubowski said after a Stuart Hall game during which the Trojans managed just 88 yards of offense.
After falling behind Stuart Hall 21-0, Lower Lake went away from its running game and tried to go up tempo with its passing game, but the speed in the Knights’ secondary made things rough on the Trojans.
“Cloverdale doesn’t that have kind of speed in its secondary,” Jakubowski said. “This week we’re playing a team similar to us.”
Added Lower Lake’s veteran coach of the Cloverdale defense, “We see some places we have an advantage. Mostly we’ve got to be consistent and not try to do too much. We need to take what they give us.”
The improvement in the Cloverdale program has been noticeable for some time, according to Jakubowski.
“They have some seniors who are three-year veterans and they had some sophomores on last year’s JV team who were pretty good, and now they’re juniors on the varsity,” Jakubowski said.
Jakubowski said it’s impossible not to be impressed with the likes of Cloverdale quarterback Evan Robledo, a junior, and senior running back/linebacker Carson Brown.
“They’ve got a good quarterback who can ran and throw, and he’s physical,” Jakubowski said of Robledo. “Their running back (Brown) is tough, and they’ve got some good receivers. Their line is big. It’s a tall task for us.”
“Kelseyville had some missed opportunities against them, they made some mistakes and Cloverdale came back and got them,” Jakubowski said.
Robledo has passed for 780 yards and 10 touchdowns, but he also leads the team with 368 rushing yards. Brown, a tough fullback, has 321 yards.
It’s the first of two home games for the Mustangs, who play Middletown on Oct. 23 before finishing up the regular season on the road against Upper Lake (Oct. 30) and St. Helena (Nov. 6).
Cloverdale’s final three regular-season games are all South contests as they host St. Helena (Oct. 23) and Middletown (Oct. 30) before visiting Stuart Hall (Nov. 7).
Editor’s note: Tyler Galamay photo courtesy of Ed Oswalt.
