Knights take break from league schedule to play Dougherty Valley in San Ramon
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKE COUNTY >> Fall weather is finally here and so is Week 8 of the high school football season. An extended run of summer heat has finally given way to cooler temperatures and even a bit of rain, a sign that the North Coast Section playoffs can’t be far off.
Taking place in Lake County on Friday night, Lower Lake (0-2 league, 1-5 overall) hosts Middletown (1-1, 5-2) in North Central League I South action while Upper Lake (0-2, 1-6) is home against Fort Bragg (0-1, 1-6) in a NCL I North contest where one of the two teams is not only going to get its first win but snap a six-game losing streak. Hitting the road are the Kelseyville Knights (3-4) against Dougherty Valley (5-3) of San Ramon, a team that had to forfeit its final two games last season because of insufficient player numbers.
Other games of interest Friday include a NCL I South battle between St. Helena (0-1, 4-3) and Cloverdale (1-0, 6-1) at Cloverdale, and a NCL I interlock game matching South leader Stuart Hall (6-1) with North leader Willits (4-4) at Willits.
Middletown at Lower Lake
The Middletown Mustangs went right down to the wire the last two weeks in their NCL I South battles with Stuart Hall (29-28 loss) and St. Helena (22-21 win), games both decided on a conversion play late in the fourth quarter, and now finish up their regular season with three straight road games, beginning Friday at Gordon Sadler Field against the struggling Lower Lake Trojans, who haven’t scored a point on offense since a 28-21 loss to Kelseyville on Oct. 2. Lower Lake scored seven points a week ago in a 30-7 setback to Cloverdale, but the touchdown came on a 95-yard kickoff return by Roy Percoats.
Middletown lost a pair of two-way starters to injuries early in its loss a week ago at home to Stuart Hall, but both running back/linebacker Tyler Galamay (hip) and wide receiver/defensive back Colton Karp (knee) are expected to play against Lower Lake.
“Galamay had a light week in practice, but he’s coming along,” Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. “He will play, but how much he’ll play we’ll see. He will hold on extra points.”
Galamay scored a touchdown and was off to a pretty good night against Stuart Hall when he took a knee to the hip. He limped off the field and returned a short time later for only one play before exiting the game for good.
“Karp is definitely playing,” Woodard said.
Losing those two players certainly didn’t help the Mustangs’ chances against Stuart Hall, but the team still had a handful of opportunities to win.
“When the ball doesn’t bounce your way, you just have to move on to the next play,” Woodard said.
In Middletown’s case, they bounce from Bill Foltmer Field to Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake this week.
While the Trojans are struggling this season, Woodard said Middletown isn’t taking anything for granted.
“We still have a job to do, we still have to take care of our business,” he said.
Woodard said the Mustangs resumed their regular routine Monday.
“We hit hard in practice Monday and had our film session Tuesday,” he said. “Business as usual.”
Looking ahead to the Trojans, a team that has a significant amount of speed, Woodard said it’s important for the Mustangs to take control of the game early.
“Lower Lake’s the type of team that if you let them hang around, they gain more confidence,” Woodard said.
“They’re coming out of that loss, and it was a tough one for them,” Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said of the Mustangs’ 29-28 setback to Stuart Hall. “They’re going to come here and want to make a statement.”
Jakubowski said the Trojans are doing everything they can to prepare themselves for the always tough assignment of playing Middletown.
“They run the ball and they run it efficiently and we’re struggling to stop the run,” Jakubowski said. “Hopefully we can prevent the big plays.”
Lower Lake has re-worked its offensive line, including a new center, to address some of the problems it has experienced recently.
“We’ve had some bad snaps that got us off kilter a little bit,” Jakubowski said. “Our offense is still struggling to find its identity. We need to eliminate mistakes and mental errors.”
Getting more touches for running backs Anthony Russell and Roy Percoats is a priority, according to Jakubowski, because both have done well with the few touches they’ve had so far.
“We need to get ball more to both of them,” Jakubowski said.
Special team errors also have cost the Trojans in recent games, mainly in the form of better field position for their opponents.
Lower Lake has gone a long, long time since beating Middletown. The last time that happened was 2007, a 15-13 victory at Middletown. That was also the last time the Trojans won a league championship (NCL I North in those days). The Mustangs have won 17 straight in the head-to-head series.
Kelseyville at Dougherty Valley
Dougherty Valley replaces NCL I North opponent Clear Lake on Kelseyville’s season schedule. The San Ramon team has struggled mightily the last three seasons, culminating in the Wildcats forfeiting their final two games in 2025 because of a lack of players. They’ve won two games each of the last three seasons, so this year’s squad can equal that victory output by winning one of its two remaining games this year.
“They’ve got a couple of athletes at receiver and an athletic quarterback,” Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick said. “In their wins, they’ve taken advantage of those athletes.”
Dougherty Valley quarterback Javi Estrada has thrown for 1,235 yards and 13 touchdowns but also nine interceptions. His favorite targets are Xavior Sanchez (22 catches, 385 yards, 2 TDs) and Mikey Wong (15 receptions, 366 yards, 7 TDs). The Wildcats have nearly twice as many passing yards as rushing yards this season.
Dougherty Valley is coming off back-to-back lopsided losses to Concord and Alhambra.
“Alhambra is a good team and took it to them,” Barrick said.
The Knights were able to out-physical another passing team in Stuart Hall earlier his season, winning 43-33 in San Francisco behind their solid running attack, and Barrick hopes to use the same formula to subdue the Wildcats on their home turf.
“Being physical is a big thing for us,” Barrick said.
Kimo Brown will draw the start at quarterback after splitting time with backup Deake Lyndall Jr. last week because of an ankle injury. There’s more good news on the Kelseyville injury front as running back Andrew Souza is expected to return in time for next week’s North home game against Fort Bragg.
Kelseyville’s sidelines will have a few extra bodies this week as well. Since there is no junior varsity game with Dougherty Valley, Barrick is promoting several JV players.
“They’ve been working with us all week and their energy has really added something to the practices,” Barrick said. “We’ve had the best week of practice. Wednesday was the best practice we’ve had all season. Hopefully things are looking up.”
Kelseyville is coming off a 21-6 road win against Upper Lake, the Knights’ NCL I North opener.
“We’re going to try some different stuff offensively,” Barrick said of this Friday’s game. “We’re going to stay physical, but we’ll try a few new things.”
A win moves Kelseyville back to .500 on the season. The Knights’ final two games are Oct. 30 at home against Fort Bragg and Nov. 6 at Willits, a contest that will likely decide the North championship.
Fort Bragg at Upper Lake
In the something’s-got-to-give game of the week, the Upper Lake Cougars close out their North schedule against the Timberwolves. Upper Lake finishes up with a NCL I interlock contest Oct. 30 at home against Lower Lake, then hits the road Nov. 6 for a non-league game at Colusa.
Upper Lake certainly has been competitive in recent weeks, and they’ve reached the portion of their schedule where wins are a real possibility.
While the Cougars lost a handful of starters to injury a week ago against Kelseyville, everyone is back in the lineup this week, according to head coach John Toohey.
“We have everyone available this week,” Toohey said. “A couple of sore ankles that we will have to monitor as the game goes on, but we will at least be entering the game with everyone.”
Toohey said Fort Bragg isn’t a team to be taken lightly.
“There are no off days in the NCL I,” Toohey said. “Everyone is competitive.”
Added Toohey of the Timberwolves, “Fort Bragg throws a lot of formations at you, too many to specialize alignments against at practice, so we are going to play out of our base and focus on staying disciplined. They have a big, strong fullback and some speed on the field in (Valen) Ivenkay and have some receivers who can get loose.”
Ivenkay has done a little bit of everything for the Timberwolves this season. He leads the team with 15 catches for 384 yards and four touchdowns, has rushed for 156 yards and two TDs, and has passed for 72 yards.
“Defensively, they play with a lot of guys on the line of scrimmage, so it could be feast or famine in the run game,” Toohey said. “They’ve got some bigger bodies that I am hopeful we will match up well with up front.”
Upper Lake’s coach said the Cougars must cut down on penalties, which hurt them multiple times against Kelseyville.
“Some of those came from personnel confusion as we were adjusting to multiple injuries, but a lot of those (were) coming at the end of tackles or blocks,” Toohey said. “We’ve had a tendency to turn good plays into bad ones with poor decisions made, so we really need to keep our technique clean throughout the whistle. If we can do that and stop putting ourselves behind the sticks, I know we can have sustained success.”
