Kelseyville takes care of business with 29-8 road win at Willits
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
WILLITS >> On a field that has often been a chamber of horrors for Lake County football teams, including Kelseyville, what was remarkable about the Knights’ 29-8 victory over the Willits Wolverines on Friday night at Maize Field was how uneventful it turned out to be.
And that’s a good thing when you play at Maize Field. Kelseyville clinched the North Central League I North championship in Logan Barrick’s first year as head coach without a whole lot of drama. The Knights jumped out to a 15-0 lead, scoring on each of their first two possessions, and let their defense take it to the Wolverines after that.
Both teams needed a win to reach the postseason and Kelseyville (3-0 South, 6-4 overall) came through with flying colors.
“We started out hot,” Barrick said of Kelseyville touchdown drives of 59 yards and 39 yards to open the game.
Kelseyville used a steady running attack along with some timely passes and a bit of slight of hand to get the early jump on the Wolverines (2-1, 4-6). And while Willits was able to close the gap to 15-8 by the end of the first quarter, the Knights made this win about as anti-climatic as it could be, which almost never happens at Maize Field.
“I’m used to a lot more interesting things happening here … and nothing happened tonight,” Barrick said. “That’s fine with me.”
While both teams were warned by officials on a handful of occasions to limit their smack talk, and while there were the usual quota of extra-curricular shoves and pointing after tackles and hard hits, both sides managed to keep their cool. Although Kelseyville was called for one unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty during Willits’ only scoring drive – it moved the ball from the Kelseyville 1-yard-line to the half-yard line – the Knights were able to keep their tempers under control moving forward, according to Barrick.
“We did a good job of shutting up after that,” Barrick joked.
Willits picked up an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty of its own in the third quarter, but also held it together the rest of the way.
Kelseyville’s fourth straight win – and a third consecutive solid outing – has the Knights in good shape headed into next week’s North Coast Section playoffs. Although Kelseyville won’t know for sure until the section releases divisional playoff brackets Sunday, the Knights figure to end up in Division 7 as a mid-range seed, according to Barrick, who said the odds of getting a home game are about “one in four.”
Added Barrick, “I like where we’re at. Overall, our offense is rolling, and our defense has been super disciplined.”
The Knights wasted absolutely no time taking the lead against Willits, receiving the opening kickoff and moving 59 yards in nine plays – seven rushing and two passing – to go up 6-0 on Case Pivniska’s 2-yard touchdown run. Kelseyville used a bit of trickery on the extra point, faking a kick as holder Deake Lyndall passed to a wide-open Ethan Wheeler for the two-point conversion.
Kelseyville’s defense then pinned Willits deep in its own territory, forcing a three-and-out that included a pair of Wolverines false-start penalties. A short punt left the Knights with great field position at the Willits 39.
Two plays later it was 15-0. After Pivniska was stopped for no gain on first down, quarterback Kimo Brown found Brayton Thomas alone in the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown. Jorge Gonzalez booted the extra point this time for a 15-0 lead.
Willits answered with a score of its own, earning great field position when Davin Swensen returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the Kelseyville 20. Three Isaac Silva runs and a Kelseyville unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty later, the Wolverines closed to 15-8 on Silva’s 1-yard touchdown run and his ensuing conversion run.
The Wolverines really didn’t threaten again until the fourth quarter when, trailing 29-8, they held used a 16-play drive to move the ball from their own 19-yard-line to the Kelseyville 5, where it stalled on downs. The Knights were only too happy to let Willits chew up the clock as the Wolverines ran the ball 18 times and threw only one pass, consuming more than eight minutes in the process.
“That whole last drive when they had it (the ball), we just told our guys to do their job and keep it small,” Barrick said. “Don’t give them huge yardage, just little chunks.”
Kelseyville added to its 15-8 lead late in the second quarter on a JD Smart 32-yard run, that capping an 82-yard drive that also included a 29-yard pass from Brown to Thomas. Smart, a junior playing football for the first time, scored his first high school rushing touchdown a week earlier against Fort Bragg on a 68-yard play. That was only a small part of his contribution to the Kelseyville cause Friday night.
The Knights kicked off to open the third quarter and surprised the Wolverines with an onside kick that Smart recovered at the Willits 45. Just three plays into the half and backed up 10 yards by a holding penalty, Kelseyville then took advantage of Willits’ aggressiveness on defense, getting the corner to bite on what appeared to be a running play. Deake Lyndall, the Knights’ backup quarterback, pulled up and threw a 41-yard pass to wide receiver Carson Stone, who ran right past the cornerback who came up to play the run.
“We noticed in game films that their corners like to be aggressive,” Barrick said. “They were and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Willits tried to answer but another time-consuming drive or short runs ended with Smart intercepting a pass at the Kelseyville 25.
While Kelseyville’s rushing game didn’t have a big gainer on this night, the Knights took advantage of their depth at that position to get contributions from several players. Thomas finished with 48 yards on five carries, Jayden Fabisch added 37 yards on seven carries, Pivniska, nursing a knee injury, added 34 yards on 10 carries, and Smart had 31 yards on three carries.
Touchdown passes from Brown (5-for-8, 91 yards) and Lyndall (1-for-1, 41 yards) kept the Willits defense honest. Thomas ended up with two catches for 67 yards.
Andrew Souza, returning from an injury, had just one carry, but did play the entire game on defense, finishing with eight total tackles. Fabisch led the Knights with 11 total tackles, including six solo and one tackle for loss. Gordon Astrup and Hayden Brown each had 10 total tackles, and Lyndall added nine more. Other leaders were Carson with six tackles and one interception, and Smart with five tackles and an interception.
NOTES: Kelseyville placekicker Gonzalez went 3-for-3 on his extra-point attempts and is 7-for-7 in his last two games … The Knights missed the playoffs last year after three consecutive postseason appearances in 2022 (1-1), 2023 (1-1) and 2024 (0-1). Kelseyville has gone the longest of Lake County schools since winning its last section title, the last one coming in 1982 when the Knights won the old Class B title, which they also won in 1979. Lower Lake’s last section win came in 1988, Upper Lake in 1992, Clear Lake in 2022 and Middletown last season.
