NCL I co-leader Kelseyville hits the road to play Cloverdale
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LAKE COUNTY >> Getting a second league loss doesn’t mean you can’t go on and do great things – Middletown won a section title in 2018 – but it does mean your chances of capturing the North Central League I championship are pretty much slim and none.
Going all the way back through the 1984 season, no NCL I team has claimed so much as a piece of the league title with two league losses. The “worst” winning league record going back the last 40 years was the 4-1-1 mark posted by the Lower Lake Trojans in 1991 (the same year Willits went 2-2-2 in league and went on to beat Middletown in the old North Coast Section Class A championship game).
So why bring this up so early in the 2024 NCL I race?
Here’s why. Four Lake County teams already have one league loss – 2-0 Kelseyville is the exception – heading into Week 5 of the high school football season. Even more intriguing, those teams all play each other Friday night as Clear Lake (0-1 league, 0-3 overall) hosts Middletown (0-1, 1-2), and Upper Lake (1-1, 2-2) visits Lower Lake (1-1, 3-1).
What that means is the Clear Lake-Middletown and Upper Lake-Lower Lake losers will arrive at two losses, and barring some kind of wild free for all in the league the next few weeks, those teams won’t be hanging a league pennant on their gym wall (through as Middletown did in 2018 and Willits in 1991, there could be redemption in the playoffs).
Also in action Friday night, the Kelseyville Knights (2-0, 3-1) hit the road to play the Cloverdale Eagles (0-2, 1-3) while the Fort Bragg Timberwolves (1-1, 2-2) visit the Willits Wolverines (2-0, 3-1). St. Helena (1-1, 1-3) has a bye.
Middletown at Clear Lake
At Lakeport, both teams are looking for their first league win and, in the case of the host Cardinals, their first victory overall after an 0-3 start. Both teams have already had their league byes, so this is only their second league game. Middletown lost quarterback Blake Costlow earlier in the month to a broken foot although the Mustangs certainly held their own last week in a 24-21 home loss to Kelseyville. Clear Lake is coming off a 45-13 non-league loss to St. Bernard’s (3-0), a game that within reach for the Cardinals until they turned the ball over on back-to-back kickoff returns in the fourth quarter.
Among the league’s top teams the past few years (longer in the case of Middletown) – the Mustangs and Cardinals finished as NCL I co-champions last season, and they will be fighting to stay relevant in this year’s league race when they square off Friday.
Clear Lake has won the last three meetings, that after a long stretch of Middletown dominance in the head-to-head series. Two of the last three meetings have been particularly competitive, a 34-27 Cardinals win last season and a 26-18 victory in 2021.
The Cardinals will likely have to ramp up their offensive production to get past a Middletown team that has scored 33, 21 and 21 points in its first three games powered by a potent running attack led by junior Trenton Griffith, freshman Tyler Galamay and junior quarterback/wide receiver Jon Hawkins. Hawkins passed for a touchdown and ran for another last week against Kelseyville.
Clear Lake scored a season-best 13 points in its lost to undefeated St. Bernard’s. The Cardinals will be looking to take another step up in production against Middletown.
Upper Lake at Lower Lake
The Cougars are coming off a 32-28 loss to St. Helena while the Trojans fell 41-22 at Willits, completing a two-game road trip. Lower Lake now opens a two-game homestand against Upper Lake and St. Helena.
Lower Lake provided Upper Lake with its only win last season, the Cougars knocking off the Trojans 30-20 at Upper Lake.
Upper Lake head coach Stan Weiper coached the Trojans to their last NCL I championship back in 2007. He’s also taken several Kelseyville teams to league titles in the NCL I and NCL II during a long coaching career in the county.
Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski will be trying to get the Trojans back on track after a season-opening three-game win streak was snapped in decisive fashion by the Wolverines last week.
Kelseyville at Cloverdale
On paper, it’s the mismatch of the week as the Knights head into Cloverdale to face an Eagles team coming off a forfeit loss to Fort Bragg because it didn’t have enough healthy players. A physical though slightly banged up Kelseyville team isn’t likely to help Cloverdale’s health chart.
The Knights rolled up in the neighborhood of 400 yards of rushing offense in their win at Middletown last week, led by 246 yards and two touchdowns from senior running back Kyle Watkins, who already has 12 rushing scores this season. However, hiis availability for Friday night is still up in the air because of an injury. The Knights are also likely to be without wide receiver Reme Strong (shoulder).
Michael DeJohn also rushed for more than 100 yards against Middletown and has done more than a commendable job replacing Max Hommer since the senior went down with a broken collarbone in Week 1.
The Knights have a passing game to go along with their running attack but didn’t need it against Middletown. Senior quarterback Brock Barrick has 668 yards and five touchdowns through his first four games with only two interceptions. That’s compared to 875 yards all of last season.
High point totals have been a staple of the last three Cloverdale-Kelseyville meetings. The Knights won 47-14 a year ago and 52-41 in 2022, both games at Kelseyville, and the Eagles scored a 72-0 victory over the Knights in 2021 at Cloverdale, before the Eagles switched to an artificial turf field.
Schedule
Looking ahead to Week 6 on Friday, Oct. 4, Upper Lake hosts Cloverdale, Lower Lake is home against St. Helena, Clear Lake visits Fort Bragg, and Middletown travels to Willits. Kelseyville has a bye.
