Deep Kelseyville squad knocks off Cloverdale 41-8, improves to 3-0 in league
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
CLOVERDALE >> Even with two of their chief threats on offense looking on from the sidelines in street clothes, the depth of the Kelseyville High School varsity football team is such that the Knights still overpowered the Cloverdale Eagles, 41-8, in North Central League I action Friday night in Cloverdale.
Kelseyville’s starting backfield to open the season, Kyle Watkins and Max Hommer, watched the Knights (3-0 league, 4-1 overall) score 41 unanswered points before the Eagles (0-3, 1-4) finally got on the scoreboard, a running clock in operation, with 6:39 left in the game against Kelseyville’s reserves.
Watkins, who has rushed for 600 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, was held out of the game because of a nagging ankle injury while Hommer was lost for the season in Week 1 with a broken collarbone. The Knights were also without wide receiver Reme Strong (shoulder).
While both Watkins and Strong might have been able to play if the need was great, Kelseyville head coach Leo Flores said he wasn’t going to take any chances, not against a struggling opponent such as Cloverdale, which had forfeited its previous game against Fort Bragg because of a lack of healthy players, and not with a bye week coming up. He wants both players to return from the bye week 100 percent, or close to it, as the Knights look ahead to the NCL I stretch run.
“Kyle is so competitive, he wanted to suit up, he said the ankle felt good, and I know he wants to get the county touchdown record (28, set by Kelseyville’s Jared Holley in 1998),” Flores said. “We thought it was better if he rested the ankle and let it heal. We have depth and we felt good about what our other guys could do.”
Real good, in fact.
Michael DeJohn carried the load in Watkins’ absence and carried it well, rushing for 199 yards on only 11 carries with four touchdowns – a 32-yard run in the first quarter to make it 7-0, 18- and 67-yard runs during a 28-point second quarter as the Knights built a 35-0 lead, and a 32-yard run in the third quarter to make it 41-0, which ushered in a running clock with 3:05 remaining in the quarter.
“Michael DeJohn did a good job,” Flores said. “He was the starting running back his freshman year on the JV team.”
DeJohn’s workload picked up big time when Hommer was lost for the season in Kelseyville’s season opener at McKinleyville, and he’s complimented Watkins nicely in the starting lineup ever since.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him,” Flores said.
And as a testament to just how deep the Knights are in the offensive backfield, sophomore Bryce Keener finished with 104 yards against Cloverdale, including a 4-yard touchdown run. It was the first 100-plus-yard effort of his varsity career.
Kelseyville finished with 330 yards of rushing offense and 406 yards overall as quarterback Brock Barrick went 7-for-12 for 76 yards. Barrick also rushed for a touchdown.
While Flores and his coaching staff were pleased with the win, they didn’t like Kelseyville’s slow start, a game-opening possession that ended with Barrick throwing an interception on the eighth play of a drive that moved the ball all the way from the Kelseyville 8-yard line to the Cloverdale 22.
“They know I really like them to come out fired up,” Flores said. “We’ll need to come out fired up against some of the teams we’re going to be playing later in the season. If we don’t, they’ll take advantage of it.”
It proved to be just a hiccup for the Knights, who essentially moved the ball at will against Cloverdale all night. If the end to Kelseyville’s first possession was disappointing, that disappointment didn’t last long.
After a 13-yard punt by the Eagles set up Kelseyville with a first-and-10 at the Cloverdale 23, DeJohn broke loose over the left side and angled his way down the Knights’ sideline and into the end zone for his first touchdown, Jose Juarez tacking on the first of his five extra points (he was 5-for-6) to make it 7-0 with 6:33 remaining.
Kelseyville scored again on its next possession, a three-play drive capped by a Keener 4-yard run.
The Knights were on the move again late in the first quarter, the 59-yard drive coming to an end with 10:57 left in the second quarter on a Barrick 5-yard keeper that made it 21-0.
Kelseyville took over on downs a short time later when Cloverdale fumbled a punt snap and couldn’t get a kick off. DeJohn’s 18-yard run on second down pushed the Knights’ lead to 28-0.
Cloverdale caught a bit of a reprieve from Kelseyville’s onslaught when the Knights fumbled away a punt return, which set up the Eagles with their best starting field position of the night at the Kelseyville 41, but Knights defensive end Jayden Teabo sacked Kyle Bernardi for a 13-yard loss on first down, then later tackled running back Carson Brown for an 8-yard loss. Teabo, who spent about as much time in the Cloverdale backfield as the Eagles, finished the game with three sacks.
Through it all, the Eagles were able to pick up one first down thanks to a 13-yard yard completion on a fourth-and-12 play, but the drive stalled three plays later when linebacker Jeffrey Ballard intercepted a Bernardi pass.
Kelseyville scored on the very next play, DeJohn breaking loose on a 67-yard run to increase the Knights’ lead to 35-0.
Kelseyville was driving again in the waning moments of the first half but took a knee at the Cloverdale 22 to run out the clock.
The Knights stopped the Eagles on downs in the third quarter to set up their final score, a four-play, 68-yard drive capped by a DeJohn 32-yard on a fourth-and-four play.
The Eagles finally gave their fans something to cheer about midway through the fourth quarter when facing a fourth-and-10 play from the Kelseyville 27, Bernardi connected with Vann Randolph for the touchdown. One play earlier the Eagles dropped a pass in the end zone, delaying the touchdown celebration for another play.
Kelseyville beat Cloverdale 38-7 in the junior varsity game.
Game notes: Kelseyville returns from its bye week Oct. 11 to play at Upper Lake. The Knights’ next “home” game is Oct. 18 against Willits, which is tied with Kelseyville for first place atop the NCL I standings. The Willits game takes place at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport. Willits beat Fort Bragg 29-20 on Friday night in Willits. While the Knights are off next weekend, the Wolverines will be at home playing Middletown, which lost another star player, wide receiver/quarterback Jon Hawkins (wrist), in a 34-28 win over Clear Lake on Friday night in Lakeport … Upper Lake, Kelseyville’s next opponent, won a 20-12 double-overtime thriller Friday night in Lower Lake. The game was tied 6-6 at the end of regulation and 12-12 after the first overtime possession.
