{"id":1197,"date":"2024-10-14T19:18:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T19:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=1197"},"modified":"2024-10-14T19:18:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T19:18:04","slug":"theres-no-quit-in-those-mustangs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=1197","title":{"rendered":"There’s no quit in those Mustangs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking a look back at Week 7 in Lake County high school football<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brian Sumpter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAKE COUNTY >> It\u2019s scary to think what the Middletown Mustangs could do if at full strength, but such are the harsh realities when it comes to the injuries that occur in the sport of football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown fell to 1-3 in league play on Friday night with a 9-7 homecoming loss against a St. Helena Saints team that had scored 43 and 32 points in its previous two games, both wins, against Lower Lake and Upper Lake. They managed just nine points against an injury-depleted Middletown squad, but it was enough given the state of a Mustangs offense that has lost two of its key cogs \u2013 junior quarterback Blake Costlow and junior wide receiver\/cornerback\/kicker\/punter Jon Hawkins — to season-ending injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, the Mustangs under the direction of head coach Bill Foltmer, now in his 40th<\/sup> and final season with the team, continue to play the North Central League\u2019s I big boys tough. Middletown\u2019s aforementioned three league losses have come to the league\u2019s three top teams, and all were competitive and eminently winnable games \u2013 9-7 to St. Helena (3-1), 14-7 to Willits (5-0) and 24-21 to Kelseyville (4-0). Middletown held the lead at different points in all three games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foltmer isn\u2019t making any excuses for his team\u2019s loss by the way. Injuries happen, that\u2019s just a fact of life, and no one knows that better than a coach who is among the state\u2019s all-time leaders in career victories (311).  Sometimes you get lucky in both terms of severity and timing, sometimes not, which is the case for Middletown this season. And yet the season still goes on and the Mustangs have four league games remaining to jump back into the postseason picture, including home games next Friday against Cloverdale and Nov. 8 against Upper Lake. In between they play Fort Bragg (Oct. 25) and Lower Lake (Nov. 1) on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a look back at the highlights and lowlights from Week 7 games:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rushing \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville\u2019s Michael DeJohn ran all over the Upper Lake defense, to the tune of 266 yards on 30 carries with two touchdowns. Not far behind was another junior, Middletown\u2019s Trenton Griffith, with 218 yards and a touchdown against St. Helena. Clear Lake\u2019s Zane McAuley had his best game of the season with 137 yards on 25 carries and a TD against Lower Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passing \u2013<\/strong> Lower Lake\u2019s Ashton Hartmann went 17-for-26 for 224 yards and two interceptions. Kelseyville\u2019s Brock Barrick passes for 132 yards and a touchdown against Upper Lake while Cougars quarterback Jerod Rosales went 3-for-16 for 99 yards and a TD. Clear Lake\u2019s AJ Bruch went 14-for-22 for 129 yards, two TDs and one interception against Lower Lake. Middletown completed two passes \u2013 to both sides \u2013 against St. Helena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Receiving \u2013<\/strong> Upper Lake\u2019s Antario Wyman hauled in a 92-yard touchdown pass on the Cougars\u2019 third play from scrimmage to give the team a 6-0 lead against Kelseyville. Lower Lake\u2019s Luke Campbell had four catches for 84 yards, including a two-point conversion pass, against Clear Lake. Zane McAuley of the Cardinals had seven receptions for 41 yards and a TD. Teammate Adrian Truby caught two passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Lower Lake\u2019s Christian Rodriguez had five catches for 46 yards. Michael Dougherty caught a 28-yard touchdown pass for Kelseyville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special teams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he misses one, it\u2019s news \u2013 <\/strong>Kelseyville placekicker Jose Juarez went 3-for-4 in the extra-point department against Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1-for-2 \u2013<\/strong> St. Helena kicked a 25-yard field goal to beat Middletown 9-7. Lower Lake missed a 26-yard field goal in the final seconds of a 29-27 loss to Clear Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers don\u2019t lie \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville\u2019s defense limited Upper Lake to one yard of total offense and no first downs in the second half Friday night in Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right place, right time \u2013 <\/strong>Clear Lake\u2019s Adrian Truby intercepted Lower Lake passes on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter, but it was a hard hit that jarred the ball loose and was recovered by teammate Jace Beard that preserved a 29-27 win over Clear Lake. The Trojans were at the Clear Lake 5-yard late in the fourth quarter when the fumble occurred. Truby also was among Clear Lake\u2019s leading tacklers with five \u2013 AJ Bruch had eight and Zane McAuley six. Lower Lake\u2019s Brody Shields picked off a Bruch pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s an even dozen \u2013<\/strong> Casey Costlow\u2019s seven unassisted tackles and five assists led Middletown\u2019s defense against St. Helena. Teammates Jacob Pullman and Kelby Shook each added eight total tackles while Trenton Griffth and Tyler Galamay had interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a year for injuries \u2013<\/strong> Clear Lake tight end Kaden Graham is out for the season with a lacerated kidney. The injury occurred during the Cardinals\u2019 road loss at Fort Bragg on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

96-32 advantage \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville had a significant edge in the number of plays run against Upper Lake on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week 8 Game of the Week \u2013<\/strong> Willits (5-0 league, 6-1 overall) travels to Lakeport to play Kelseyville (4-0, 5-1) this coming Friday. The winner moves into sole possession of first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t look now but \u2026 —<\/strong> Kelseyville running back Michael DeJohn now leads the Knights in rushing yardage with 688 yards. Injured teammate Kyle Watkins has 600 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streaks \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville has won four straight while Lower Lake enters its bye week a loser of four in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the JV ranks \u2013<\/strong> Middletown took over sole possession of first place with a 32-13 win over St. Helena. The Mustangs are 4-0 in league play while St. Helena and Kelseyville are now tied at 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday night football \u2013<\/strong> Clear Lake travels to St. Helena for a rare middle-of-the-week game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks to go \u2013<\/strong> In the North Central League I volleyball race. Five teams are still mathematically alive to win some share of the title \u2013 Cloverdale (8-2), Kelseyville (8-2), defending champ Fort Bragg (7-3), Middletown (6-4) and St. Helena (6-4). Key matches this week are Fort Bragg at Middletown on Tuesday, and Fort Bragg at Cloverdale and St. Helena at Middletown on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On what the fourth quarter was like \u2013<\/strong> Clear Lake and Lower Lake combined to turn the ball over four times in the fourth quarter. \u201cBoth teams were trying to give it away,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on the fourth quarter between Lower Lake and Clear Lake \u2013<\/strong> Lake County Sports contributing photographer Trett Bishop said, \u201cIt had more twists and turns than the Hopland Grade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Used to it by now \u2013<\/strong> When people still introduce me as the sports editor for the Record-Bee even though I retired from that job in late July of 2023. I just tell people, \u201cI now \u2018work\u2019 for the place that still covers Lake County sports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Lake County Sports <\/strong>\u2013 We will be running three separate video reels next week featuring the county\u2019s youth football players and cheerleaders. Hope you enjoy them. Thanks to a late push, we now have all the photos we need. Thanks for your submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to knowing the rules \u2013<\/strong> No one can top Lake County Sports senior correspondent Mike Hansen, longtime assistant coach at Lower Lake, Clear Lake and Upper Lake high schools. Coach\/correspondent Hansen was right on top of the situation following the blocked field goal at the end of the Clear Lake-Lower Lake game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big thanks \u2013<\/strong> To Geri Costlow, Bob Minenna and Coral Pratt for their photo submissions this past weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week 8 schedule \u2013<\/strong> Besides Clear Lake at St. Helena on Thursday and Willits at Kelseyville (in Lakeport) on Friday, Middletown is home against Cloverdale and Fort Bragg travels to Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New uniforms \u2013<\/strong> The Kelseyville Knights wore their new orange home uniforms for the first time Friday night in Upper Lake where they were officially the home team. The game was supposed to take place in Kelseyville, but the Knights\u2019 field is unavailable to them this season as it undergoes renovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice run \u2013<\/strong> The Kelseyville JV volleyball team won its first nine league matches before losing on the road in three sets to St. Helena last Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a look back at Week 7 in Lake County high school football By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKE COUNTY >> It\u2019s scary to think what the Middletown Mustangs could do if at full strength, but such are the harsh realities when it comes to the injuries that occur in the sport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20,26,17,18,19,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}