{"id":1433,"date":"2024-11-11T18:22:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T18:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=1433"},"modified":"2024-11-11T18:22:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T18:22:29","slug":"khs-football-is-sole-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=1433","title":{"rendered":"KHS football is sole survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NCL I-champion Knights hit the road as sectional playoffs open Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KELSEYVILLE >> The Kelseyville Knights are the last team standing heading into the North Coast Section Division 7 playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And not just the last Lake County team, but the last North Central League I team. The undefeated NCL I champion (8-0), owner of a 9-1 overall record, won\u2019t even get to play at home in the opening round, relegated to the No. 5 seed and facing a five-hour trip to Crescent City on Friday to play Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 champion Del Norte (3-0, 8-2) in a first-round game that kicks off at  7 p.m.  Since No. 4 Del Norte is the higher-seeded league champion, it hosts the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Division 7 playoffs, in fact, feature only two actual Division 7 base-enrollment teams \u2013 No. 8 seed St. Bernard\u2019s (0-3, 6-4), a private school that draws its talent from pretty much wherever it wants, and public-school power Ferndale (5-1, 9-1), the No. 2 seed and a defending state champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, under the section\u2019s new \u201ccompetitive championships equity\u201d system, teams can now be moved up or down as many as two divisions. No. 1 seed Moreau Catholic (5-1, 6-4) of Hayward, No. 3 Piedmont (5-0, 9-1), Del Norte, Kelseyville and No. 6 Fortuna (2-1, 4-6) are all base Division 6 teams that were moved down into Division 7. Vallejo (4-1, 7-4), the No. 7 seed, was moved down from Division 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s it all means for Lake County and NCL I teams moving forward? You better win your league outright from now on because there doesn\u2019t appear to be much room for small schools that aren\u2019t champions. Division 6 Willits, 7-1 in the NCL I standings and 8-2 overall, wasn\u2019t awarded an at-large berth. Neither was St. Helena (6-2, 6-4), Fort Bragg (5-3, 6-4) or Middletown (4-4, 5-5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because Division 7 is the lowest division for 11-man football, actual base Division 7 schools such as Middletown, Clear Lake, Upper Lake, Cloverdale and St. Helena can\u2019t move down, only stay in Division 7 or be moved up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had Kelseyville lost to St. Helena in its regular-season finale on Friday \u2013 the Knights won 48-27 \u2013 the NCL I would have ended in a three-way tie between Kelseyville, St. Helena and Willits. Had that transpired, only one of those three would have made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the new \u201ccompetitive equity\u201d system was on everyone\u2019s radar Sunday, the Kelseyville Knights simply need to focus on the task at hand, which is beating Del Norte this coming Friday. A victory would move the Knights into the sectional semifinals the weekend of Nov. 22-23 against the Moreau Catholic-St. Bernard\u2019s winner at the home site of the highest surviving seed. Kelseyville and Del Norte had one common opponent during the regular season \u2013 McKinleyville. The Knights beat McKinleyville 50-18 in their season opener while Del Norte defeated the Panthers 55-0. Weather certainly could be a factor. The extended forecast calls for clear skies Friday although rain is in the forecast much of the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Division 7 section finals are the weekend of Nov. 29-30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other first-round Division 7 games have Vallejo at Ferndale on Saturday afternoon and Fortuna at Piedmont on Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NCL I-champion Knights hit the road as sectional playoffs open Friday Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> The Kelseyville Knights are the last team standing heading into the North Coast Section Division 7 playoffs. And not just the last Lake County team, but the last North Central League I team. The undefeated NCL I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433"}],"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=1433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1435,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions\/1435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}