{"id":2341,"date":"2025-02-14T20:54:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2341"},"modified":"2025-02-14T20:54:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:54:05","slug":"league-title-lost-knights-vow-to-fight-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2341","title":{"rendered":"League title lost, Knights vow to fight on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelseyville boys beat Fort Bragg 66-60 in league finale, await word on section playoffs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KELSEYVILLE >> Their league title dreams still smoldering in the ashes after a Tuesday forfeit ended any chance of repeating as North Central League I champions, the Kelseyville Knights re-dedicated themselves to a higher purpose Thursday night while beating the visiting Fort Bragg Timberwolves 66-60 in the league and regular-season finale for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating senior night \u2013 11 of the Knights\u2019 12 players are seniors \u2013 Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said his squad, still stinging from a decision by the Kelseyville Unified School District to forfeit a game with Cloverdale that was made without any input from its coach, is looking forward to proving to those around the county, and especially those in the district office, that Kelseyville\u2019s program deserved better than to have a proverbial ton of bricks dropped on its head without due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The district\u2019s forfeiture ruling came down Tuesday morning after Kelseyville team members circulated a distasteful and disrespectful photo on the Internet following a win Feb. 7 against archrival Clear Lake in Lakeport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unsportsmanlike act led to the forfeiture even though not all of the team\u2019s 12 players appeared in or participated in the circulation of the offending photo, according to Lopez. The resulting forfeit loss knocked Kelseyville out of a first-place with Middletown and St. Helena atop the league standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey made a mistake, I don\u2019t deny that,\u201d Lopez said of the players who were responsible for the photo being posted online.  \u201cBut I feel like a forfeit was excessive. We could have still played the (Cloverdale) game with the varsity players who were not responsible and with JV players we could call up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lopez said that option was never even considered even though the JV players, who had already won their own league title, were willing to come up to a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot to give the JV players that option was a mistake,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while there was no guarantee that the remaining varsity players and the JV call-ups would have beaten Cloverdale even if a game had taken place, Lopez said the Knights deserved the chance to find out, but they never got it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s worse, according to Lopez, is that he was never informed about the forfeiture until it had already been decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got a call at 8:30 in the morning letting me know,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cPlayers and parents started calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word of the forfeit appeared on the Kelseyville Unified School\u2019s District webpage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the forfeiture fallout has been a tough pill for the Kelseyville sports community to swallow, Lopez said it will not affect a \u201cKelseyville basketball program that is only going to get stronger because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Lopez said that the Knights, who are applying for an at-large berth in next week\u2019s North Coast Section playoffs, relish the opportunity of returning to the court for the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d hate to be any team that faces us in the playoffs because we\u2019ve got something to prove,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cKelseyville basketball will not be tarnished by this. We\u2019ve built a program to be proud of, a strong program. The kids make a mistake, something they\u2019ll have to love with and grow with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights received plenty of healing Thursday night as a large crowd packed the gym to witness senior night and the team\u2019s victory over Fort Bragg, which left the Knights at 11-3 in league play, one forfeit loss behind co-champions Middletown and St. Helena in the final league standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was pretty packed,\u201d Lopez said of the gym. \u201cThere was a lot of positive energy flowing, which was good to see (after the events of earlier in the week). It was a good moment for the kids in front of their fans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Watkins led the Knights with 15 points, Tyler Bryant and Brock Barrick each had nine, Sam Arredondo finished with eight and Adam Astrup seven as Kelseyville completed the regular season at 16-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo other NCL I team is better suited to make a run in the playoffs,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cWe played a tougher schedule than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville\u2019s JV team  closed out a 14-0 league run earlier in the evening with a 61-40 win over Fort Bragg. Joey Watson and Gordon Astrup finished with 12 points apiece, Jacob Amendola added nine and Nick Arredondo eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights went 18-7 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other boys action Thursday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena 71, Upper Lake 38<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints clinched a league co-championship with a lopsided victory over the Upper Lake Cougars in the league and regular-season finale for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena (12-2, 22-3) needed the win to gain a share of the title after Middletown (12-2) closed out its regular season Wednesday with a home win over Clear Lake. It was one of the most successful regular seasons in Saints history, and it marked the second straight year St. Helena has earned a share of the league title \u2013 the Saints tied Kelseyville last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landen Robinson\u2019s 16 points, including four 3-pointers, led the Cougars (4-10, 7-13), while Connor Vogel added 10 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTough way to end the season with back-to-back games against the league champions (Middletown and St. Helena), Upper Lake head coach Tony Arroyo said. \u201cWe might have run out of gas because with came out with no energy. They pressed us hard, and we couldn\u2019t break it with our starters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Arroyo, \u201cWe experimented and tried out a young lineup featuring Connor. He was out there with TJ Malicay (freshman), who got pulled up for our final game, Gage Faalelea, Landen Robinson and Wyatt Hallman. Perhaps a glimpse of next year\u2019s squad. They came out with great defense and were moving the ball great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malicay had only two points in his varsity debut, but he did dish out six assists and had a \u201chandful of steals in a limited number of minutes,\u201d according to Arroyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConnor left everything out on the floor,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cI\u2019m upset it didn\u2019t go as well for our other seniors because they put a lot of hard work in this year and truly grew from the first day we took over. I\u2019m proud of all they did this year and know they\u2019re all going to do great things after this. It\u2019s great to see the young guys go to work and show that next year we\u2019re going to be a team to contend with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena edged Upper Lake 60-59 in JV action. Antario Wyman finished with a team-best 16 points as the Cougars closed out their season 4-10 in the league standings. Mason Parker added 16 points while Alan Alvarado, Shaun Way and TJ Malicay finished with eight points apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe let one get away,\u201d Upper Lake head coach Lupeli Faleagafulu said. \u201cWe were able to control the paced of the game, maintaining the lead throughout, but they had the last run, scoring seven points in the last two minutes of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added to Faleagafulu, \u201cKudos to my guys for playing hard. It was a tough environment to play in, but we made a game of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale 60, Lower Lake 49<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Cloverdale, freshman guard Jaxson Randolph scored 28 points to lead the Cloverdale Eagles to a season-closing victory over the Lower Lake Trojans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake, under the direction of first-year head coach Anthony Farrington, finishes 0-14 in league and 2-24 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cit\u2019s been very rewarding,\u201d Farrington said of his work with a young and rebuilding Lower Lake squad. \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way in a short period of time. There was some frustration, but we\u2019re no longer getting blown out by teams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrington, a star player for the Clear Lake Cardinals in the late 1980s, said he hopes to return next season when Lower Lake returns all but two players, including standout freshman Noah Hakala who was unavailable on Thursday (trip to Disneyland).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe only had six guys tonight and that limited what we could do,\u201d Farrington said. \u201cWe tried to put on a zone press, but we just couldn\u2019t get into it. We had a hard time rebounding as well. We\u2019ve gotten killed on the boards in almost every game. Boxing out is something we\u2019re still learning how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with a minimal number of players, the Trojans played with Cloverdale nearly the entire way. The Eagles led 12-11 after one quarter, the game was tied 25-all at halftime, and Cloverdale took a 40-35 lead into the final period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were eight lead changes in the first half and nine overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was still a single-digit lead for the Eagles (6-8, 12-14) until Vann Randolph sank a pair of free throws with 1:48 remaining to give the Eagles a 58-47 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke Campbell, playing his final high school game, finished with a team-best 18 points for the Trojans while Brody Shields added 13 points and Raijhier McKneeley eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale won the JV game 66-59. The Eagles end up 9-5 in the league standings to Lower Lake\u2019s 0-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake scoring was not reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kelseyville High School varsity boys basketball coach Oscar Lopez shouts out instructions to his players during action Thursday night at Kelseyville High School. The Knights closed out the regular season with a 66-60 win over Fort Bragg and are looking forward to continuing on in the North Coast Section playoffs as an at-large team. (Photo courtesy of Lindsey Hamner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelseyville boys beat Fort Bragg 66-60 in league finale, await word on section playoffs Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> Their league title dreams still smoldering in the ashes after a Tuesday forfeit ended any chance of repeating as North Central League I champions, the Kelseyville Knights re-dedicated themselves to a higher purpose Thursday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20,58,12,17,18,59,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341"}],"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=2341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2344,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions\/2344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}