{"id":4061,"date":"2025-09-25T21:31:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4061"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:31:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:31:38","slug":"willits-at-middletown-headlines-week-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4061","title":{"rendered":"Willits at Middletown headlines Week 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Both teams enter Bill Foltmer Field undefeated in league play<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

LAKE COUNTY >> Willits at Middletown is the game of the week in the North Central League I as Week 5 of the high school football season prepares to kick off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown (2-0 league, 3-1 overall) is one of four NCL I schools without a loss entering the third week of league play. The others are Willits (1-0, 3-0), which has already had its league bye, the Clear Lake Cardinals (2-0, 2-1), and the St. Helena Saints (2-0, 4-0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Middletown\u2019s homecoming game against the visiting Wolverines takes center stage on Friday night, there\u2019s plenty of other football action involving NCL I teams, including Lower Lake (0-2, 2-2) at Fort Bragg (1-1, 1-3), St. Helena at Kelseyville (0-1, 0-2), and Clear Lake at Upper Lake (0-2, 0-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown is definitely facing its toughest test in league play so far. The Mustangs had absolutely no problem taking down Cloverdale, 46-16, and Upper Lake, 50-0, in their first two league games. Both of those contests were long over by halftime. Likewise, Willits rolled past Upper Lake 54-0 two weeks ago in its only league game to date. The Wolverines weren\u2019t challenged in their other two games, both non-league victories \u2013 69-34 last week against Healdsburg, and 35-14 over Piner in their season opener Sept. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown tuned up for its league schedule with a pair of tough non-league opponents, falling 22-14 to Berean Christian in Walnut Creek on Aug. 30, then bouncing back with a 32-17 win over Piedmont on Sept. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Mustangs have a long history of success against Willits in football, the Wolverines did win last year\u2019s meeting 14-7 at Willits during Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer\u2019s final season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtis Woodard is facing Willits for the first time as Middletown\u2019s head coach but is well acquainted with the Wolverines, having served on Foltmer\u2019s staff for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a lot of weapons,\u201d Woodard said of the Wolverines, who are averaging nearly 53 points a game this season. \u201cAnd they\u2019ve done it with a lot of players not there (because of injuries). They didn\u2019t have their top two running backs last week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits features a balanced attack just like Middletown. So far this season the Wolverines have rushed for 13 touchdowns and passed for seven. Quarterback Corey Rockey has completed 65 percent of his passes (26-for-40) for 481 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven different Willits players have rushed for touchdowns. Of those, Ricky Britton has been the most productive to date with 250 yards in just two games, and Rockey has run for four scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a lot of depth and a lot of talent,\u201d Woodard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending against the Wolverines won\u2019t be easy even with senior Jon Hawkins returning to the lineup after missing the Upper Lake game with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to stay home, we can\u2019t overpursue,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cGuys need to stay at their positions and make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although homecoming week offers a lot of distractions, Woodard said his players have done a good job of staying focused this week in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a good group of kids,\u201d Woodard said of starters and reserves alike. \u201cI think we\u2019re where we need to be going into this game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits is the first of two big tests for the Mustangs, who hit the road next week to play St. Helena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other games involving Lake County teams on Friday night:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake at Upper Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Cardinals will be without running back\/safety Zane McCauley (shoulder injury) this week and perhaps longer, they might not need him against an Upper Lake team that is not only winless through the first four weeks of the 2025 season, but also scoreless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to their coach. Derek (Milhaupt) is a friend of mine,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Augie Perez said. \u201cOne of the problems he\u2019s had is never knowing who is going to be available to play on Friday. It\u2019s tough when you don\u2019t know who will play, who won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injuries, illness and other factors have left Upper Lake\u2019s roster in flux so far this year, contributing to the team\u2019s offensive woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cardinals are resisting the urge to take Upper Lake lightly for one very good reason, according to Perez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey kicked our butts last year, both the varsity and JVs,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake opened its league schedule a year ago with a 32-6 win over Clear Lake at Upper Lake, and the Clear Lake juniors who played in that game and are now seniors haven\u2019t forgotten, according to Perez. Both teams also had a spirited encounter in late August at the Lake County Scrimmage in Kelseyville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Cardinals will feel McAuley\u2019s loss on both offense and defense, Perez said his absence will be more keenly felt on defense where he plays a hybrid safety-linebacker position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the kids have picked up responsibility (for that position) in practice this week,\u201d Perez said. \u201cI think we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cardinals have a bit more depth at wide receiver \u2013 where McAuley plays on offense \u2013 and will depend on their other receivers to fill in, according to Perez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOtherwise, we\u2019re pretty healthy,\u201d Perez said. \u201cEven our JVs are up to 16 players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the Upper Lake game and a non-league contest Oct. 3 at Mount Shasta, Perez said the next two weeks offer Clear Lake an opportunity to perfect it kraft before tackling a four-game stretch that includes away games against Willits and Middletown and a home game against St. Helena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThree of those four games are going to be against tough teams,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only four weeks ago the Cardinals were in complete disarray as they played St. Bernard in their season opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had players out hurt, out sick, we were a totally different team then,\u201d Perez said. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re on a little bit of a roll now and we want to continue it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake at Fort Bragg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lower Lake Trojans battled St. Helena before falling 31-22 in their league opener two weeks ago, and they had a 14-12 lead until late in the third quarter of a 28-14 loss to Clear Lake last week. Unfortunately, the Trojans\u2019 emotions got the best of them a week ago against the Cardinals as the team was whistled for a series of unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in the fourth quarter, leading to the ejection of an assistant coach. All those penalties greatly assisted the Cardinals, especially on a game-sealing touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve changed focus on preparation,\u201d Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said of team practices this week. \u201cWe\u2019ve gone at a faster pace in practice. We\u2019re looking at more creative ways to get players the ball, to get them the ball in space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than sticking to a script of plays, Jakubowski said the Trojans are exploring ways to exploit the other team\u2019s weakness whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExploit the mismatches,\u201d he said with a look ahead to Fort Bragg, a team that handled Lower Lake pretty easily at Timberwolf Stadium a year ago, 50-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far this season Fort Bragg has scored 14 points in four games, although the eight the Timberwolves scored last week against Kelseyville were enough to beat Kelseyville 8-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey beat Kelseyville at their own game,\u201d Jakubowski said of the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg senior wide receiver Ross Knapp (6-foot-0, 190 pounds) will be one concern for a Lower Lake defense unlikely to have one of its best players, senior defensive end Steven Rich, in the lineup this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t been to practice all week,\u201d said Jakubowski, who said he hasn\u2019t talked to Rich but heard from others that he\u2019s injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jakubowski said three-year varsity veteran Noel Pereira will fill Rich\u2019s spot on the field and is very capable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides Knapp, the Timberwolves also have 280-pound tight end Anthony Britton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s bigger than some of our linemen,\u201d Jakubowski said. \u201cThey have a big tight end and a big line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake is juggling players on the offensive line again this week because of injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve called up two JVs to give us depth and I think they\u2019ll end up staying (on the varsity),\u201d Jakubowski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery week it\u2019s a struggle to figure out who will be playing on the line,\u201d Jakubowski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Trojans have been close in each of their first two league games, they haven\u2019t put it all together yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do too much sometimes on offense and defense,\u201d Jakubowski said. \u201cInstead of throwing the ball deep looking for that 30-yard pass, we should just go for the shorter yardage that\u2019s available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena at Kelseyville<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kelseyville offense is looking for its first points of the season. While the Knights did hold a 6-0 lead almost to the very end last week in Fort Bragg, that touchdown was scored by the defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The undefeated St. Helena Saints are off to their best start since winning eight in a row to open the 2015 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights won\u2019t have a healthy Michel DeJohn at running back. Injured in the loss to Fort Bragg, he could be available for limited duty this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena is coming off a 27-0 home win against Cloverdale, that after beating Lower Lake 31-22 in Lower Lake on Sept. 12. The Saints, led by former Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen, sown non-league wins against Fortuna, 28-18, and Justin-Siena, 43-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both teams enter Bill Foltmer Field undefeated in league play By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKE COUNTY >> Willits at Middletown is the game of the week in the North Central League I as Week 5 of the high school football season prepares to kick off. Middletown (2-0 league, 3-1 overall) is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20,110,58,26,17,18,19,59,15,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061"}],"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=4061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4063,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions\/4063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}