{"id":4085,"date":"2025-09-27T23:40:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T23:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4085"},"modified":"2025-09-27T23:40:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T23:40:03","slug":"bend-but-dont-break-mustangs-win-22-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4085","title":{"rendered":"Bend-but-don’t-break Mustangs win 22-9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Middletown beats tough Willits squad in homecoming game, wins fourth straight<\/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

MIDDLETOWN >> Before you get the idea Middletown breezed to a 22-9 homecoming win over the Willits Wolverines in a North Central League I varsity football game Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field, be clear on thing; there was no breezing in this game \u2026 not at any point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits (1-1 league, 3-1 overall), a team loaded with offensive firepower, held the ball every second of the first quarter, the period ending when the Wolverines\u2019 18-play drive stalled on downs, a fourth-down pass from the Middletown 17-yard line falling incomplete with no time left on the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe bent but didn\u2019t break on defense,\u201d Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said of the theme of the game for the Mustangs, who held the ball for just four minutes in the first half but didn\u2019t allow a point. \u201cWe told the kids that we\u2019re going to face adversity at certain points this season and that was tonight. This is what you work hard in the summer for, for games just like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown (3-0, 4-1) finally got its hands on the ball as the second quarter opened and the Mustangs wasted no time scoring, moving 83 yards in six plays, the final 39 on a touchdown pass from Blake Costlow to Trenton Griffith, who was able to turn the corner and burst up the Middletown sideline with Willits defenders unable to close the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits then used up all but 37 seconds of the remaining time in the second quarter with another long and time-consuming drive, moving from its own 9-yard line to the Middletown 27 \u2013 a span of 13 plays \u2013 before the 14th<\/sup> play resulted in a fumble that Brody Costlow recovered at the Middletown 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with hardly any time remaining, Middletown moved the ball all the way to the Willits 16 before the clock ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too bad we didn\u2019t have a little more time there because I thought we could have scored there,\u201d Woodard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 15-yard run by Tyler Galamay, a 24-yard reverse by Jon Hawkins, and a pair of quick passes from Costlow to Galamay and Hawkins had the Mustangs closing in on the end zone. They used their timeouts wisely but couldn\u2019t beat the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each team had two possessions in the third quarter. Middletown received the second-half kickoff but had to punt before getting the ball back on a Jamisen Jackson interception that almost turned into a pick-six touchdown, only to have most of his return wiped out by a block-in-the-back penalty well behind the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turnover still gave Middletown great field position at the Willits 30. Eight running plays later, Griffith was able to get outside and turn the corner, angling his way to the goal-line pylon for a 7-yard touchdown with 1:43 remaining in the quarter. Costlow\u2019s conversion pass to a wide-open John Finney had Middletown in good shape at 14-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, just like that, the game got really interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Willits had to punt on its next possession, that kick rolled all the way to the Middletown 4-yard line. The Mustangs could only advance the ball to the 13 before they had to punt themselves, and the Wolverines blocked it. Luckily, punter Hawkins fell on the ball in the end zone before Willits could get to it, resulting in a safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits returned the ensuing free kick to the Middletown 46-yard line and scored two plays later as quarterback Corey Rockey completed back-to-back passes, first to Isaac Silva for 27 yards, then to a wide-open Rickey Ramirez in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. Damien Reiter\u2019s extra-point kick made it 14-9 with 5:21 remaining \u2013 or in football terms, an eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines knuckled a short kickoff down the field that Middletown immediately pounced on, taking over at the Middletown 46-yard line. While a running play on first down ended up losing two yards, it was wiped out by a horse collar penalty on the Wolverines. The 15-yard penalty put the ball into Willits territory, but not for long. On a repeat of first down, Galamay burst up the middle on a trap play and immediately cut outside where he was able to use his exceptional speed to turn the corner and blaze a path to the end zone 39 yards distant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe made us look great,\u201d Woodard said of Galamay\u2019s big play, which flipped momentum squarely back to the Mustangs and let everyone on the Middletown bench, and Middletown fans in the stands, breathe a huge sigh of relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And still the Wolverines had time to make a game of it and did their best to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the clock ticked under four minutes remaining, Rockey led the Wolverines from their own 16 to the Middletown 17 where the drive ended with a John Finney interception in the end zone for a touchback. Two Middletown players were right there but Finney plucked the ball out of the air with teammate Jackson near him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinney (a sophomore) does things where he might make a mistake during the game, but he learns and he comes back with a big play,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cLike tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the disparity in time of possession for the two teams, Willits only outgained Middletown 271-210 as the Mustangs made the most of their limited possessions. Galamay rushed for a team-best 95 yards while Costlow went 8-for-9 for 79 yards, one TD and no interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe kept his composure out there,\u201d Woodard said of Costlow. \u201cAnd Galamay did a good of keeping us moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s offense had success spreading out the Wolverines and shifting players around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe watched a lot of film, we knew that would work,\u201d Woodard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown is tied with Clear Lake and St. Helena atop the league standings, and the Mustangs travel to St. Helena next Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown won the JV game 28-12 to improve to 3-0 in league and 5-0 overall (see related story).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEAM NOTES:<\/strong> Spending as much time as they did on defense, especially in the first half, the Mustangs piled up the tackles, led by Ryan Halverson with 13, Costlow with 12 and Galamay with 11. Also up there were Hayden Xavier with seven and Finney and Hawkins with six apiece \u2026 Middletown has won four straight since losing to Berean Christian nearly a month ago in the season opener for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Middletown’s Trenton Griffith angles his way into the end zone in the third quarter to give Middletown a 14-0 lead against Willits. (Photo courtesy of Geri Costlow)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middletown beats tough Willits squad in homecoming game, wins fourth straight By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook MIDDLETOWN >> Before you get the idea Middletown breezed to a 22-9 homecoming win over the Willits Wolverines in a North Central League I varsity football game Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field, be clear on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,26,19,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085"}],"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=4085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4088,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085\/revisions\/4088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}