{"id":4715,"date":"2025-11-13T20:16:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4715"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:16:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:16:46","slug":"mustangs-host-falcons-in-playoff-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4715","title":{"rendered":"Mustangs host Falcons in playoff opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Middletown enters North Coast Section Division 7 tournament as No. 1 seed<\/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 >> The No. 1-seeded Middletown Mustangs begin their North Coast Section Division 7 playoff adventure Friday night with a home game against Archie Williams High School of San Anselmo. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Bill Foltmer Field, which could be the only place the Mustangs play in the sectional tournament if things break right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown (8-2), the North Central League I runner-up, hosts a 6-4 Archie Williams club that placed third in the Redwood Empire Mountain League. The Mustangs and Peregrine Falcons did not have a common opponent this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we see on film is their quarterback, No. 2 (senior Ronan Foley) is definitely a threat,\u201d Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. \u201cWe have to contain him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foley\u2019s numbers bear that out. He\u2019s thrown for 1,503 yards and 16 touchdowns while completing nearly 61 percent of his passes. A running threat as well, Foley has 321 yards on the ground and seven of his team\u2019s 12 rushing touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey move the ball,\u201d Woodard said of the Falcons. \u201cThey\u2019ve got speed. It\u2019s definitely a game they can win if we don\u2019t play well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foley\u2019s primary targets are Jonah Revelle (32 receptions for 605 yards, eight TDs) and Ates Hurd (30 catches for 542 yards, seven TDs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mani Mosher, senior running back, is the team\u2019s rushing leader with 571 yards and four TDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archie Williams plays on an artificial turf field and many of its opponents this season also play on turf, so the team will have to adjust to what is likely to be a slick Middletown natural grass field soaked by Wednesday\u2019s and Thursday\u2019s rainfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt should be different for them,\u201d Woodard said, adding Bill Foltmer Field does drain well and should be in good shape Friday unless it absorbs additional heavy rainfall between now and then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the target is squarely on Middletown\u2019s back as the No. 1 seed in Division 7, Woodard said the Mustangs, who are coming off a bye week, are handling their business in practice like it\u2019s just another game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have humble kids and families,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cNo one\u2019s taking plays off in practice. We probably had the bet Tuesday practice we\u2019ve had this season. Wednesday started off a little rough, but the second half of it was really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodard said the relatively young Mustangs \u201cneed to keep their composure\u201d if Archie Williams hits them with anything surprising or if they are victims of a bad break or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making his first postseason appearance as Middletown\u2019s head coach, Woodard said the Mustangs have been blessed with good health to this point of the season, and with a lucky bounce or two at opportune times throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the stars align, you don\u2019t take it for granted,\u201d Woodard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 8 Archie Williams at No. 1 Middletown is one of four first-round Division 7 games taking place Friday. The winner advances to the semifinals Nov. 21 against the winner of No. 4 Vallejo (7-3) vs. No. 5 Concord (6-4) at the home site of the highest surviving seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other half of the Division 7 bracket, No. 2 Piedmont (6-4) hosts No. 7 St. Patrick\/St. Vincent (7-3) while No. 3 Willits (8-2) is home against No. 6 Redwood Christian (7-3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Division 7 championship game is Nov. 28-29 (TBA). The section champion advances to the NorCal championship game the weekend of Dec. 5-6. State championship games are Dec. 12-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEAM NOTES:<\/strong> Middletown is gunning for its fifth section title in football and first since 2018 \u2026 That 2018 team won its last three (of four games) on the road whereas this year\u2019s Mustangs can remain at home as long as they keep on winning, a nice perk \u2026 The last (and only) Lake County team to reach the NorCal championship game was Clear Lake in 2022. The Cardinals lost to eventual state champion Orland at Orland \u2026 Middletown won Class A section titles in 1997, 1999 and 2001. The Mustangs reached the sectional finals in 1991 and 2017 as well \u2026 Along with Middletown and Willits, the other NCL I team still alive in the postseason is St. Helena (10-0), the No. 2 seed in the Division 6 playoffs. St. Helena hosts No. 7 Sonoma Valley on Friday \u2026 Middletown owns a 2-0 record against other teams in the Division 7 playoff field, having beaten Piedmont 32-17 in non-league action Sept. 5 at Middletown, and Willits 22-9 in league action Sept 26 at Middletown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middletown enters North Coast Section Division 7 tournament as No. 1 seed By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook MIDDLETOWN >> The No. 1-seeded Middletown Mustangs begin their North Coast Section Division 7 playoff adventure Friday night with a home game against Archie Williams High School of San Anselmo. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,26,19,59,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4715"}],"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=4715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4717,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4715\/revisions\/4717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}