{"id":4898,"date":"2025-12-04T21:26:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4898"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:26:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:26:33","slug":"norcal-title-state-berth-awaits-fridays-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=4898","title":{"rendered":"NorCal title, state berth awaits Friday’s winner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Middletown, Redding Christian clash in NorCal Division 7-AA championship <\/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 >> Only once before has a Lake County football team reached Week 15 of the season, which is where the Middletown Mustangs find themselves on the eve of their Northern California Division 7-AA showdown with the undefeated Redding Christian Lions on Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake made it this far three years ago, losing to eventual state champion Orland in Orland, and now it\u2019s Middletown\u2019s turn as it attempts to clear that final hurdle to a state championship game showdown with either San Fernando (11-3) or Woodbridge (5-8), the teams that play for the SoCal title Friday. The Division 7-AA state final will take place either Dec. 12 or Dec. 13 at one of three Southern California venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redding Christian (13-0), the Northern Section champion, offers a balanced attack between its running and passing games, just like the Mustangs (11-2). Middletown has the clear speed advantage, according to Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard, and an edge in size as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the numbers, Redding Christian quarterback Wyatt Shaw has passed for 2,887 yards and 52 touchdowns with a 78-percent completion percentage while running back Levi Putnam has rushed for 1,344 yards and 16 TDs. The Lions have their own version of Middletown senior wide receiver Jon Hawkins in Darren Goodman (No. 19), who will sometimes take the snap from center in a wildcat formation. Goodman has 808 yards worth of receiving yardage and 15 TDs while fellow receiver Collin Matos leads the team with 56 receptions for 769 yards and 14 TDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got guys who can change the momentum in a game,\u201d Woodard said of the Lions. \u201cThey like to go to No. 19 (Goodman). He\u2019s 6-4, 210 pounds, their Jon Hawkins. They are a well-balanced, athletic team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s scout squad by Henry Ames and Austin Davis has been especially effective in practice simulating the plays the Lions like to run, according to Woodard, even frustrating the Mustang starters at times earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve done a great job helping us prepare for them,\u201d Woodard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s week in practice has been building up to where Woodard likes to see it going into Friday\u2019s titanic collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy Thursday it\u2019s all coming together,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cIt\u2019s gone well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While scouting the opposition and heavy film sessions are par for the course for Middletown\u2019s coaching staff, Woodard said it basically comes down to a matter of trust on game day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just need to trust my guys,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes you get caught up in everything else, but I do trust my guys to get it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe expectation is to win state, so we are right where we\u2019re supposed to be. We don\u2019t want to watch them celebrate on our field,\u201d Woodard said of the Lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little more than 24 hours from now the Mustangs hope to be celebrating a NorCal championship, the first in county history. The rest is pretty much details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middletown, Redding Christian clash in NorCal Division 7-AA championship By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook MIDDLETOWN >> Only once before has a Lake County football team reached Week 15 of the season, which is where the Middletown Mustangs find themselves on the eve of their Northern California Division 7-AA showdown with the undefeated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,26,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898"}],"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=4898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4900,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions\/4900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}