{"id":702,"date":"2024-08-30T16:55:16","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T16:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=702"},"modified":"2024-08-30T23:45:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T23:45:41","slug":"home-is-wherever-theyre-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=702","title":{"rendered":"Home is wherever they’re playing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Veteran Kelseyville team looking for big things in 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

KELSEYVLLE >> Home is wherever the Kelseyville Knights find themselves on a given Friday night during the 2024 high school football season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least that\u2019s the feeling among the Knights going into their season opener Friday night in McKinleyville, some 200 miles away from where the game was originally supposed to take place \u2013 on their own field in Kelseyville, which is one place head coach Leo Flores\u2019 squad won\u2019t see this season because of scheduled field renovations. Why exactly those renovations are taking place during football season, well, that\u2019s for someone in a higher pay grade to figure out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An early plan to play home games at nearby Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake fell through, but at least the Knights did manage to secure three \u201chome\u201d games at an ever nearer Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport, home of Kelseyville\u2019s archrival Clear Lake. Sept. 13 (Fort Bragg), Oct. 18 (Willits) and Nov. 8 (St. Helena) are the Knights\u2019 official home games, and they\u2019ll also play Clear Lake in Lakeport on Nov. 1, the annual Bass Bowl game hosted by the Cardinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The scheduling shuffle left insufficient time to save the McKinleyvile home game, so the Knights are off to Humboldt County, but with a caveat. They\u2019ll be wearing their black home jerseys for the season opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of respect for the McKinleyville coach letting us do that,\u201d said Flores, who enters his second season with the Knights. In 2023 he led Kelseyville to a 5-3 league record (fourth place in the North Central League I), 8-4 overall mark and a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs where they went 1-1, reaching the semifinals before losing at Willits 31-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores said the distraction of where the homeless Knights would be playing this season has been a minor one at best. Returning a solid core of players, including four of five linemen and all his primary skill position players, the veteran Knights haven\u2019t spent much time dwelling on the subject, if for no other reason because there\u2019s nothing they can do about it. It wasn\u2019t their decision, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis team, this group of players, they\u2019ve always been positive,\u201d Flores said. \u201cWe don\u2019t care where we\u2019re playing, we just want to go out and play hard, play well. That\u2019s what we\u2019re concerned about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard work is what his players are accustomed to on and off the field and they never back away from the challenge, according to Flores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of our players work (summer jobs), so we had to move the start of our practices to 6 p.m. so they can make it to practice on time,\u201d Flores said. \u201cThey\u2019re tired when they get here but they still go out and do everything they need to do. They don\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since losing to Willits in the playoffs a year ago, the Knights have put in all the time that\u2019s been asked of them, in the weight room, during open field workouts, spring ball and passing league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of how hard they\u2019ve worked in the offseason,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the season is here, Kelseyville\u2019s coach said his players, especially his seniors, are primed for a big year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll my linemen return except for one and the new guy (sophomore Elijah Watkins at left tackle) is pretty good,\u201d Flores said. \u201cMy only concern is we don\u2019t have depth, so we\u2019ll need to stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From left tackle to right tackle, the Knights line up Watkins, Adam Astrup, Landon Johnson, Milez Giambra and three-year veteran and team captain Alexis Martinez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of Kelseyville\u2019s returning running backs \u2013 seniors Kyle Watkins (1,226 yards, 14 TDs last season) and Max Hommer (900 yards, 8 TDs last season) give the team a formidable 1-2 punch. They averaged nearly 200 rushing yards a game in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While quarterback Brock Barrick, a senior, didn\u2019t make the All-League team a year ago, he nevertheless put up some solid numbers \u2013 875 yards passing and 17 TDs. Even so, last year\u2019s scouting report on the Knights was that they were a one-dimensional team who could throw the ball if they had to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see a lot of improvement from Brock since last season, he looks great and he even looks faster,\u201d Flores said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be able mix it up a little more this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior tight end Jayden Teabo, who will soon become a member of the school\u2019s 1,000-pound club (for his extraordinary work in the weight room), and senior wide receiver Reme Strong provide Barrick with two more downfield targets. Yet another is Michael DeJohn, a junior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if the Knights didn\u2019t have enough firepower returning this season, they\u2019ve also added sophomore running back and linebacker Bryce Keener from the junior varsity ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are looking forward to a very competitive year,\u201d Flores said. \u201cThe important thing for us, something we learned last year, is that we can\u2019t let up. We have to keep working hard so that the competition doesn\u2019t catch up to us. We need to show up every week and not look past anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a varsity roster of nearly two dozen and a JV roster of around 30, the Knights are holding their own in terms of player numbers, a real challenge for area teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been with a lot of these seniors since their sophomore year and I\u2019m really looking forward to what they can do this year,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville rotated players, especially in the offensive backfield, a year ago in order to keep their legs fresh for the entire season. That\u2019s probably not going to be the case this year as many of the team\u2019s seniors have expressed a desire to remain on the field longer, and Flores said he will accommodate them whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re seniors now and they want to be out there getting the most of their final year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of where they play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny game is a home game for us,\u201d Flores said. \u201cThat\u2019s the mentality we\u2019ll have as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran Kelseyville team looking for big things in 2024 By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVLLE >> Home is wherever the Kelseyville Knights find themselves on a given Friday night during the 2024 high school football season. At least that\u2019s the feeling among the Knights going into their season opener Friday night in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702"}],"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=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}