{"id":7190,"date":"2026-09-19T19:14:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7190"},"modified":"2026-09-19T19:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:14:31","slug":"mustangs-rally-from-13-0-down-to-41-13-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7190","title":{"rendered":"Mustangs rally from 13-0 down to 41-13 win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Middletown overcomes rocky start to beat Kelseyville in NCL I interlock action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Hansen & Brian Sumpter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KELSEYVILLE >> There was no panic on the Middletown High School sideline Friday night when the Kelseyville Knights scored on each of their first two possessions, the second one following an interception, to go up 13-0 late in the first quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter those two TDs, I told them we were good, we had plenty of time, so just keep your composure and go out and get some momentum,\u201d Middletown head coach Kurtis Woodard said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed. Middletown reeled off 41 unanswered points to beat the Knights 41-13 in a North Central League I interlock varsity football game that was all Mustangs (2-1) the final three quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville (1-2) lost one of its top players, senior running back Bryce Kenner, to a leg injury late in the first half, but Kelseyville head coach Logan Barrick said that wasn\u2019t the deciding factor in this game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal to lose him,\u201d Barrick said of the loss of Keener (10 carries for 40 yards), who capped Kelseyville first possession with a 4-yard touchdown run. \u201cBut that wasn\u2019t the key to the game. We lost our heads. We got up 13-0 and all of a sudden we just lost our heads. We got mouthy. We made penalties that cost us. Some 15-yarders and other penalties. We stopped them on fourth down but roughed the passer. We made an absurd amount of penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, in turn, led to Middletown gaining an absurd amount of yards and scoring six touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were by far the less disciplined team,\u201d Barrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Keener\u2019s touchdown run and the extra-point kick made it 7-0, Kelseyville\u2019s pass rush hit Middletown quarterback Jameson Jackson as he was releasing a pass, and the Knights\u2019 Brayton Thomas intercepted the ball, giving Kelseyville a first down at the Middletown 10-yard-line. Kimo Brown\u2019s 13-yard touchdown pass to Hugh O\u2019Boyle on third-and-goal from the 13 boosted Kelseyville\u2019s advantage to 13-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown answered with a 70-yard drive capped by Jackson\u2019s 16-yard touchdown run. The Mustangs threw an incomplete pass on third-and-long one play earlier, but the Knights were called for roughing Jackson, giving them a new of downs. Jackson kicked the extra point to make it 13-7, and just like that, the Mustangs were right back in it, according to Woodard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew we were going to keep momentum after that and we did,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cThe kids really started believing in themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights were on the move near midfield on their next possession before a sack put them into a fourth-and-long predicament, forcing a punt, a punt that Middletown\u2019s Ryan Halverson returned all the way to the Kelseyville 29. One play later Middletown had the lead as junior running back Tyler Galamay (15 carries for 115 yards) broke off a 29-yard run for the first of his two touchdowns on the night. Jackson again added the extra point for a 14-13 Middletown lead with 3:46 left in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville went three and out on its next possession, a holding penalty putting the offense in a deep hole, and Middletown got the ball back one more time before halftime, returning a punt to the Kelseyville 45, plus an additional 15 yards tackled on for a personal foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown completed a short pass on which the Knights were called for a late hit. Enter John Finney, junior running back for the Mustangs. Finney (11 carries for 109 yards) escaped what appeared to be a big loss and instead ran 13 yards for a touchdown, the first of his three scores in the game. Jackson missed his first extra-point kick of the season after nine straight conversions, making it 20-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown didn\u2019t take its foot off the gas pedal in the second half, not for a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mustangs\u2019 Galamay recovered a fumble at the Kelseyville 42 in the third quarter and  Finney went on to score from 22 yards out with 8:34 left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville turned the ball over on downs at its own 35 after a fourth-and-three pass fell incomplete, and Middletown had a 34-13 lead four Galamay runs later, the final one a 4-yard run with 3:39 left in the quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights were on the move later in the third quarter and early into the fourth quarter before Colton Karp intercepted a pass thrown in his direction. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty tacked on 15 yards to the end of the play. Middletown marched 65 yards to the end zone, Finney capping the series with an 11-yard TD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Barrick had plenty of issues with his team\u2019s own play, he gave credit to the Mustangs for their strong comeback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were really resilient and they didn\u2019t put their heads down for a moment,\u201d Barrick said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t run anything we weren\u2019t prepared for, but they are a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it might not have seemed like it at game\u2019s start, Woodard said the Mustangs felt well prepared to tackle whatever the Knights threw at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur coaching staff did a good job game planning for this one,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cWe knew what we could run and we did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodard said the solid play of his offensive line was critical in the victory as was the 1-2 punch of Galamay and Finney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGalamay ran hard and Finney had a terrific night,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cAfter falling behind 13-0 we knew we just had to make plays, and we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir backs did a good job breaking tackles,\u201d Barrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights finished with 144 yards on the ground and 51 passing as Brown went 7-for-12. The Mustangs had 271 yards on the ground and 50 through the air as Jackson went 4-for-8. Both threw one interception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halverson chalked up another 17 total tackles for the Mustangs while Henry Ames had 11 and Luce Mace nine. O\u2019Boyle\u2019s six tackles led the Knights while Case Pivniska had five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middletown overcomes rocky start to beat Kelseyville in NCL I interlock action By Mike Hansen & Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> There was no panic on the Middletown High School sideline Friday night when the Kelseyville Knights scored on each of their first two possessions, the second one following an interception, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,26,17,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7190"}],"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=7190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7191,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7190\/revisions\/7191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}