{"id":7606,"date":"2026-11-02T19:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T19:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7606"},"modified":"2026-11-02T19:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T19:42:23","slug":"league-titles-up-for-grabs-in-week-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7606","title":{"rendered":"League titles up for grabs in Week 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

North, South championships come down to final week of 2026 regular season<\/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

LAKE COUNTY >> The final week of the 2026 regular season won\u2019t see any action under the lights in Lake County as Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Middletown and Upper Lake embark on road trips in Week 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest game, by far, is Kelseyville at Willits as the winner earns the undisputed North Central League I North championship. Both teams bring 2-0 records to Maize Field, which has been none too kind to county teams in recent seasons. Clear Lake lost its starting quarterback to a season-ending injury there in 2023, and while the Cardinals won the game and went on to win the league title that year, the loss of Jake Soderquist made it impossible for Clear Lake to defend the section championship in won in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Kelseyville lost twice in Willits during the 2023 season, dropping a 20-18 league decision and later a 31-7 game in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section playoffs.  The Knights have lost each of their last three visits to Maize Field, their last win coming in 2018, a 32-22 victory that was part of Kelseyville\u2019s league-championship season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits has been a tough game for Kelseyville since that 2018 victory in Willits. The Knights are 1-6 against the Wolverines since then, that one win coming in 2024, a 20-7 decision at Kelseyville that was part of another league-championship campaign for the Knights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in essence, beating the Wolverines in recent years means a championship for Kelseyville, a pattern that will repeat itself if Kelseyville wins Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Kelseyville at Willits is the Week 10 headliner, the county\u2019s other teams will just be closing out the regular season. Middletown (3-1 South, 7-2 overall) has an interlock game against Fort Bragg (1-8) before heading off to the North Coast Section playoffs. Upper Lake (3-6) finishes up with a non-league game at Colusa (3-6), and Lower Lake (1-7) heads to St. Helena (4-5) for a South game that will determine who escapes the South cellar. Both teams are 0-3 in league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following is a look back at some the Week 9 highlights and lowlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rushing \u2013<\/strong> Middletown junior Tyler Galamay carried the ball 21 times for 147 yards with three touchdowns and a conversion in the Mustangs\u2019 huge 26-12 South win at Cloverdale. Teammates Johnny Finney and Jamisen Jackson added 78 and 61 yards, respectively. Upper Lake also had a big night rushing the ball in a 44-26 interlock win over Lower Lake. Jacob Weldon had 135 yards on 20 carries with three touchdowns, Gage Faalelea added 125 yards on 12 carries and three TDs, and Antario Wyman finishes with 80 yards on six carries. Lower Lake\u2019s Roy Percoats gained 82 yards on 16 carries for Lower Lake. Kelseyville\u2019s Case Pivniska led the Knights in a 31-0 home win over Fort Bragg with 85 yards on nine carries with a touchdown. JD Smart\u2019s only carry of the night, and the first of his high school career, resulted in a 68-yard touchdown for the Knights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passing \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville\u2019s Kimo Brown went 5-for-10 for 107 yards and a touchdown against Fort Bragg. Lower Lake\u2019s Brody Shields finished 5-for-16 for 101 yards and a TD against Upper Lake. Middletown\u2019s Jamisen Jackson was 3-for-6 for 49 yards and a TD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Receiving \u2013 <\/strong>Kelseyville\u2019s Jayden Fabisch had three catches for 59 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown reception. Upper Lake\u2019s Antario Wyman had one catch for 58 yards. Middletown\u2019s Tyler Galamay\u2019s only catch of the night against Cloverdale was a 31-yard touchdown, his first of the season in the receiving department. Roy Percoats caught a 24-yard touchdown against Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special teams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good night \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville placekicker Jorge Gonzalez went 4-for-4 on his extra-point kicks and also booted a 25-yard field goal against Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great start \u2013 <\/strong>Kelseyville\u2019s Brayton Thomas returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key play \u2013 <\/strong>Middletown\u2019s Johnny Finney recovered a fumble on a kickoff return moments after the Mustangs had scored to go up 20-14 on Cloverdale. That fumble led to another Middletown touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Made it interesting \u2013<\/strong> Cloverdale\u2019s defense had the Middletown running game thoroughly frustrated in the first half Friday night in Cloverdale. While the Mustangs ended up with solid rushing numbers, they really had to earn it. Middletown had more than a dozen carries that yield two or fewer yards. Cloverdale also sacked Middletown quarterback Jamisen Jackson three times, including on back-to-back plays in the second quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

95-yard interception \u2013<\/strong> Upper Lake\u2019s Antario Wyman returned an interception 95 yards to set up a touchdown against Lower Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tackles leaders \u2013<\/strong> Middletown\u2019s Ryan Halverson led the way with 12 total tackles. Kelseyville\u2019s Hayden Brown recorded 10 total tackles while teammate Case Pivniska had eight tackles, two for loss, and two sacks. Gage Faalelea had seven tackles and an assist for Upper Lake, and teammate Cameron Milhaupt added six solo tackles. Lower Lake\u2019s Roy Percoats finished with six tackles and one interception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shutout \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville posted its first shutout of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streaks \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville has won three straight and Middletown and Upper Lake two in a row. Fort Bragg has dropped eight straight. Middletown\u2019s win over Cloverdale snapped a seven-game Eagles winning streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably a record \u2013<\/strong> Yep, put an asterisk on it until further notice, but Middletown\u2019s Tyler Galamay followed up a five-touchdown game two weeks ago against Lower Lake with a four-touchdown game Friday against Cloverdale, giving him nine in his last two games. We\u2019re pouring through the records now to see if that\u2019s happened before but haven\u2019t found anything yet. Galamay, who still has another season after this one to add to his career numbers, is already the school\u2019s rushing touchdown leader with 45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Galamay \u2013<\/strong> His season numbers through Friday are 993 rushing yards, 20 rushing touchdowns and seven 100-yard-plus games. Johnny Finney, also a junior, isn\u2019t far behind with 764 yards and 10 TDs. Galamay has 1,268 all-purpose yards, including a team-best 223 receiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congrats \u2013<\/strong> To the Kelseyville (23-5) and Upper Lake (16-5) volleyball teams on fine seasons. They both lost Saturday in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section playoffs. Kelseyville has back-to-back 20-plus-win seasons and three straight league championships. The Knights return their entire roster next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other congrats \u2013<\/strong> To Clear Lake\u2019s, Kelseyville\u2019s and Lower Lake\u2019s boys and girls soccer teams for qualifying for the North Coast Section playoffs, which begin this week. Kelseyville\u2019s girls (14-0 league, 20-1-1) are the No. 1 seed in Division 1, and Clear Lake\u2019s boys are the No. 2 seed in Division 3. It would be a huge morale boost for Lake County Sports if all the playoff coaches could actually report the results of their games. We don\u2019t expect it, but miracles do happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloverdale quarterback \u2013<\/strong> Evan Robledo is fearless. He actually was penalized for trying to hurdle a pair of Middletown defenders on a play early in the second quarter. His feet caught one of those defenders and he flipped upside down and fell hard onto the artificial surface. No problem. Robledo got up, dusted himself off and threw a 27-yard touchdown pass on the very next play as the Eagles moved in front 7-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North title, South title \u2013<\/strong> While the Kelseyville-Willits game Friday night will decide the North champion, the South title comes down to Saturday when Stuart Hall (3-0) hosts Cloverdale (2-1). If Stuart Hall wins, the undisputed title belongs to them. If Cloverdale wins, the South race ends in a three-way between Stuart Hall, Cloverdale and Middletown (3-1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV championships \u2013<\/strong> Middletown captured its third league title in a row with a 29-0 South win at Cloverdale. Kelseyville\u2019s JVs need a win Friday in Willits to wrap up the North race. Yep, the same Kelseyville team that lost its first four games of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searching \u2013<\/strong> Looking for a venue to host the All-County volleyball photo shoot, which figures to be Kelseyville heavy again this year as the Knights had another huge year. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football coaches \u2013<\/strong> Keep in mind we have pins for any varsity players who rush, pass or receive for 1,000 or more yards. No one is coming close in the receiving category this season, but we should have a handful of 1,000-yard rushers and passers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varsity, JV, middle school A and B \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville High School\u2019s varsity and junior varsity volleyball teams won North Central League I titles again this season, and both of Mountain Vista Middle School\u2019s volleyball teams won their league postseason tournament. It\u2019s the third year in a row all four Kelseyville teams have finished first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter sports \u2013<\/strong> Basketball and wrestling are open for business as of Monday, the first official day of practice for both. Basketball teams will be playing games in a little more than two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why in the hell? \u2013<\/strong> Is Christmas music playing on the day after Halloween? Ba, humbug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing well \u2013<\/strong> The Mendocino College women\u2019s volleyball team moved over .500 for the first time this season with a straight-set victory over Marin College on Friday, boosting the team\u2019s overall mark to 12-11. The Eagles are a who\u2019s who of Lake County alumni, which is nice to see. They are 6-2 in the Bay Valley Conference standings with four conference matches remaining. All five county high schools are represented on the Mendocino squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running is fun \u2013<\/strong> Just ask Lake County\u2019s cross country team members. Their sport is your sport\u2019s punishment. The Coastal Mountain Conference Championships take place Thursday at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. Middletown\u2019s boys are gunning for a NCL I title. Go get \u2019em Mustangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall championships \u2013<\/strong> Kelseyville has won league crowns in varsity volleyball, JV volleyball and girls soccer, and both of the school\u2019s football teams can add to that title haul on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football seeding \u2013<\/strong> The North Coast Section seeds football teams on Sunday. Find out what division your favorite team ends up in. Division 5? Division 6? Division 7? It\u2019s always an adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If some parents had their way \u2013 <\/strong>They would take a vote each week to determine if the current coach guiding their son or daughter stays or goes. My recommendation would be to give the job to the parent who talks the most crap and then sit back and watch what happens. It won\u2019t be pretty, but it will be worth the price of admission. Hint: The coach is OK if they play the parent\u2019s son or daughter, not OK if they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of interesting \u2013<\/strong> Read on someone\u2019s blog that Upper Lake football proved to \u201call its doubters\u201d what the team was made of after beating Lower Lake. Think about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North, South championships come down to final week of 2026 regular season By Brian Sumpter Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKE COUNTY >> The final week of the 2026 regular season won\u2019t see any action under the lights in Lake County as Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Middletown and Upper Lake embark on road trips in Week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,110,58,26,17,18,19,59,144,15,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606"}],"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=7606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7608,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7606\/revisions\/7608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}