{"id":888,"date":"2024-09-19T17:55:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T17:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=888"},"modified":"2024-09-19T17:55:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T17:55:19","slug":"mustangs-cougars-cards-home-in-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=888","title":{"rendered":"Mustangs, Cougars, Cards home in Week 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Knights, Trojans hit the road for North Central League I games<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAKE COUNTY >> Middletown High School faces an ultra-tough North Central League I opener at home against the Kelseyville Knights at Bill Foltmer Field, one of four Friday night games involving Lake County teams in Week 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also going under the lights Friday are the undefeated Lower Lake Trojans (1-0 league, 3-0 overall) at Willits (1-0, 2-1), the Upper Lake Cougars (1-0, 2-1) at home against the St. Helena Saints (0-1, 0-3), and in non-league action the Clear Lake Cardinals (0-2) at home against the St. Bernard\u2019s Crusaders (3-0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville at Middletown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not only the opponent that presents a challenge for Middletown this week, but its quarterback situation after starter Blake Costlow sustained a broken foot against Piedmont on Sept. 6 and is sidelined indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costlow started all of last season and the first two games this year for the Mustangs. The junior was taking 95 percent of the snaps in practice before his injury, according to Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s one thing we really weren\u2019t prepared for,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about this often (concerning injuries). You\u2019ve got to be good to win games, but you\u2019ve got to be lucky too. We\u2019ve been pretty lucky with injuries the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville rolled past Fort Bragg 41-14 last week in its league opener, scoring all of its points in the first half. Foltmer was on hand to watch the first half and said that\u2019s all he needed to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKelseyville was the preseason pick (to win the North Central League I) because they have all their players back from last year and they were good last year,\u201d Foltmer said. \u201cTheir quarterback (Brock Barrick) can throw the ball a mile, their receiver No. 80 (Reme Strong) made some great catches, and they have two good running back (led by senior Kyle Watkins) and a good tight end (Jayden Teabo).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Foltmer, \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about it, we have our hands full.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Costlow out, the Mustangs turn to freshman Colton Karp, promoted from the junior varsity team, to take over behind center. The Mustangs also flirted with moving junior wide receiver Jon Hawkins to quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to start the freshman,\u201d Foltmer said. \u201cWe think we can throw just enough to keep people honest, and it allows us to keep everything else in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having a bye week to slowly work Karp into the offense was a blessing, according to Foltmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was huge for us,\u201d Foltmer said. \u201cI\u2019ve been impressed with Colton\u2019s ability to run the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foltmer said with Costlow the Mustangs had their most balanced offense in years, between his passing and the running provided by junior Trenton Griffith and freshman Tyler Galamay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout Blake we have to adjust some things in the playbook, but we\u2019ll be fine,\u201d Foltmer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s defense will be put to a test by a Kelseyville offense that has scored 112 points in its first three games. The Knights are also working on a two-game winning streak at Bill Foltmer Field where they prevailed 14-6 in 2022 and 28-0 in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKelseyville plays well at Middletown and we play well at Kelseyville,\u201d Foltmer said, noting that the homefield advantage isn\u2019t always a big factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown\u2019s defense, a work in progress, is unaffected by the injury to Costlow since he played only offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got all 11 of our guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mustangs certaily figure to be tested by Kelseyville on the ground \u2013 Watkins already has 10 rushing touchdowns \u2013 and through the air where Barrick has completed 33 of 48 passes (69 percent) for 558 yards, four touchdowns and only two interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other games Friday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake at Willits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake faces a big road test at Willits against a Wolverines squad that has won its last two meetings with the Trojans, including a 41-6 victory last season and a 45-0 decision in 2022 at Willits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake last beat Willits in 2019, a 33-26 win at Willits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trojans are coming off a 20-8 victory last weekend in their league opener at Cloverdale where the Eagles forfeited late in the third quarter after running out of enough healthy players.  Junior quarterback Ashton Hartmann passed for one touchdown and ran for another to lead a balanced Lower Lake attack that scored on its only two possessions of the second half to snap an 8-8 halftime tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake is trying to match the 4-0 start it got off to in the 2017 season when current assistant coach Hokulani Wickard was the Trojans\u2019 starting quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines beat St. Helena 20-14 at home last weekend, a game that went down to the wire with the Saints on the Willits 4-yard line when time ran out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits reached the North Coast Section Division 7 finals a year ago before losing to Ferndale, which went on to win a state championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena at Upper Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake has won two straight and will be looking to make it three in a row against the hard-luck St. Helena Saints and second-year coach Erick Larsen, the former Kelseyville High School head coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake rolled past Clear Lake 32-6 last week in its home and league opener while St. Helena fell 20-14 at Willits. The Saints also lost 20-17 in overtime to Justin Siena to open the season, so they\u2019ve been close a couple of times. Sandwiched between those close calls was a 54-25 blowout loss to Healdsburg (3-0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake already has more wins this season than last (1-8), so the rebuilding project head coach Stan Weiper began last season when the Cougars returned to 11-man football is beginning to pay dividends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larsen guided the Saints to the playoffs in his first season at St. Helena in 2023, and if they\u2019re going to return to postseason this year, they probably need a win against the Cougars, a team they thoroughly dominated a year ago, winning 41-8 at St. Helena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Bernard\u2019s at Clear Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake\u2019s lights should be up and running when the undefeated St. Bernard Crusaders visit Don Owens Stadium. One of the light standards caught fire last week following Kelseyville\u2019s 41-14 win over Fort Bragg (the Knights are using Clear Lake\u2019s field this year as their own field undergoes renovations).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey said they (lights) were going to be OK,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning from a 32-6 loss at Upper Lake last week the Cardinals arrived home just in time to see the light standard on fire, a perfect capper for Cory\u2019s evening. They are hoping things will go a bit smoother this week, even if the end result is now a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just in the mode of getting better right now,\u201d Cory said. \u201cHopefully that means competing in a game. Hopefully we become more consistent. We need to get better and not worry so much about winning and losing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake fell 51-7 to a tough Pierce team in its season opener after a Week 1 bye. They were within 12-6 of Upper Lake a week ago late in the first half before things went south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a total breakdown, sometimes it takes just one little piece,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Bernard\u2019s uses a platoon of two quarterbacks, both sophomores,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne\u2019s a better passer, one a better runner,\u201d Cory said of the Crusaders. \u201cThey do what they do very well. They have a very successful program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the first of two home games for the Cardinals, who return to their NCL I schedule on Sept. 27 against Middletown. They hit the road again Oct. 4 to take on Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knights, Trojans hit the road for North Central League I games LAKE COUNTY >> Middletown High School faces an ultra-tough North Central League I opener at home against the Kelseyville Knights at Bill Foltmer Field, one of four Friday night games involving Lake County teams in Week 4. Also going under the lights Friday are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,26,17,18,19,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888"}],"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=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}