Although their season opener is more than six weeks away, for Bill Foltmer and his Middletown High School Mustangs, it is already a season on the brink. You could even call it a precipice.
Plainly, Foltmer could be forced to begin 2006 without Zack Davis and Ryan Peterson, his two best players. You could even call the two running backs and defensive stars “franchise players.”
“We could have both kids in the lineup or we could have neither one of them,” Foltmer acknowledges.
Then, in his craggy baritone, he adds, “You talk to coaches around the county. They have the same problem now and then.”
One of them with this same problem a year ago was Foltmer. Then, it was all-purpose player Brad Finley, who was among the county”s leaders in receiving and rushing in 2004, but never played a down in 2005. He sat out his senior year convalescing from a self-inflicted summer motorcycle accident.
“At small schools you need someone like that. Finley was one of the best athletes I ever coached. He was strong as a sophomore; he had a 90-yard punt return,” says Foltmer, who puts Davis, the Mustangs” top touchdown producer (12) last year, in the same category.
“It would be a big blow, because for the second year in a row you”re losing quite obviously the best player you have.
“If you lose Zack, you”re not just losing a good running back. You”re losing a kid who”s been working hard in the weight room,” the coach adds. “He”s put on 20 pounds and knocked a couple of seconds off his time in the 40 (yards). He”s really been working hard. He”s your running back, he”s your middle linebacker, he”s your team leader, plus a great punter and he runs kickoffs back.”
There are disparate reasons why Davis and Peterson could be lost. The question looming over Davis is the disposition of a freak foot injury he suffered while posing along with teammates for a newspaper photo last season.
At that time, the Middletown defense, of which Davis was among the catalysts, hadn”t given up a point in seven games. With Peterson, the issue is eligibility.
So, will doom and gloom replace what could become one of the best 1-2 running back combinations the county has ever seen?
Foltmer prefers to think not. Quite frankly, the straits were a lot more dire earlier this summer than now.
“A few weeks ago Zack went to the specialist of all specialists and took an MRI,” Foltmer relates. “The doctor looked at the MRI and said, ?the tendon on the bottom of your foot is completely torn,” so there was no way that Zack was going to play football this year.”
Because he had been preparing for this season like no other, the pronouncement hit Davis, his family and much of Middletown with the force of an asteroid.
But within the last two weeks, when Davis reported for surgery, a new discovery was made. The tendon wasn”t torn after all. Somehow it had just moved when the freak injury occurred and, according to Foltmer, “was all tangled up,” and because it was in the wrong place it was causing hypertension.
Davis will go back to the doctor sometime next week. What comes out of this examination will probably determine his fate this season.
“… But he”s in a walking cast already. So that”s good news,” says his coach.
Foltmer did not linger long on the question of Peterson”s eligibility. As he explained it, Ryan”s grades declined last semester, he got into some trouble at school and became a discipline problem. It seemed out of character for Peterson, a friendly, confident young man blessed with the physical attributes of an exceptional athlete.
“But he”s a smart kid and he wants to play,” said Foltmer. “I”ve talked to the mother, I talked to the principal and we”re all on the same page. He just has to make up a class in summer school and he”s in the process of doing that. If he doesn”t, he doesn”t play.”
If neither Davis nor Peterson plays? The best likely backup to Davis, Jeff Marks, a player coming up from the junior varsity team, has moved to Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa. Anybody else may be no better than average at this point of their development.
Sometimes you get lucky with a player who comes in from out of nowhere and excels. Lineman Josh Gipson, a transfer from Lower Lake who earned All-North Central League I North honors last season, was such a player for Middletown in 2005.
“Last year we responded well to the two or three kids we lost, coming within an extra point from maybe tying for a championship,” said Foltmer.
Peterson, in fact, may not have had anything close to the All-NCL I North campaign he had (953 yards rushing, 401 receiving, nine total TDs), if he hadn”t had the opportunity to step up because of the injury that shelved Finley.
He was listed as a second-stringer going into 2005.
“You just got to go with the next-best, but there”s nobody of that (Peterson”s) caliber,” Foltmer said.
Clearly, plan B does not inspire optimism.
“With Peterson and Davis, you know you”re going to be pretty good,” Foltmer concluded.
You could even call it very good.
Editor”s note: John Lindblom is a former Bay Area sports beat reporter who now covers local sports for the Record-Bee.
