UPPER LAKE — Badly outsized, Upper Lake”s Cougars forced Middletown to the air on a pleasant football Saturday this past weekend. In the end, though, Upper Lake was an underdog undone by three turnovers that preceded Mustang scores although they did not set them up — in a 20-7 North Central League I interlock varsity football game won by Middletown.
“They forced us to go a little bit more to the pass than what we normally do. I thought their defensive line did a pretty good job,” said Middletown coach Bill Foltmer after the Mustangs improved their record to 3-1. “Up front we didn”t play very well and the credit should go to Upper Lake.
“I thought we played a little flat and Upper Lake showed up ready to play. It made for a tough game.”
In the aftermath of a game that the Mustangs essentially won with two second-quarter touchdowns, losing coach Craig Kinser seemed happier with the result than Foltmer.
“I thought we kicked the snot out of them in the first quarter and didn”t get anything out of it. It easily could have been 14-0. Then we play them even in the second quarter and we”re down 14-0,” mused Kinser, who appears to be engineering a football renaissance at the county”s northernmost high school.
Upper Lake, 2-2 to date, put up strong resistance against both Kelseyville and Middletown in its last two games, actually outscoring each (8-6, 7-6) in the second half.
“This is important to this team because for several years they were getting the crap beat out of them by good teams,” Kinser said. “Last year, when things got tough we”d roll over and the score would be 40-13.”
The Cougars have been hanging in with a team that has only two players who tip the scales at more than 200 pounds.
Upper Lake did, in fact, come very close to taking a lead out of the first quarter, driving to the Middletown 8-yard line after the Mustangs went three and out on their first series. But a field goal effort from the 25 was blocked by Jake Senseney after a faulty snap.
A fumble recovery at the Mustang 12 by Middletown”s Travis Taylor at the close of the quarter preceded Middletown”s longest drive — 88 yards on 10 plays — and tended to establish Middletown”s dominance. The Mustangs took a 7-0 lead after Mason Giovannoni scored on a run from the 3-yard line.
The pass was not a bad alternative for Middletown on Saturday as Mustang quarterback Jake Strickler, the county”s top passer, responded with two touchdowns on 12 completions in 22 attempts for 174 yards. No less than three more of his on-target passes were dropped. To complete a 35-yard scoring drive on eight plays, Strickler threw a 3-yard scoring strike to wideout Jackie Crachiola after the Mustangs” Brandon Breedon recovered the second Cougar fumble of the second quarter. His second TD pass was a 20-yarder to a diving Breedon on seven plays and was the seventh play of a productive drive of 81 yards.
Strickler threw no interceptions.
“We have a kid who doesn”t cover the pass very well and they found him and picked on him,” Kinser said of his secondary.
Even so, Foltmer being Foltmer, he would have preferred to keep the ball on the ground.
“Usually if the run is going well, you stick to the run,” he said glumly.
The Middletown coach”s mood might have been partly affected by the fact that his “A” ground game was not in action. The Mustangs played their fourth game while waiting for their ace running back Zack Davis” achilles heel to mend. Ryan Peterson, who more than ably carried the brunt of the Middletown offense in each of the first three weeks of the season, also was out while serving a one-game suspension.
Giovannoni was the leading rusher in a makeshift Middletown running game that included five ballcarriers and garnered 100 yards.
Upper Lake”s lone touchdown was scored on an 11-yard run by a player who wasn”t even on their roster a week ago. Antonio Diconza was playing his first game since coming up from the junior varsity.
“There”s a reason we pulled him up. It wasn”t because we needed a guy,” Kinser said of Diconza, who had 64 yards in seven carries. “The kid”s a football player. It doesn”t take any genius to figure that out when he runs like that against Middletown”s varsity.”
Diconza led the Cougars with 93 yards on the ground.
Foltmer”s mood didn”t seem to be quite as ebullient
“We”re up 20-0 and they score in the fourth quarter,” he said. “You gotta be happy with that.”
