MIDDLETOWN — The Middle-town Mustangs saved their best for the last of what was already a great regular season on Thursday night, scoring 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter en route to a 41-6 rout of rival Kelseyville.
Winning their ninth straight game to conclude a 9-1 season and capture the North Central League I North championship, the Mustangs broke the game open after holding a tenuous 13-6 lead through the first three quarters. Middletown will advance to next weekend”s North Coast Section Class A playoffs and the Mustangs” opponent will be determined Sunday at the at-large and seeding meeting.
Kelseyville, which also took a 3-0 league record into the game, fell to 3-1 and 6-4 for the season. The Knights” record probably factors against their being awarded an at-large berth.
In the style of breaking down an opponent with a sustained drive that has been coach Bill Foltmer”s trademark, the Mustangs took command on Thursday night with a blitzkrieg of 96 yards on 15 plays that began with 7:12 left in the third period and concluded on the first play of the fourth quarter. The drive was aided by an interference call on a pass that was in questionable range for Brandon Breeden to catch.
Ryan Peterson, intent on becoming the county”s top scorer, upped the ante against his chief rival for the title, Dylan Kettwig of Upper Lake, by scoring the second of his two touchdowns for the night from the one and adding a two-point conversion for a 21-6 Middletown lead.
After that the roof caved in on Kelseyville, with the Mustangs converting two interceptions on Tony Sekona and Jared Templeton passes at the Knights” 10- and 17-yard lines into touchdowns and capitalizing on good field position after taking over on downs for yet another TD.
“We got that little drive with a penalty,” Foltmer said of the decisive 96-yard march. “We are able to capitalize on that and go the distance. Now we”re up two touchdowns. Now they”re going to have to throw a little bit and we get a pick. That”s how the game got so out of hand. We put them in a position where they had to throw and just dropped people off for the coverage.”
Thomas Sheffer continued his late-season heroics for the Mustangs by scoring three touchdowns on runs of 5, 3 and 4 yards. Mason Giovannoni added a 15-yard scoring run.
Kelseyville coach Stan Weiper was philosophical about the loss.
“We didn”t play well. We had passes and couldn”t hit them,” he said.
His quarterback, Sekona, who may have been playing the best football in the county, did not dodge the blame.
“In all honesty we came out and gave it all we got. We made a few simple mistakes. The line did a pretty good job, but it was up to me and I couldn”t do the job,” said Sekona, who was intercepted twice.
Foltmer said he would delay thinking about the playoffs and enjoy the moment delivered by a team he has spoken highly of all season.
“We”re going to have to play a little over our heads to compete in the playoffs, but, hey, this is a good group that has done all the things necessary to win a championship,” he said. “Their preparation for this week was incredible. I”m just so proud of these guys. These are good kids and these are the kind of kids you hope to see success for and they got it.”
Peterson finished with 105 yards on 22 carries while Sheffer had 73 on 10 carries. The Mustangs” other workhorse in the backfield, Jake Senseney, added 68 yards on 13 carries.
Kelseyville took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on a quarterback sneak by Sekona that went 46 yards.
Middletown pushed in front 13-6 in the second quarter on Sheffer”s first two touchdown runs.
Kelseyville statistics were not available when the Record-Bee went to press.
