LAKE COUNTY — While most of Lake County”s high school athletes are moving on to their winter season sports of basketball or wrestling, three fall sports teams aren”t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Middletown High School”s varsity football team and the Kelseyville and Clear Lake varsity volleyball teams have qualified for the North Coast Section playoffs and will do their best to keep the winter sports season on hold for as long as they can.
In football, Middletown”s Mustangs (9-1), champions of the North Central League I and the winners of nine straight, open the Class A playoffs on Friday night in Vallejo against St. Patrick-St. Vincent (8-2), the Bayshore Athletic League champion.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent pulled down the No. 4 seed to Middletown”s No. 5 at the at-large and seeding meeting on Sunday and because both teams are their designated league”s champion, St. Patrick-St. Vincent will host the first-round game, which kicks off at 7 p.m.
This year”s Class A field consists of No. 1 Justin-Siena (8-2) of Napa, an at-large team out of the Marin County Athletic League; No. 2 Ferndale (10-0), champion of the Humboldt-Del Norte League and the only undefeated team in the Class A ranks; No. 3 Salesian, an at-large team out of the Bay Football League and the only team to beat Middletown this season; No. 4 St. Patrick-St. Vincent; No. 5 Middletown; No. 6 King”s Academy (8-1), which beat out Salesian for the BFL title; No. 7 St. Helena (7-3), the NCL I South champion; and No. 8 John Swett (7-3), an at-large team out of the BSAL.
Applying for at-large berths but coming up short were Willits (7-3) and Clear Lake (6-4).
This will mark the first playoff meeting between Middletown and St. Patrick-St. Vincent.
Semifinals take place the weekend of Nov. 24-25 and the Class A championship game will be held the weekend of Dec. 1-2.
Middletown has won three Class A championships in 1997 (beating Cloverdale), 1999 (beating Kelseyville) and 2001 (beating Cloverdale). The Mustangs also reached the Class A finals in 1991, losing to Willits.
Volleyball
In the NCS Division IV volleyball field, NCL I North champion Kelseyville (31-5) received the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. The Knights will face the winner of tonight”s first-round match between McKinleyville and Piedmont in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Kelseyville beginnings at 7 p.m.
This is the last season for 27-year coaching veteran Larry Bresso, who has guided the Knights to back-to-back 30-win seasons.
Reaching the Division IV field as an at-large team was NCL I South co-champion Clear Lake (17-10), which opens first-round play tonight at home against No. 9 seed Holy Names (12-7) of Oakland at 7 p.m. If the No. 8-seeded Cardinals win, they”ll advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday and play No. 1 seed St. Mary”s (23-9), the BSAL champion, at 7 p.m. in Berkeley.
The semifinals are Thursday night and the Division IV championship game is Saturday.
The Division IV champion and runner-up advance to the NorCal playoffs.
