LAKE COUNTY — It”s week three of the high school football season and two Lake County teams are still looking for win No. 1, which they”ll have a chance to get tonight at home.
The Kelseyville Knights (0-1-1) came close last week against Clear Lake but had to settle for a 7-7 tie. While the draw snapped the Knights” seven game losing streak dating back to last season, it also wasn”t a win, which Kelseyville has gone without since last October.
Tonight the Knights not only play their home opener after two straight weeks on the road, but also celebrate their homecoming against a team seemingly on the rise in the St. Helena Saints (2-0), who have already matched their victory total from last season under new head coach Brandon Farrell.
“I hate homecoming, but it”s good for the kids and the school,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “You have to make sure you keep the kids focused on football and that”s a chore. But we”ve added a few extra things this week to keep them focused on football.”
St. Helena has looked good in the early going, hammering Calistoga 37-0 and defending North Central League I North champion Lower Lake 33-8 a week ago in Lower Lake.
“They played well in both games,” Owen said of the Saints. “They”re a tough team and they have a good fullback. They”re not the (2-8) team they were a year ago.”
Kelseyville outgained Clear Lake 248-172 last week and outplayed the Cardinals for the most part, especially at the line of scrimmage, but couldn”t convert enough key plays to score more than just the one touchdown.
Still, it was a big improvement for Kelseyville after a 43-7 loss to Berean Christian in week one. If the Knights can improve just a little more this week against the Saints, they”ll finally find the win column after an extended vacation.
“If we play our game, play as tough as we did against Clear Lake and improve just a little more this week, I think we can compete with everybody,” Owens said of the prospect of making the Saints the Knights” first victim of 2008.
“The boys have practiced great all week even though it is homecoming,” Owens said. “I”m proud of how hard they”ve worked.”
While the Knights are taking on the Saints, just a few miles down the road the Lower Lake Trojans (0-2), playing at home for the third week in a row, will attempt to end what has been an unsuccessful homestand to this point with a win over the Upper Lake Cougars (1-1).
The Trojans showed signs, especially on offense in a 46-28 loss to John Swett in week one, that they were a young team on the rise. But coach Stan Weiper”s squad took a giant step back against St. Helena, against whom they were unable to run the ball and turned the football over three times to the Saints” none.
“Right now we have no backs,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said on Thursday. “Michael Bell is out (injury) and (Chris) Perry missed school, so I don”t know what”s going on there. We”ve been battling some sickness, so I hope it”s not that.”
With Bell unlikely to go against the Cougars and Perry a question mark, Weiper said he”s not sure who will be taking handoffs from quarterback Stephen Whitcomb.
Gaining varsity experience is another slow process for his young squad, according to Weiper.
“We”re trying to improve, but we just don”t have a lot of varsity experience on the field,” Weiper said.
Upper Lake is coming off a 42-6 loss to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves and the Cougars stay on the road to play their second straight North opponent in interlock play. While Lower Lake clearly isn”t the same team that won the North a year ago, at least not at this point, Weiper has a history of owning Upper Lake no matter what school he happens to be coaching — Lower Lake or Kelseyville.
Weiper has beaten the Cougars 14 straight times — last year with Lower Lake and 13 years in a row before that as head coach at Kelseyville. He hasn”t dropped a game to Upper Lake since 1993, when the Cougars were still a team to be reckoned with.
While aware of the streak, Weiper said it wouldn”t help him tonight against the Cougars.
“They”re a scrappy bunch and they ran the ball fairly well against Fort Bragg,” Weiper said of Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero”s squad.
The road ahead won”t get any easier for either team after Friday. Lower Lake plays its next three away from home — at Cloverdale, St. Vincent and Clear Lake — before returning to Gordon Sadler Field for its North opener on Oct. 24 against Fort Bragg.
Upper Lake returns home next week to play Kelseyville, the first of three straight at home for the Cougars, but right after the Knights — who have won the last 14 meetings against Upper Lake — come Middletown and St. Helena.
Bottom line is that both the Trojans and Cougars wouldn”t mind getting a win tonight because who knows how long it will be before they have another opportunity for a victory.
In other action tonight, Middletown (1-1) hosts Cloverdale (2-0) and Clear Lake (1-0-1) entertains Willits (0-2).
Cloverdale at M”town
The Mustangs are coming off a tough 21-14 loss to St. Vincent, a game they dominated in most respects only to come away with their first setback of 2008. One problem was turnovers as Middletown uncharacteristically coughed it up four times to St. Vincent”s none.
“The first game we got four turnovers and won, then last week we made four turnovers and lost, it”s simple math,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said.
First and foremost, Foltmer said the Mustangs need to do a better job on defense if they want to beat the Eagles.
“We need to fix some things we did not do well last week,” Foltmer said. “Bottom line is we have to play better defense. We”ve moved the ball well on offense two weeks in a row, but the defense has to improve.”
If Middletown needs any other motivation than bouncing back from a tough defeat, there”s also the 19-0 victory the Eagles inflicted on the Mustangs in week three last season at Cloverdale, part of Middletown”s slow 1-3 start in 2007.
The Eagles still haven”t beaten a team that has a win. They defeated Elsie Allen 21-0 in week one and Willits 27-6 last week.
Willits at Clear Lake
Clear Lake head coach Milo Meyer faces his alma mater at Don Owens Stadium, the Cardinals” last home game before they hit the road to play Middletown and Fort Bragg.
Clear Lake”s offense struggled to move the ball consistently a week ago against Kelseyville, but the defense held up well enough to get the Cardinals a tie that keeps intact a fairly impressive streak in the regular season. The Cardinals are 14-0-2 in their last 16 regular-season games, a streak that extends back the final four weeks into the 2006 season.
Clear Lake”s passing game had opportunities a week ago but the Cardinals” receivers had a hard time hanging onto the football.
The Wolverines off are to a perfectly miserable start in 2008. They fell 48-0 to small-school powerhouse Ferndale in week one before losing 27-6 at Cloverdale last week. This is their third straight week on the road.
“They look not that good,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said of the Wolverines.
Meyer said he”s more concerned about his Cardinals after their lackluster effort against Kelseyville.
“We need to get back on the winning side, none of this tie stuff,” Meyer said. “One thing I noticed is that the defense wasn”t hitting like we”ve always hit in the past. They need do a better job of that and set the tone.”
