MIDDLETOWN — On a Friday night when football became an aquatic sport, Middletown scored five splashdowns (the only name for TDs on this outrageously rainy night) to smear Clear Lake”s previously spotless record, 34-0, in a North Central League I interlock varsity football game at Middletown.
“I think we played pretty good,” Mustang coach Bill Foltmer said in a masterful understatement after Middletown moved to 3-1 on the season.
Masterful was the operative word in how the Mustangs ganged up on the Cardinals (2-1-1), who suffered not only from the first downpour of the season that turned Muddletown”s — er, Middletown”s — field into a quagmire, but also from a dynamic deluge of Middletown offense. Four of the Mustangs” five TDs were scored on sustained drives of 65 yards or longer and — unlikely as it seemed — they rang up more than 400 yards of offense, 273 of them in the first half.
For all intents and purposes, the game was decided on Middletown”s first three offensive series, enabling them to coast to 20-0 halftime lead. Their run-pass balance was never better as quarterback Matt Outen completed his first two strikes for scores — 45 yards to wingback Tony Zagajowski to conclude a nine-play 81-yard and from 55 yards to wideout Dylan Galusha on a six-play onslaught of 75 yards.
Tomko, the county”s second-leading rusher going into the game, followed running mate Tyler Owen into the end zone from the 19 on a second 75-yard, six-play drive five minutes later. Undeterred by the soggy conditions, Tomko rushed for 109 yards on 13 first-half carries and had 161 yards on 20 carries before retiring to the sidelines for the fourth quarter.
Tomko returned the favor to Owen (121 yards on 16 carries) to clear out would-be tacklers on a 17-yard scoring run in the third quarter.
As was the case in Middletown”s previous two wins, the balanced Mustangs spread the points around with five different players scoring TDs, the fifth one from 19 yards out in the fourth quarter on a run by backup running back Max Dixon.
From the opening stanza, Middletown denied the Cards any chance to make a game of it. The Mustangs throttled the county”s leading rusher, Kevin Burt. Coming into the game with 418 yards and six TDs, Burt struggled hard to make 10 yards. Clear Lake quarterback Ryan Richardson, who was having a moderately good season before Friday night, completed his first two throws and was never heard from again.
A young team, the Cards were outclassed as well as underclassed.
“They left their game on the field from last year when they beat us,” Foltmer said. “We had a couple of fumbles, but I think we proved we could play in the rain.”
Plainly, the Cards should have gotten a raincheck.
