LAKE COUNTY — It”s the last full week of interlock play between the football teams of the North Central League I North and South and the looming league races are beginning to come into focus.
That said,week five of the 2008 season provides one last chance for teams not squarely on the radar to improve their prospects for the upcoming races. There are some interesting matches to be sure, most notably tonight”s game between Clear Lake and Fort Bragg at Timberwolf Stadium, and Saturday”s marquee matchup between the high-powered Middletown Mustangs of the North and the upstart Upper Lake Cougars of the South at Upper Lake.
While the Middletown-Upper Lake game has been a real big mismatch for the better part of a decade, consider that both teams enter play 3-1 and tied for Lake County”s best record.
The Mustangs have been dominant in each of their three wins against Salesian, Cloverdale and Clear Lake, outscoring those three opponents 118-34. Upper Lake trailed both Lower Lake and Kelseyville in the early going each of the last two weeks, but the Cougars absolutely dominated the second halves of both contests, outscoring their opponents by a combined 26-0. Upper Lake scored the final 20 points in its 28-14 win over Lower Lake and the final 30 in its come-from-behind 30-18 stunner against Kelseyville.
Each team also has a road loss in week two. Middletown dropped a hard-fought 21-14 decision to undefeated St. Vincent (4-0), while Upper Lake fell 43-6 at Fort Bragg.
The Cougars are off to their best start since a four-game winning streak to open the 1999 season.
Middletown, a team for whom good and great starts is nothing unusual, is playing its second and final Saturday game of the season … unless there”s a Saturday playoff game in their future.
“They just have athletes,” Foltmer said of the Cougars. “They have a quarterback (Brandon Mendoza) who can turn nothing into big yards, a running back (Joe Barnes) who can break one on you, and a wideout (Sloan Hennig) who has gotten behind people two or three times the last couple of games. They also have a line that has been playing together since youth football.”
The Cougars also have momentum after the last two weeks, something Foltmer wants to snatch away from them as soon as possible on Saturday.
“They made some big plays against Kelseyville to get momentum on their side and that changed the complexity of that game,” Foltmer said. “We”ve got to keep momentum on our side by not giving them big plays.
“If we hold onto the ball and don”t make stupid penalties we”ll be just fine,” Foltmer added.
In other games this weekend:
Cloverdale (3-1) at K”ville (1-2-1)
The Knights need a good performance tonight to erase the bitter taste that last week”s 30-18 setback to the Upper Lake left in their mouths. Kelseyville had an 18-0 lead in that game and was moving the ball at will on the ground for the first 1 1/2 quarters before coming apart on offense and defense.
A bounce-back victory at the expense of Cloverdale, whose only loss came to Middletown in week three, couldn”t hurt since the Knights are staring at an even bigger game next week when they hit the road to play Fort Bragg in the NCL I North opener for both teams.
“We”ve got four starters, all two-way starters, who are hurt,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “It”s going to be a game-time decision if they play.”
The four questionable players are J.J. Pine, Steven Grossner, Mike Duman and John House.
“That”s four key players there,” Owens said. “If they”re not ready to go we”ve got guys lined up, but we still need to play hard.”
Bouncing back from the Upper Lake loss is foremost on the Knights” agenda, according to Owens.
“They”re all disappointed with the way they played, they”ve been tough on themselves and that”s a good sign,” Owens said. “They all want to redeem themselves.”
Owens said the Knights will have to be on their game to get past coach Rick Berry”s Eagles.
“Cloverdale is a tough team and has a good coach that will have them ready to play,” Owens said.
Clear Lake (2-1-1) at Fort Bragg (3-1)
The Cardinals still have two weeks to work out the kinks before opening their NCL I South schedule Oct. 24 at home against Cloverdale. Tonight they travel to Fort Bragg and next week they return home to play Lower Lake in interlock contests.
Prior to a 34-0 loss to Middletown last week in Middletown, Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said he wanted to see what his team was made of against the powerful Mustangs. After his team”s one-sided loss to Middletown, Meyer says he has a better idea of what to expect from his junior-dominated squad.
“We”re definitely a work in progress,” Meyer said. “We haven”t gotten any better in the first four weeks and I”m sure they (Timberwolves) are going to be competing with Middletown for the North title. It”s another tough venue to go to.”
What held true for Middletown last week holds true for Fort Bragg this week, according to Meyer.
“We don”t need to win it, but we need to start playing better,” he said.
Lower Lake (0-4) at St. Vincent (4-0)
In what would appear to be the mismatch of week five, the winless Lower Lake Trojans head to Petaluma to play the hard-charging St. Vincent Mustangs, who already own interlock victories over the heavyweights of the NCL I North — Middletown and Fort Bragg.
Minus several starters a week ago in a 30-0 loss at Cloverdale, the Trojans never really stood a chance. Now back up to nearly full strength, Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper”s club faces a considerable obstacle in the Mustangs, who are 3-0 in interlock play.
“It”s a landmark game for us at this point to see where we”re at,” Lower Lake coach Weiper said. “I”m hoping to see improvement.”
In fact, that improvement may come from 15-year-old freshman running back Roy Perlot, who will be making his varsity debut.
“He has ability, but it”s a long jump (from JVs),” Weiper said. “But he does have some pretty good physical attributes and skills.”
Weiper said it”s the first time in his long coaching career that he”s had a freshman on his roster in the regular season.
“I brought one up for the playoffs one time, but that”s it,” Weiper said.
