KELSEYVILLE — One of the not so nice things about football is the amount of time between games, especially when the previous one was a bitter loss. You have to wait six or seven days before you can start to turn things around.
Such was the case for the Kelseyville Knights. Coming off a demoralizing 30-18 defeat to the Upper Lake Cougars only six days earlier, a game in which the Knights led 18-0 and appeared to be in complete control, Kelseyville found its stride again on Friday night against Cloverdale.
And it couldn”t have come a minute too soon for head coach Thad Owens.
“We needed that thing to get us going,” Owen said after the Knights, trailing 16-7 at halftime, rallied with 15 fourth-quarter points to beat the Eagles 22-16 in a North Central League I interlock game
The victory moves the Knights back to the .500 mark at 2-2-1, gives them some much-needed momentum going into next Friday”s league opener at Fort Bragg, and helps ease the sting of last week”s loss to the Cougars.
“1-3-1 isn”t going to do it, 2-2-1 sounds a whole lot better,” Owen said. “We really need the momentum going into next week.”
Three players who were questionable for Friday”s game — running backs Mike Duman (neck), Steven Grossner (knee) and middle linebacker J.J. Pine (knee) — all came up big for the Knights against Cloverdale.
Duman, who was tackled in the end zone for a safety late in the first quarter, a play that gave Cloverdale a 9-7 lead, certainly made amends with 6:45 left in the game. Kelseyville had scored just two minutes earlier on a Grossner 33-yard run to cut the Eagles” lead to 16-14, but Cloverdale was on the move when running back Chayton Osmon fumbled the ball while struggling for extra yardage. The loose football took a perfect bounce to Duman, who found himself alone near the Kelseyville sideline. The speedy senior simply outran everyone to the end zone and Grossner”s two-point conversion run gave the Knights their first lead of the game at 22-16.
“Duman is a veteran guy,” Owens said, “and veteran guys come up with big plays when you need them.”
“I saw Joe Meyers and Mike Davis there and Davis stripped it out (the ball),” Duman said of what turned out to be the game-winning play. “It took a perfect bounce right to me and I saw open field.”
Cloverdale (3-2) still had plenty of time left, but the Kelseyville defense simply wouldn”t budge. Pine sacked Cloverdale quarterback Jarod Domenichelli twice and Nick Rodriguez and Dustin Panos intercepted Domenichelli passes to seal the Eagles” fate.
Cloverdale took advantage of an interception to mount a 44-yard scoring drive capped by Osmon”s 7-yard run early in the first quarter.
Kelseyville answered with a 67-yard drive, Grossner finishing it with a 9-yard run, to pull even at 7-7.
The first quarter was winding down when Duman fielded a punt at his own 1-yard line. A Cloverdale player appeared to grab Duman”s facemask while making initial contact and Duman took a step back into the end zone before he was tackled. The officials ruled it a safety.
Cloverdale upped its lead to 16-7 with 1:12 left in the first half on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Domenichelli to Henry Duna.
While the third quarter was scoreless, Kelseyville”s defense stopped a long and time-consuming Cloverdale drive that opened the second half. The Eagles went 65 yards in 13 plays, using up 7:23 of the quarter before Osmon (178 yards on 25 carries) was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-goal run from the 3.
“We had a couple of really good stands,” Owens said of his defense.
Grossner finished with 119 yards on 20 carries for Kelseyville. Troy Davis added another 82 yards on 20 carries.
