LAKE COUNTY — Lucky seven. Maybe it is, maybe it isn”t.
Week seven of the high school football season in Lake County features four games tonight and another on Saturday. Two of them fall into the must-win category, two others are league openers, and then there”s the trap game.
In action tonight, Clear Lake (3-2-1) plays its homecoming game against Cloverdale (3-3). More importantly, the Cardinals open defense of their North Central League I South title against Cloverdale, which just missed in its league opener a week ago in Petaluma, falling 20-14 to undefeated St. Vincent.
Also home tonight is Lower Lake (0-6) for its NCL I North opener against Fort Bragg (1-0, 5-1), fresh off its 62-19 mauling of Kelseyville a week ago.
In the must-in category, Kelseyville (0-1, 2-3-1) should get back on track tonight against the winless Willits Wolverines (0-1, 0-6) in NCL I North action, and on Saturday it”s Upper Lake (0-1, 3-3) hitting the road to play St. Vincent (1-0, 6-0).
The trap game involves tonight”s NCL I interlock contest between Middletown (5-1) and St. Helena (4-2) in St. Helena. It”s pretty much a no-lose proposition for the Saints, who aren”t expected to win, and a no-win proposition for the Mustangs, who are. Middletown has won four straight, the last three by shutout, and coach Bill Foltmer”s team faces a critical test the following week when it travels to Fort Bragg.
But that doesn”t mean that the Mustangs will be looking to Fort Bragg next week. That”s simply not the case and Foltmer will be the first person to tell you that.
“We need to win this game and we”re not overlooking them,” Foltmer said of the Saints. “The key to the game is No. 25 (St. Helena quarterback Morgan Densberger). He”s probably the most athletic quarterback we”ve seen as far as a runner. We need to contain him and do what we do and we”ll be fine.”
In terms of preparation, Foltmer said the Saints are much harder to simulate in practice than his next opponent, Fort Bragg.
“Fort Bragg is an I-team coming right at you,” Foltmer said. “With all the twins and trips St. Helena runs, they”re not an easy scout. They also do a lot of trap blocking.”
While the Saints mix in a few passes to keep opponents honest, the running game is their strength, according to Foltmer.
“We”re geared up to stop the run first,” Foltmer said. “If they pass, we”ll be ready.”
Willits at Kelseyville
It”s a must-win for the Knights if they want their final two North games against Lower Lake and Middletown to have any meaning. A win keeps Kelseyville on the fringe of title contention whereas a loss to the Wolverines would be devastating considering the awful year Willits is experiencing — just 17 points scored.
“We”ve got to win out to have a shot at anything,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “The kids know that.”
Kelseyville lost three starters to injury in the first quarter of its loss to Fort Bragg and one of them — running back Steven Grossner – is definitely out tonight. Questionable are Troy Davis and J.J. Pine. Two other game-time decisions are Joe Meyers and Hipolito Perez.
“I just won”t know until I see them in the morning (today) if they can go,” Owens said.
Several Kelseyville reserves have been working all week to replace the starters if they can”t go against Willits.
“I feel a whole lot better about our injury situation this week. We”ve spent a lot of time with the guys who are stepping in,” Owens said.
Kelseyville plans to run its base offense and defense against Willits with no changes, according to Owens.
“We better have our stuff together,” Owens said. “To tell you the truth, if I was Willits I”d be thinking this is the game I”m going to get.”
Upper Lake at St. Vincent
Just as Kelseyville needs a win against winless Willits to stay in the North hunt, the Upper Lake Cougars need a victory to stay in the South race after last week”s 27-14 defeat to St. Helena. Unlike Kelseyville, Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero”s Cougars face a St. Vincent squad off to its best start since 1995.
That doesn”t mean the Cougars can”t win. Cloverdale built a two-touchdown lead in the first half against St. Vincent last weekend in Petaluma before the Mustangs rallied from behind.
Upper Lake has Lake County”s leading rusher in Joe Barnes (688 yards, 5 TDs) and a respectable passing attack led by Brandon Mendoza (28-for-64, 411 yards). The Cougars will certainly need to keep their offense on the field longer than they did a week ago against St. Helena, which had nearly a 3-to-1 advantage in time of possession.
St. Vincent runs a spread offense that features four receivers on nearly every play and the Mustangs have the weapons to run and pass.
Cloverdale at Clear Lake
The Cardinals are honoring their 1998 North Coast Section Class A championship team tonight, the one that featured current NFL running back Ronnie Cruz, and while there are many other homecoming festivities planned, coach Milo Meyer wants a win over Cloverdale more than anything else.
“This league is so equal,” Meyer said of the NCL I South. “I could see one loss winning the whole thing.”
The Cardinals may have a scheduling edge since they play both Cloverdale and St. Vincent at home, with road games at Upper Lake and St. Helena.
“We have two of the stronger teams at home, but St. Helena and Upper Lake have shown promise,” Meyer said. “St. Vincent has won a lot of close games, so maybe they”re due for a loss. More power to them if they go 10-0.”
Stopping tonight”s opponent, Cloverdale, means keeping an eye on the Eagles” top threats, and that would be running back Chayton Osmon and wide receiver Casey Berry.
“We”ll try our best to stop the Berry kid when they”re in a passing situation because that”s who they like to go to,” Meyer said.
Clear Lake has the speed advantage and Cloverdale the size advantage, according to Meyer.
Fort Bragg at Lower Lake
The Lower Lake Trojans haven”t scored a point in their last three games and the Fort Bragg Timberwolves aren”t exactly the team you want to play in that kind of situation. But that”s the dilemma facing coach Stan Weiper tonight at Gordon Sadler Stadium.
“We should be about 60-point underdogs, so we have a chance to beat the spread,” Weiper joked.
On a more serious note, Weiper said the Trojans are at full strength for the first time in weeks, and that means a healthy Michael Bell back in the lineup at running back.
“He”s 100-percent ready to go and he gives us an experienced running back in there,” Weiper said.
Lower Lake”s veteran coach thinks his team can be competitive if it plays well and gets a couple of breaks against the Timberwolves, a power football team.
“We can”t just sit there on defense,” Weiper said. “We”ll need to stunt and do some other things against them.
“We”ll try to keep them under 60,” he added.
