LAKE COUNTY — The North and South football races in the North Central League I heat up tonight around the Redwood Empire with a pair of high-stakes games on tap.
In the North, Middletown (1-0, 6-1) visits Fort Bragg (2-0, 6-1). In the South, St. Vincent (2-0, 7-0) heads to Lakeport to face Clear Lake (1-0, 4-2-1). By night”s end, each division will have a clear-cut favorite.
Also on tonight”s schedule and a game of considerable interest in Lake County has Kelseyville (1-1, 3-3-1) hosting Lower Lake (0-1, 0-7) and former Kelseyville head coach Stan Weiper in NCL I North action. Also tonight, Upper Lake (3-4) can snap a three-game losing streak when it travels to play the Willits Wolverines (0-7) in an interlock game.
Middletown at Fort Bragg
It”s the matchup both teams have had circled on their calendar for a few weeks now and a golden opportunity for either the Mustangs and coach Bill Foltmer or the Timberwolves and coach Jack Moyer to seize control of the North race. The loser should still make the playoffs as an at-large team but will receive a lesser seed and might have to hit the road in the opening round.
The two teams are similar in many ways. They both rely heavily on the run, they both play good defense, and they both have lost to the same team — St. Vincent — for their only loss this season. Combined the two head coaches have nearly 400 lifetime wins not to mention a bunch of league and section titles.
If you”re looking for a heavyweight fight, this is it.
Fort Bragg”s star running back, Jake Cimolino, is coming off a school-record rushing performance against Lower Lake, a game in which he rushed for 356 yards and four touchdowns in only three quarters of work. He”s already above 1,300 yards for the season.
Middletown doesn”t have any one player with anywhere near that total, but the Mustangs” tandem of Eric Tomko (762 yards, 9 TDs) and Tyler Owen (624 yards, 8 TDs) is lethal in its own right.
How much weather plays a role in tonight”s game is a variable. Rain was expected overnight Thursday into today, with possible showers tonight. Since both teams are well equipped for straight-ahead running, wet turf might not be as much a factor as it would for more pass-oriented clubs.
“There are thousands of scenarios,” Foltmer said of the weather. “They”ve got a bigger line and he (Cimolino) is a hard runner. And does the rain take (Dylan) Galusha out of the mix for us?” Foltmer added of his standout wide receiver. “On the other hand, we have two running backs who run hard. They”ve got to worry about stopping those guys and no one has done that so far this season.
“If it”s raining, you adjust your game plan accordingly,” Foltmer said.
The key to the game for Middletown is tackling Cimolino before he can bust loose and turn a small gain into a big one.
“It”s not like they run anything tricky. It”s come-at-you football,” Foltmer said of the Timberwolves.
There is most certainly an air of excitement at Middletown, according to Foltmer.
“This is where you want to be, preparing for a championship game,” he said.
St. Vincent at Clear Lake
If St. Vincent wins tonight to set a school record for consecutive victories to open a season, the Mustangs will improve to 3-0 in the South standings with one game remaining, that on Nov. 7 at St. Helena. If the Cardinals prevail, they”ll be 2-0 with two road games remaining — at Upper Lake (Nov. 8) and at St. Helena (Nov. 14).
St. Helena (1-0, 4-3) travels to Cloverdale (0-2, 3-4) tonight, needing a win to remain squarely in the title hunt.
Despite their unbeaten record, the Mustangs have had some narrow escapes this season, including thrilling wins over Middletown, Fort Bragg and Cloverdale, all decided late in the fourth quarter. A week ago against Upper Lake, St. Vincent led only 7-6 at the half and 14-6 after three quarter before going on to win 28-6.
St. Vincent”s spread offense might not enjoy the rain that is forecast to fall tonight, but the Cardinals aren”t exactly built for three yards and a cloud of dust either, at least not like they were last season.
“Everything is in our control, we just have to win,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said.
Clear Lake coaches have scouted the Mustangs no fewer than four times this season and Meyer believes the key to beating them is stopping their running attack.
“They run a spread offense, but they like to run more than throw, so we”re going to do what Middletown and Fort Bragg did, put seven men up front,” Meyer said.
Of course, Middletown and Fort Bragg also lost to St. Vincent.
“Both of those games were down there … they”ve played six of their first seven at home … so we”re hoping that there”s some truth to the homefield advantage,” Meyer said.
“If they do decide to pass, hopefully we”ll get some pressure up front with all those people up there,” Meyer said.
Lower Lake at K”ville
Nothing would please Weiper more than to pick up his first win of the season at the expense of his old team, and nothing would please those on the Kelseyville sideline more than to beat their former coach.
A year ago, in his first season with the Trojans, Weiper watched Lower Lake roll to a 38-22 victory at a packed Gordon Sadler Field. Many Kelseyville fans had mixed feelings about their former coach moving down the road to Lower Lake and some still do.
In terms of what the game means in the standings, it”s a chance for Kelseyville to stay mathematically alive in the North race. In fact, a Kelseyville victory coupled with a Middletown win at Fort Bragg would set up a key meeting next week when the Knights travel to Middletown.
“I told my players they can”t get hung up on the Lower Lake 0-7 thing,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “They”ve still got to go out and play hard. The 0-7 Lower Lake team isn”t the same one we”re going to see … they”ve got some things going for them now.”
As far as Weiper”s current coaching assignment at Lower Lake, Owens said he”s tried to avoid that distraction this week in practice.
“There”s been a lot of stuff said about it this week,” Owens said. “I stay out of it. My job is to keep everybody focused on football. To get to that next level you have to play consistent and we haven”t done that yet. I”ll leave all that other stuff to everyone else.”
“That would be nice,” Weiper said of a possible win against his old club. “But they may be too physical for us up front.”
Lower Lake will be without its leading receiver, Ryan Walker, who is out with an injury. Kelseyville will be without running back Steven Grossner, out for the season with a knee injury. Two other two-starters, Troy Davis and J.J. Pine, are questionable, according to Owens.
As far as his first return to Kelseyville as a visiting coach, Weiper said his players really don”t know much about all the hoopla that accompanied his departure from the Kelseyville Unified School District following the 2006-07 school year. Weiper spent 35 years in the employ of KUSD before taking early retirement and accepting the coaching job at Lower Lake.
Upper Lake at Willits
Upper Lake”s Joe Barnes and company should have a good night in Willits unless the weather is miserable. Even if it is, Barnes has a great opportunity to add to his Lake County-leading rushing total (774 yards) against a Wolverines team that has allowed an average of 35 points a game this season while scoring only 2.4 a game.
Many observers have called this year”s Willits squad the worst they”ve seen since the late 1990s, when the Wolverines lost more than 30 in a row during one stretch.
After tonight”s game, the Cougars return home Nov. 8 to play Clear Lake — their final home game — then they hit the road for a Nov. 14 game in Cloverdale to close out the regular season.
