FORT BRAGG – With the Fort Bragg Timberwolves failing to play up to the level that was anticipated in their showdown with Middletown and a storm being less than was projected, the Mustangs eased to a 22-8 victory that might best be called a fizzle in the drizzle.
“We didn”t play well in a big ball game,” said a disappointed Fort Bragg coach Jack Mayer after the Mustangs held Fort Bragg scoreless for three quarters and held the Timberwolves to a single touchdown, that coming with 8:38 left in the game.
It was an accurate summation. The Mustangs had five takeaways against Fort Bragg and made the Timberolves pay the price on three of them. Two of the forced turnovers by Middletown were interceptions by Tony Zagajowski.
With a 6-1 record that was identical to Middletown”s coming into play, the Timberwolves were expected to give the Mustangs a battle for sole ownership of first place in the North Central League I North standings, especially after the host”s star running back, Jake Cimolino, tuned up last week and ran for a school-record 356 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Lower Lake.
But Friday night Cimolino was held to well short of 100 yards and had only 29 yards in the first half. He did score Fort Bragg”s lone TD from the 1 to cap a 70-yard drive in the fourth quarter.
How did the Mustangs stop him?
Nothing tricky, said coach Bill Foltmer.
“We”ve got the some pretty tough kids. We”ve been playing some pretty good defense the last three or four weeks, you know,” said the Mustang coach. “No one has scored more than eight points on us in the last five weeks. Defensively we”re becoming a pretty good football team.”
The ”Stangs have, in fact, outscored their last five opponents 166-15.
On Friday night they established early control by grabbing a 6-0 lead on their first drive of the game, going 55 yards on eight plays. Tyler Owen (18 carries for 103 yards) scored the first of three touchdowns from 6 yards out to cap that drive and then added his second TD and 10th of the season by rambling 22 yards to put the capper on a 14-play, 85-yard drive with 6:39 left in the third quarter. His third TD, a 5-yard run, ended a six-play, 70-yard drive with four seconds gone in the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs were effective with a two-fullback running attack comprised of sophomore Jake Davis and Eric Tomko. It was not by design.
“Tomko pulled a hamstring right before the game,” said Foltmer. “We were on the field ready to kick off and, hey, Tomko … hamstring. But we don”t lose much when Jake goes in there.”
Friday night, in fact, the Mustangs gained 138 yards of offense by virtue of 18 carries by Davis.
Overall, Middletown rode to victory on a balanced offense that relied on full-speed ahead blasts by Davis, breakaway runs by Owen and timely passing by Matt Outen to keep drives alive, including a 44-yard bomb to Dylan Galusha to set up Middletown”s final touchdown.
Foltmer was uncharacteristically happy with the Middletown win.
“We”re turning into a pretty good football team,” he said. “We”re coming right along and peaking right at the right time. We played a great game tonight. We shut them down and didn”t allow their big guy (Cimolino) to break the big one. We said that right before the game, ”Hey, if we can keep this guy from breaking the big one, we”ll be just fine.”
“They had to stop us, too, you know,” Foltmer added.
… And didn”t.
See video highlights of Middletown Fort Bragg on the Record-Bee”s home page www.record-bee.com now.
