MIDDLETOWN — Linemen Dakoda Bracisco and George Garcia carried the ball, Middletown took a deliberate delay-of-game penalty on a fourth-and-1 on the Kelseyville 6-yard-line, and the Mustangs” reserve quarterback took a “knee” on a first-and-goal on the Knights” 2.
It was a practice designed to keep from running up the score, which without much deliberateness about it, had already run up to 56-0. But it was also a practice the Mustangs should practice some more next week, given that their last regular-season game is against a 1-8 Lower Lake squad which has proven to not be in a class with the thoroughly vanquished Knights, much less Middletown.
Considering that with the rout of the Knights, Middletown has outscored the other three teams in Lake County 138-0, one shudders when contemplating the potential outcome.
Clearly, Bill Foltmer didn”t want to go over 60 points in what was supposed to be a battle for the North Central League I North championship, and was anything but.
“I didn”t want to go over 42, to be quite honest with you,” said the Mustang coach. “They (Knights) are a little banged up … things are rolling for us. I”ve been on the other end of these things and it”s not a good feeling. People are going to read the score and think that we ran it up. Only the people here know that we didn”t.”
It was all Middletown from beginning to end. Much of the reason was the return to form of fullback Eric Tomko — three touchdowns and 129 yards on 16 carries in the less than three quarters he galloped though.
But Friday night”s Middletown rampage was a unilateral affair with Foltmer reaching deep into his depth chart — and in the case of Bracisco and Garcia, beyond. Operatives who have seldom gotten mention, if at all, shared in the rout. In the absence of leading scorer Tyler Owen (suspended for disciplinary reasons), running backs Trevor Finley, Max Dixon and Taylor Hoefer more than adequately filled in. Finley scored on a 15-yard run and sophomore fullback Jake Davis continued to sparkle with two TDs while also registering his second blocked punt of the season.
“You take Max and Finley. Those two kids could start at some other schools,” beamed Foltmer, who has become increasingly loquacious, even effusive, in his praise of a team that has now won seven straight while building an 8-1 record and has seemingly improved from one week to the next.
“Their attitude is fantastic!” Foltmer enthused.
Offensively, Middletown was steady as a rock, scoring 28 points in each half and once again rolling up close to 400 yards.
Defensively, the Mustangs were nearly perfect. In nine offensive series, the Knights were held to three-and-out on five occasions and gave up the ball on a single play when Galusha intercepted in the fourth quarter.
Ever the taskmaster, Foltmer still managed to find something to grumble about at halftime.
“I got on some kids at halftime about some stuff,” he confessed. “You work all week, you got a game plan. There were some players who weren”t following the game plan, so to speak,” he said.
But in the end, one might have detected a twinkle in his eye.
“It”s a championship game … (but) here it is, 56-0,” he intoned. “I knew if we played well we were going to be successful. Things are going well for us. We should be good.”
Along with bringing Middletown no worse than a North co-championship, the victory over Kelseyville wraps up an automatic playoff berth regardless of next week”s outcome.
See video highlights of the Mustangs victory on Record-Bee Home Page www.record-bee.com
