LAKE COUNTY — If there”s a game to be played, there”s something to be gained. In the case of the Middletown Mustangs and Clear Lake Cardinals, that”s certainly the situation as both teams hit the road tonight to close out their league and regular-season schedules.
Middletown (3-0 league, 8-1 overall) has already clinched a tie for the North Central League I North championship and an automatic playoff berth. Beating the Lower Lake Trojans (1-2, 1-8) tonight at Gordon Sadler Field would give the Mustangs the undisputed North championship, an eighth straight win, and more importantly, a good chance to secure the No. 2 seed in the eight-team North Coast Section Division IV playoff field, which will be determined on Sunday.
Clear Lake (3-0 league, 6-2-1) travels to St. Helena”s artificial turf field tonight with pretty much the same objective as Middletown. The Cardinals have already wrapped no worse than a South co-championship as well as the league”s automatic playoff berth. If they beat the Saints (1-2, 4-5), they”ll be undisputed South champions for the second year in a row and take a five-game winning streak into Sunday”s at-large and seeding meeting in Walnut Creek.
Closing out there seasons tonight along with Lower Lake are the Kelseyville Knights (4-4-1), who host St. Vincent (8-1) in NCL I interlock action; and the Upper Lake Cougars (0-3, 4-5), who close it out with an NCL I South game in Cloverdale against the Eagles (1-2, 4-5).
Middletown at Lower Lake
Don”t expect the Middletown Mustangs to go through the motions against Lower Lake tonight, according to Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer.
“We”re approaching this game like we want to play good football going into the playoffs,” Foltmer said. “I don”t think you”re going to see a Middletown team show up and not play well.”
Losing to the Trojans would seriously hurt Middletown”s opportunity to land a high seed on Sunday, according to Foltmer, who plans on asking for No. 2 if the Mustangs beat Lower Lake.
“And the only reason I”m not going for No. 1 is that I have too much respect for Ferndale (9-0),” Foltmer said. “They”re going to be 10-0.”
Foltmer believes his team”s strength of schedule — including wins over Fort Bragg, Clear Lake and Salesian — warrants a high seed.
“You get a home game and that means someone”s got to beat you on your field,” Foltmer said.
Foltmer is also hoping Middletown”s first-round opponent is someone the Mustangs haven”t played yet.
“It”s the playoffs and you want to play somebody you haven”t seen yet,” Foltmer said. “Clear Lake and Fort Bragg know us pretty well and we know them.”
While the Mustangs — win, lose or draw tonight — have a playoff reservation next week, the Lower Lake Trojans, coming off a 23-6 victory over Willits, are simply hoping to play well in their final game of 2008.
“I”d like us to represent ourselves as best we can,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said. “And I”d like to score on them since no other county team has been able to do that.”
Solving Middletown”s defense is something only one team — St. Vincent in week two — has been able to do with any success this season.
“They”re a solid group, their kids are experienced and aggressive, there isn”t any weakness there,” Weiper said of Middletown”s defense.
Stopping Middletown”s offense isn”t any easier, according to Weiper. The Mustangs are coming off a 56-0 win over Kelseyville, a game in which they did everything they could to keep the score down.
“If we can keep their offense off the field and hope for a turnover here or there, maybe we can slow them down a little bit,” Weiper said. “We”ll try to take some chances.”
While the Mustangs have some unfinished business in regard to the NCL I North race, they also have some unfinished business in regard to the Trojans, who wrapped up last year”s NCL I North title on Middletown”s field.
“Lower Lake came down here and beat us on our field and some of the kids who were on that team want to return the favor,” Foltmer said.
Clear Lake at St. Helena
Clear Lake”s objective tonight in St. Helena is very simple.
“We don”t want to share it (South title) with anybody, we”re selfish,” Meyer said.
Clear Lake needs a win or tie to claim the outright South championship. If the Cardinals lose, they”ll end up tied with St. Vincent at 3-1.
Unlike Middletown, Clear Lake is unlikely to be seeded higher than sixth in the playoff field although the Cardinals would host a first-round game unless they are paired with another league champion that is a higher seed.
“Win or lose with St. Helena I think we”ll either end up going north to play Ferndale or going to Middletown,” Meyer said. “I just have that feeling.”
Clear Lake won”t have a win against any of the other seven teams in the playoff field, according to Meyer, which won”t help his team”s seeding chances.
“Middletown beat us and Fort Bragg beat us,” Meyer said. “The only card I have is beating St. Vincent, which beat Middletown and Fort Bragg. That gives us some clout.”
Like Foltmer, Meyer is hoping to draw a team he hasn”t played before in the opening round.
“The playoffs are fun and you want to play someone else,” Meyer said.
Each of Clear Lake”s three South wins have been nail-biters, but the Cardinals aren”t apologizing for that one bit.
“We got a roll here and a bounce there, but that”s OK,” Meyer said. “Sometimes that happens. We”ll take it.”
The St. Helena Saints figure to present another hurdle in Clear Lake”s path to an unblemished league record, according to Meyer.
“I”ve watched St. Helena on film and they cause a lot of problems, especially that quarterback (Morgan) Densberger,” Meyer said. “It will also be our first game on their artificial turf, so we”re looking forward to that.”
St. Vincent at Kelseyville
A win gives Kelseyville a winning record for the season, no small accomplishment after last year”s 1-9 finish. St. Vincent is trying to build momentum for the upcoming Division V playoffs and a win would give the Mustangs a 9-1 record going into the postseason.
St. Vincent struggled to beat St. Helena 7-3 a week ago while Kelseyville was run over by Middletown 56-0.
Upper Lake at Cloverdale
Like Kelseyville, the Upper Lake Cougars have come a long way since last season (1-9) and a win tonight would give coach Airic Guerrero”s squad a .500 record and its first South win after tough losses to St. Helena, St. Vincent and Clear Lake.
In terms of individual accomplishments, Upper Lake running back Joe Barnes needs 94 yards to reach 1,000 for the season. Lake County”s rushing leader gained just 20 yards on only nine carries last weekend in a 20-14 loss to Clear Lake.
