Week 10 games
Friday
Middletown 62, Lower Lake 8
St. Helena 7, Clear Lake 0
St. Vincent 51, Kelseyville 6
Cloverdale 30, Upper Lake 7
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Upper Lake”s Joe Barnes rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown in the Cougars” season finale against Cloverdale. Middletown”s Jake Davis had 146 yards on only eight carries against Lower Lake. Tyler Owen, Davis” teammate, added 80 yards on seven carries, including his 12th TD of the season.
Passing — Clear Lake”s Ryan Richardson went 13-for-29 for 140 yards against St. Helena. Lower Lake”s Stephen Whitcomb completed 7 of 23 passes for 105 yards. Middletown”s Matt Outen passed just four times due to the lopsided nature of the Mustangs” game against Lower Lake, but he still had 80 yards and two touchdowns.
Receiving — Lake County”s leader in catches, receiving yardage and TD receptions, Middletown senior Dylan Galusha, added to those totals with two catches for 60 yards and a TD. Clear Lake”s Jared Ashworth caught four passes for 47 yards.
Highlights
Special teams — Middletown”s Danny Beckwith went 8-for-9 on extra-point kicks against Lower Lake. In the same game, the Mustangs” Dylan Galusha returned a punt 53 yards for a TD.
Defense — In four games against Lake County opponents this season, the Middletown defense allowed a grand total of eight points. Middletown”s Tony Zagajowski picked off his fifth pass of the season in the win over Lower Lake.
Add another 63 — Middletown running back Eric Tomko has been credited with an additional 63 rushing yards by coach Bill Foltmer after a review of the St. Helena and Kelseyville game films showed that the totals reported by Middletown for both contests were inaccurate.
Breaking 1,000 — Upper Lake”s Joe Barnes went over 1,000 yards for the season with his 153-yard effort against Cloverdale. He closes out the 2008 campaign with 1,059 yards. With the stats revision for Middletown”s Eric Tomko (see above item), the senior also went over 1,000 with the 53 yards he gained Friday night against Lower Lake. Tomko now has 1,006.
Go figure — Lake County teams Middletown and Clear Lake each qualify for the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs and they”ll face each other Friday night in Middletown. The good news is that the winner moves on to the semifinals to face either Fort Bragg or Salesian the following weekend.
Forget about seeing new blood — Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said last week he was hoping to face some new blood in the playoffs, as in a team the Mustangs haven”t played this season. Instead, Middletown”s half of the playoff bracket includes nothing but teams the Mustangs have played (and beaten) before — Clear Lake, Fort Bragg and Salesian. Bottom line is that if Middletown wants new blood, it will have to advance to the championship round, which would be just fine with Foltmer and the Mustangs.
Clear Lake vs. Middletown in playoffs — The last time these two teams squared off in the playoffs, the Mustangs avenged a 22-20 loss to the Cardinals in the 1997 regular season and beat Clear Lake 31-19 in a first-round game. Middletown went on to win the first of its three section titles. Six years earlier, in 1991, Middletown also beat Clear Lake in a first-round game, 30-8. The Mustangs went on to reach the section title game, the first time they had ever made it that far, but lost to Willits.
Deuces are wild — Middletown”s Tony Zagajowski, Dylan Galusha, Trevor Finley and Max Dixon scored two TDs apiece against Lower Lake.
Two titles in a row — Even though a 7-0 loss to the St. Helena Saints on Friday night cost Clear Lake the undisputed North Central League I South crown, they did earn a co-championship along with St. Vincent, giving the Cardinals two titles of some type in two straight seasons, a first for Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer. That”s also not bad for a team Meyer “hoped” would be .500 this season.
Follow the leader — Lake County”s four leading scorers at the conclusion of the regular season are all Mustangs … Tyler Owen and Eric Tomko with 72 points apiece, Danny Beckwith with 62 and Dylan Galusha with 60.
In the fast Lane — Middletown”s Miriam Lane, just a freshman, finished second in the girls” race last week at the Coastal Mountain Conference Cross Country Championships.
Three teams turned away — St. Helena, St. Mary”s and Berean Christian all failed to land at-large berths during the at-large and seeding meeting Sunday.
Man, just blow up the franchise — Oakland hasn”t scored an offensive touchdown in three weeks. In today”s NFL, that”s just hard to believe.
