Special to the Record-Bee
MIDDLETOWN — Too much Tomko.
That was the basic difference between the victorious Middletown Mustangs and the vanquished Clear Lake Cardinals in a first-round North Coast Section Division IV playoff game Friday night on the Mustangs” turf.
Tomko — Eric, if mentioning his first name is necessary — scored four touchdowns and rushed for 165 yards on 14 carries in the first half of second-seeded Middletown”s 34-7 victory. The Mustangs essentially coasted the rest of the way to overwhelm their seventh-seeded Lake County neighbors from the north.
It wasn”t like the senior fullback”s explosion was unexpected. Least of all by Bill Foltmer, who has relied strongly on Tomko all season.
“Tomko”s been the heart and soul of this team since day one. He just proved it tonight,” the Middletown coach said after his team”s first postseason win in five years. It was the third straight time the Mustangs defeated the Cards in postseason play, all three wins taking placing in the opening round.
The Mustangs” 34-point output matched their total in a regular-season win over Clear Lake on Oct. 2. Still, Cardinal coach Glenn “Milo” Meyer had harbored hopes of an upset because the earlier game was played on a muddy surface.
But it was as clear as — well, mud — that mud made no difference. Same field, same result.
“They”re a good team,” Meyer said. Without rain we thought we”d do better than 34-0 and we did … 34-7,” Meyer added with a chuckle.
Tomko”s four-TD night on bullish smashes of 2, 1 and 1 yards and a burst of 20 yards gives him 16 TDs on the season as the Mustangs (10-1) won their ninth straight. In addition to his hard-yard smashes at the goal line, Tomko also got loose for runs of 64 and 42 yards in the first quarter. He finished with 186 yards on 20 carries.
That the rest of the Mustang offense accounted for only 46 yards in the opening half gives fair indication of his one-man show.
For the first quarter, the Cards put up a determined resistance and were down only 14-7 when they forced a Mustang punt midway in the second quarter, which gave Clear Lake possession at its own 15.
But a lost fumble on the first play turned into the turning point. The Mustangs scored from there on five straight Tomko smashes.
“Yeah,” agreed Foltmer, “We had that two-TD cushion going into halftime. Definitely, it was the turning point.”
“We cut it to 14-7 and were having a lot of fun for a brief moment,” Meyer said. “But that was the turning point. We had to play almost perfect football to have a chance.”
Then again, it could be argued that the outcome was sealed in the opening stanza when the Mustangs, in their customary zeal, rolled over their outgunned foe for 91 yards on seven plays for their first touchdown.
“Surprised? No, but I wasn”t necessarily overconfident that this was the way the game was going to go,” said Foltmer. “I got too much respect for coaches Meyer and (Rik) Hayes (offensive coordinator) and those guys over there.”
Although the passing part of the Mustang offense was not as crisp as is customary (2-for-8 for 32 yards), Foltmer praised quarterback Matt Outen.
“We dropped a few balls but at 34-7 I guess we didn”t need the passing tonight,” Foltmer shrugged. “Matt threw a couple of nice balls, he audibalilzed and I”m really proud of him. I think his leadership was a key to the game.”
The Mustangs will know their semifinal opponent today after Salesian and Fort Bragg — two teams they defeated during the regular season — meet.
Foltmer seems to favor Fort Bragg as the visitor for round two.
“I probably know Fort Bragg a little bit better than I know Salesian. We”ve seen every one of their games. I”ve got every one of them on tape,” he said. “We know Fort Bragg, but they”re tough. It”s going to be difficult to beat somebody twice in a season.”
A funny thing to say considering the Mustangs had just done that with Clear Lake.
