CLOVERDALE — Middletown dominated the first half and then held on in the second half to beat the Cloverdale Eagles 27-17 in a North Central League I interlock varsity football game on Friday night in Cloverdale.
“Getting a 27-17 win at Cloverdale, I”m pretty happy with that,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “It”s nice to get a good win on the road against a quality opponent.”
It was the first loss of the season for Cloverdale (3-1).
Middletown running back Jake Davis scored all three of his touchdowns in the first half, the final one coming on a 25-yard interception return with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter to give the Mustangs (3-1) a 27-7 lead. He also scored on an 8-yard run in the first quarter and his 1-yard run in the second quarter made it 20-7.
Kyle Harmyk”s 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Oatman late in the first quarter helped the Mustangs build a 14-0 lead.
In the second half, the Mustangs continually found themselves with poor field position and could never get going on offense, according to Foltmer.
“We were battling field position and our passing a game was a little bit off. We were just out of sync,” Foltmer said. “You have to give credit to Cloverdale for that. They played us tough and they were bringing the house pretty much.”
Cloverdale kicked a 35-yard field goal in the third quarter and scored on a long touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to cut Middletown”s advantage to 10 points, but the Mustangs were never in any danger of losing the lead, according to Foltmer.
“We were backed up a lot and just trying to move the chains and use up some clock,” Foltmer said. “But we played a great first half.”
The Mustangs forced three turnovers and had three sacks.
Davis finished with 78 yards on 11 carries. Harmyk completed 7 of 15 passes for 122 yards and was intercepted once. He also lost a fumble.
Middletown travels to Lakeport next Friday to play the Clear Lake Cardinals (3-1).
