LAKE COUNTY ? The two Lake County football teams with the best records through the first four weeks of the 2009 season square off tonight at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport.
In the last full week of North Central League I interlock play — the North and South races open the following weekend — the Middletown Mustangs (3-1) take on the Clear Lake Cardinals (3-1). Each team has lost to a quality opponent — Middletown to Salesian in week one and Clear Lake to Fort Bragg in week two.
In other games involving Lake County teams this weekend, all under the lights tonight, Upper Lake (1-3) calls on Kelseyville (1-3) and Lower Lake (1-3) hosts Cloverdale (3-1).
Middletown at Clear Lake
First-year Clear Lake coach Schad Schweitzer said his plan was to win at least three games going into league play and the Cardinals have met that goal. A victory over Middletown, the defending NCL I North champion, would give Schweitzer and company a huge momentum boost going into their Oct. 16 South opener against Cloverdale. The last time the two teams met in Lakeport, in 2007, Clear Lake beat Middletown 26-7.
“This group of kids loves to play against Middletown,” Schweitzer said. “It”s a rivalry thing, since the eighth grade (Pop Warner). They”ve been talking about it all week.”
Schweitzer said he knows the Cardinals will have their hands full when it comes to stopping Middletown”s diversified offense. “You just hope to put the right people in the right places. Put pretty good players on their good players. It”s an amazing offense.
“The kids are looking forward to it. These are the fun games,” Schweitzer said.
Middletown coach Bill Foltmer has watched the Mustangs win three straight since losing to Salesian, including blowouts of Upper Lake and St. Vincent. The Mustangs also bolted to a 27-7 halftime lead a week ago against Cloverdale before settling for a 27-17 victory.
While the Cardinals are just a week away from their league opener at Cloverdale, Middletown still has tonight and next week (home against St. Helena Oct. 16) to prepare for its big North opener on Oct. 23 against Fort Bragg, a contest that will go a long way in deciding the North winner this season.
“They”re a quick team and if you make one little mistake, that back will be through the hole and gone,” Foltmer said of the Cardinals. “They”ve got two quick backs and an athletic quarterback. He can throw the ball and he”s a threat to run the ball.”
While the Mustangs lost two years ago to the Cardinals in Lakeport, Foltmer said his teams historically have done well at Don Owens Stadium.
“Usually we play pretty well there and we play in the scrimmage every year there,” Foltmer said.
Though the temptation is there to look ahead to the Fort Bragg league opener Oct. 23, Foltmer said the ”Stangs won”t worry about the Timberwolves (4-0) until they have to.
“After the Cloverdale game, we spent Monday in practice working on correcting the mistakes we made, even before we starting preparing for Clear Lake. Next week we”ll work on correcting the mistakes we made against Clear Lake before we begin preparing for St. Helena. You”re just looking to get better every week (and not looking ahead),” Foltmer said.
Middletown junior running back Jake Davis enters the game with a Lake County-leading 11 touchdowns, nine of those rushing.
On the health front, the Mustangs are in great shape outside of a few minor ailments, according to Foltmer.
Upper Lake at Kelseyville
The Kelseyville Knights went into Upper Lake a year ago confident they would continue to dominate the Cougars in what has been one of the county”s most lopsided head-to-head football rivalries. Surprise! Upper Lake finally beat Kelseyville, 30-18.
“We went up there last year underestimating them,” Kelseyville coach Thad Owens said. “When you do that, you”ll get beat. I think St. Helena underestimated us last week,” Owens said of the Knights” 30-20 win in the Napa Valley.
“The seniors have been reminding themselves this week not to underestimate them (Cougars),” Owens added.
Getting that win a week ago in St. Helena provided the Knights with a boost after their 0-3 start.
“The kids really felt like they put their game together the previous week against Clear Lake, at least physically,” Owens said. “We cut out the mistakes last week and won. Now they know they can play. Hopefully we can get on a little roll.”
“If we hold onto the ball and not kill ourselves with penalties we can play with them,” Upper Lake coach Airic Guerrero said of the Knights.
The Cougars also need to be a bit tougher from a mental standpoint.
“We need to keep our heads up and keep trying no matter what the score is,” Guerrero said.
“We get down by 14 points and some kids will quit. After we get down by 40, they don”t care anymore and start playing, start having fun again. We”re going to start weeding out the kids who quit.”
Upper Lake has seen that pattern repeat itself in consecutive losses to Middletown (62-0), Fort Bragg (66-0) and Lower Lake (56-14).
Guerrero said the Cougars must contain Kelseyville”s outside running game and keep the Knights between the tackles. That means stopping lineman/fullback Morgan Nelson, who did a number on St. Helena a week ago with 71 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
“As long as we can tackle him well,” Guerrero said. “They (Saints) had four or five guys on him and he still moved the pile.”
Owens said the Knights enjoy playing smash-mouth football, so that”s not a problem.
“All football is great, but there”s something to be said for smash-mouth football that makes it so much better.”
Added Owens, “We look at who we”re playing and that determines which of the three sets we”ll run out of our Wing-T. We have a bone set where we give the ball to Morgan and let him pound away between the tackles. We”ve got some big linemen in front of him, so it works pretty well.”
Upper Lake might not have center Jacob Warner on Friday. He sustained a toe injury earlier this week in practice and his availability will be a game-time decision.
Cloverdale at Lower Lake
The Lower Lake Trojans have depth at quarterback and running back this season, something that may come in handy when they take on the Cloverdale Eagles tonight at Gordon Sadler Field.
Quarterback Stephen Whitcomb may not be able to go because of an injury, so Joe Taylor, who has been alternating with Whitcomb at quarterback this season, is likely to draw the start. Alfonso Daniels might even see some playing time behind center, according to coach Stan Weiper.
“We wouldn”t mind getting him a couple of reps,” Weiper said of the ultra-quick Daniels.
The Trojans may also have to do the running back shuffle if Roy Percoats and Jack O”Hara aren”t available. O”Hara is nursing a knee injury and Percoats, who rushed for 148 yards and four touchdowns a week ago in a 56-14 win over Upper Lake, missed practices earlier in the week, leaving his availability up in the air.
“(E.J.) Jermany and (Jordan) Deakins will be ready to go,” Weiper said.
Cloverdale, coming off a loss to Middletown last week, will be a good measuring stick for the Trojans in terms of how far they”ve progressed in the first four weeks, according to Weiper.
“It”s a good test for us to see if we”ve gained any ground getting to that competitive area we need to be in,” Weiper said. “I”ll be interested to see if we can get anywhere close to that level against them.”
Weiper says the senior-dominated Eagles are competitive and well-coached. “They”re just good, competitive kids.”
