Week 10 games
Friday
Middletown 49, Willits 0
Clear Lake 44, Lower Lake 16
Fort Bragg 28, Kelseyville 7
St. Helena 47, Upper Lake 0
Statistics
Rushing — Clear Lake”s backfield tandem of Ryan Lunas and Kevin Burt combined for 321 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Lower Lake. Lunas led the way with 180 yards and Burt added 141 and two TDs. Kelseyville fullback Morgan Nelson gained 125 yards on 23 carries in a loss to Fort Bragg. Lower Lake”s E.J. Jermany had 115 yards on 22 carries and a TD against Clear Lake. Middletown”s Max Dixon had 106 yards on only eight carries and a TD against Willits.
Passing — Middletown”s Kyle Harmyk went 5-for-8 for 70 yards and two TDs — his 17th and 18th of the season — against Willits.
Receiving — E.J. Jermany caught three passes for 49 yards in Lower Lake”s loss to Clear Lake. Dylan Galusha had two catches for 30 yards and a touchdown against Willits.
Highlights
Special teams — Fort Bragg”s Jake Cimolino returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown just seconds after Kelseyville had gone up 7-0 in the third quarter. Middletown placekicker Danny Beckwith went 7-for-7 on his extra-point tries. Clear Lake”s Brad Wasielewski booted a 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter against Lower Lake.
Defense — Middletown”s Luke Parker recovered two fumbles against Willits. Clear Lake”s Kevin Burt had his fourth interception of the season, tying him with teammate Ryan Richardson for the county lead. St. Helena held Upper Lake to minus-one yard of offense in the first half Friday.
Streaks — Middletown closes out the regular season with a nine-game winning streak. Upper Lake finishes up with a nine-game losing streak, the last five losses by shutout.
Records — Clear Lake running back Kevin Burt is the school”s new single-season rushing leader with 1,435 yards (and counting). He needs 202 yards to become the school”s all-time rushing leader. Upper Lake surrendered a Lake County-record 526 points this season (52.6 per game).
Headed for 20 — From 1984-2008, only two Lake County running backs rushed for 20 or more touchdowns in a season. Jared Holley had 28 in 1998 for Kelseyville and Cord Browning had 20 in 1992 for Upper Lake. That list could grow to three or four on Friday night when the Middletown Mustangs host Harker School and Clear Lake plays at St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. Middletown”s Jake Davis enters play with 19 rushing TDs and Clear Lake”s Kevin Burt has 18.
If they win, they stay at home — Because the Middletown Mustangs are the highest-seeded team on their half of the Division IV bracket, the Mustangs could also host quarterfinal- and semifinal-round games if they keep on winning. “It (the seeding) couldn”t have worked out any better for us,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said.
He knows of what he speaks — Said Salesian coach Chad Nightingale after beating Middletown 23-15 in week one of the season, “I fully expect they”ll go 9-0 from here and we”ll probably see their asses in the playoffs.” If Middletown and Salesian do meet in the playoffs again this year, it won”t be until the championship game on Dec. 11 or Dec. 12. If both teams make it that far, they”ll both be 12-1 for their rematch.
Seeing double — Middletown”s varsity and junior varsity clubs wrapped up undisputed North titles with wins Friday night in Willits.
Big number — All 507 of Clear Lake”s yards came on the ground against Lower Lake.
Nary a word — The Upper Lake Cougars didn”t bother phoning in their game results Friday night against St. Helena.
Cross country kudos — To the Upper Lake varsity and JV boys for winning the North division in the Coastal Mountain Conference standings. Upper Lake”s varsity squad should make a strong showing Saturday at the North Coast Section Championships in Hayward.
Speaking of cross country — Sarah Sumpter of U.C. Davis earned All-West Regional honors by finishing 22nd out of 184 runners Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. She missed out on a berth to the NCAA Nationals by 14 seconds. She covered the final kilometer of the 6-kilometer race with one shoe. The top 25 finishers in the race earn All-West Regional medals.
Shoe happens — See Sarah Sumpter.
JaMarcus Russell — Say hello to the second string.
If you weren”t paying attention — Sonoma Academy defeated St. Vincent to win the Division III girls” soccer title Saturday. The Coyotes have won three section titles in a row.
Doing a double take — Yep, the 3-7 Willits Wolverines reached the Division IV playoffs as an at-large team. I wasn”t sure why until I re-read the “requirements” for a playoff club. Willits wasn”t .500 overall or .500 against teams in its division, but the Wolverines were .500 (2-2) in the NCL I North standings, and that”s good enough nowadays to make the postseason. I can only laugh thinking about some good/great clubs from Lake County that missed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Willits plays Salesian in the first round on Saturday at Salesian High School in Richmond.
Bottom line — If you can”t make the playoffs under the new-and-improved NCS guidelines, you don”t have a pulse.
And the winner is ? — Lake County”s volleyball coaches as a group called in a higher percentage of their results when compared to any other group of fall sports coaches.
It”s funny but ? — I never heard back from that parent of a Clear Lake JV football player who swears up and down that I printed something early in the season about not caring about JV sports. Still waiting to see that article.
All-League teams — Coming soon.
16th annual Record-Bee Hoop Classic — It”s the week of Dec. 14-19 at a site to be determined (it may move from Lower Lake). We”ll let you know.
More on the Hoop Classic — There will be several tournament covers this year, not just one as in past seasons. The tournament experimented with multiple covers last year and it was a big hit.
Athletic directors — I need those winter sports scehdules ASAP.
And now the fun begins — It”s football playoff time and that”s the best time of all.
