MIDDLETOWN — Home sweet home sweet home.
The Middletown Mustangs could host up to three games if they can win that many in the North Coast Section Division IV football playoffs, a four-weekend odyssey that begins Friday and Saturday with first-round games. With sectional officials expanding the playoff field to up to 16 teams this season, 14 qualified by either winning their league titles, posting a .500 or better overall record, posting a .500 or better record against other Division IV teams, or by finishing at least .500 in their league standings.
In other words, just about everyone made it.
The top two seeds — No. 1 St. Mary”s (8-2) of Berkeley and No. 2 Ferndale (10-0) — have first-round byes. The other 12 teams are in action either Friday (three games) or Saturday (three games).
After St. Mary”s and Ferndale, the teams were seeded as follows: No. 3 Salesian (9-1), No. 4 Middletown (9-1), No. 5 Cloverdale, No. 6 St. Patrick-St. Vincent (7-3), No. 7 Fort Bragg (8-2), No. 8 Berean Christian (9-2), No. 9 Justin-Siena (5-5), No. 10 McKinleyville (5-4), No. 11 Clear Lake (6-4), No. 12 Valley Christian (6-5), No. 13 Harker School (7-4) and No. 14 Willits (3-7).
The best news for Middletown, which is the same bracket with St. Mary”s and Cloverdale, is that the Mustangs” are the highest seeded league champion on their half of the draw, which means they are entitled to host any and all playoff games through the semifinal round. Middletown opens against Harker School of San Jose, the fifth-place team in the six-team Bay Football League won by Salesian, on Friday at 7 p.m. at Middletown High School. If the Mustangs prevail, they”ll be home the following weekend (Nov. 27-28) to play the winner of another first-round game between Cloverdale and Valley Christian.
Middletown coach Bill Foltmer, who initially was none too thrilled with the section”s decision to expand the playoff field this season, said he may be changing his mind.
“Maybe adding some new teams doesn”t water it down too much,” Foltmer said. “There are a couple of teams like Justin-Siena (Napa) and Valley Christian (San Jose) who are pretty good, teams that may not have made it had we stayed with eight teams.”
In fact, Foltmer related part of a discussion he had with Salesian head coach Chad Nightingale earlier this season.
“He (Nightingale) thought they (Valley Christian) were the team to beat in his league. He told me they lost two games without six players who were suspended,” Foltmer said.
Valley Christian finished third in the BFL standings behind Salesian and Berean Christian.
Harker School and Middletown are meeting for the first time on the football field and Foltmer said the San Jose team runs a spread offense that often features no running back in the backfield.
“They”ll go trips to one side and a slot guy on the other with no back,” Foltmer said. “All their athletes look the same to me on film, from the lineman to wide receivers. They all have the same body type.”
The team”s quarterback is highly mobile and adept at throwing on the run, according to Foltmer.
“They”ve scored points on everybody,” Foltmer said.
The team is vulnerable on defense, according to Foltmer.
On being the highest seeded league champion in his half of the bracket, Foltmer said it was a good break.
“It”s a lot better than some of the years when we reached the section finals,” Foltmer said.
Middletown, the North Central League I North champion, brings a nine-game winning streak into the playoffs.
The Clear Lake Cardinals are back in the playoffs and will have their work cut out against St. Patrick-St. Vincent, the third-place team out of the Bay Shore Athletic League. Encinal won the BSAL title and St. Mary”s came in second.
Clear Lake is making its third straight trip to the sectional playoffs but its first under new head coach Schad Schweitzer, who watched his Cardinals win their final three games of the regular season. Clear Lake, third in the NCL I South standings this season, is looking for its first postseason victory since a 27-20 win over Kelseyville in the opening round of the 2005 playoffs. The Cardinals lost first-round games to King”s Academy in 2007 and Middletown last season.
Clear Lake senior running back Kevin Burt set a single-season school rushing record a week ago in a 44-16 win over Lower Lakes and needs 202 yards on Friday night to become the school”s career rushing leader.
Fans attending NCS games should be aware that the host schools for these games have no say in the cost of the tickets. The section sets all gate prices.
