While Labor Day marks the end of summer for most, the last big blowout of the sunny season isn”t what it used to be given that school districts are increasingly switching to an August starting date for the new year. Though both my children have now graduated from high school I couldn”t help but notice that their alma mater ? Healdsburg High — opens the 2010-2011 academic year a week from Wednesday.
Yeah, that”s right, Aug. 18. It just doesn”t seem right from the perspective of my generation, when summer break was actually that — mid-June to early September. But I”m not here to harp on the good ol” days of my cell phone-less, computerless, facebookless and twitterless youth.
Actually, I”m looking ahead to the upcoming sports year in Lake County, which arrives full-force on Monday, the first day teams can begin practicing for the fall sports season. Football, soccer, volleyball and cross country will be back in the spotlight even as the San Francisco Giants continue to search for a guy who can hit into something other than a double play.
In regard to football, graduation certainly took a mighty chunk out of a handful of teams, especially in the North Central League I North where heavyweights Middletown and Fort Bragg suffered huge hits on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Likewise the top three finishers in the NCL I South last season — Cloverdale, St. Vincent and Clear Lake — will have all kinds of new faces on their rosters and in their starting lineups. The best example of that might be last year”s All-NCL I South first-team offense. Twenty players made it and all were seniors. On defense, 16 of the 17 first-teamers were seniors, the exception being St. Vincent defensive end Jeff Matthews.
By comparison, 13 of 17 on offense and eight of 13 on defense were seniors on the 2009 All-NCL I North first teams. Four of the eight juniors on the first-team defense were from Lake County, including MVP Jake Davis of Middletown, so that”s one encouraging note for the Mustangs, who also had junior defensive lineman Luke Parker make it. The other two juniors from Lake County were Kelseyville”s Mike Allen, a defensive end, and linebacker Nick Rodrigues. On the first-team offense, Lower Lake had two juniors — running back E.J. Jermany and lineman Cody Torres, which is good news for head coach Stan Weiper after back-to-back 1-9 seasons.
If the South is up for grabs in the upcoming season, the North should also be an interesting race. Middletown is the defending champion although runner-up Fort Bragg went on to claim the North Coast Section Division IV title. Jack Moyer, who was contemplating retirement at the end of the 2009 season, will return in 2010, giving the NCL I North two of the Redwood Empire”s winningest active coaches in Moyer and Bill Foltmer, both with more than 200 career victories.
Will another team step up to challenge the Middletowns and Fort Braggs of the world? Kelseyville has a new coach in Rob Ishihara, a slightly reshuffled coaching staff and all the optimism in the world, just as you would expect going into a new season. Lower Lake won the North title in 2007 and hasn”t been heard from since. Is this the Trojans” year to bounce back? Maybe, but only if the Lower Lake defense shows up on Friday nights.
Willits? They ran up the score on a handful of teams last season, including Upper Lake and Lower Lake, but graduated many of their stars. They do return quite a few players, so it will be interesting to see what happens during the next three months. If Lower Lake is back in the hunt, that Oct. 29 meeting at Willits could be fun.
It has all the makings of an interesting season to be sure, both North and South.
Sadly, the Upper Lake Cougars won”t return to the field with James O”Connor, whose death on June 29 is beyond tragic for someone so young and talented.
While the Northshore high school hasn”t had much luck in terms of wins and losses on the gridiron in recent seasons, the Cougars” boys” cross country team is shaping up to be one of the best in the area. If the injury bug holds off, it might even make some noise at this year”s NCS Championships.
Clear Lake and Middletown should once again duke it out for county bragging rights in girls” soccer, Kelseyville again looks strong in boys” soccer, and the NCL I North volleyball race should be a good one.
On an individual note, Middletown”s Miriam Lane has a chance to make noise in two sports this fall. She”s a top cross country runner and she”ll also represent the Coastal Mountain Conference in the NCS girls” tennis championships. While Lake County plays tennis — boys and girls — in the spring, girls” tennis in the remainder of the section is held in the fall. By winning the CMC girls” title this past spring, Lane automatically advances to the NCS championships later this fall.
Though other stars are sure to emerge during the course of the next nine months, keep your eye on a trio of junior girls — Lane, Middletown”s Brittany Cash and Clear Lake”s Vanessa Tullos. They”re all primed for great years.
