LOWER LAKE — As has been the case for three other Lake County teams, it was all for naught for Lower Lake on Friday night against the might of Middletown. Or, more aptly, aught, defined as zero. As in 0000-0000-0000-0000, the by-quarter scores of Upper Lake, Clear Lake, Kelseyville and the Trojans.
In winning their eighth straight, the Mustangs put the cap on shutting out the county with a 51-0 whitewash while moving closer to another North Central I North championship. Their total score against the other four county teams this season totaled a mind-boggling 205-0
While the Middletown defense was racking up yet another shutout, on the other side of the ball the amazing David Pike was setting a single-season school record for rushing touchdowns, now at 25, with four more on runs of 5, 8, 5 and 4 yards while totaling only 71 yards on 11 carries. Pike, who has scored 158 points in nine games, is only seven points shy of setting the Middletown record for points in a season, currently held by teammate Jake Davis, who had 164 last year.
“Tonight he stepped it up,” said Davis of Pike, whom he regards as one of his best friends. “We knew he was going to be a threat this year.”
Mustang coach Bill Foltmer acknowledged that his intent was to have Pike break the rushing TD record.
“Yeah, it was,” Foltmer said. “It wasn”t anything more than giving him the ball when we got close to the goal line.”
By the end of the first half, both Pike, Davis and the skill players in the Mustang offense were deactivated as has been the case against each of the preceding county opponents. The Mustangs were up 44-0 at the time against a Lower Lake team that was depleted by grades and injuries. The Trojans finished the game with seven yards passing and never crossed the midstripe.
“They”re a lot better than us, obiviously,” Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper said. “It was rough going, but they”ve got a good team. It”s not like they didn”t do it to everyone else this season.”
“This is a good football team,” Foltmer added. “Other teams in the county are down this year. We just happen to be up. That”s the way I look at it.”
On Friday night, the Must-angs were way up, taking a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. By the half — aided by opportunistic field position — they had scored on all six of their possessions.
The Mustangs made no secret of going after a countywide shutout.
“We talked about it just before the game,” said Davis, a linebacker in the defense. “We said, ?Let”s go for county and let”s go for state.” Defense wins championships, so every time we come on the field we try to prove ourselves.”
In being able to toy with the Trojans, Foltmer used the game as a honing session for the Mustangs. Foltmer called on his passing game only five times and Brown made good on four of those passes, racking up 100 yards and a scoring strike of 36 yards to John-Wesley Davis one play after a Connor Chick interception.
“We had to make sure we were getting our throwing in and keep everybody sharp on that aspect of the game,” said Foltmer. “Before the game, I felt we had to make sure we were throwing the ball and mixing it up a little bit. When we do go to the playoffs, we can”t muscle up, so I gotta make sure we got a little more balanced attack.”
On Friday night, all systems were “go.”
