MIDDLETOWN — Middletown got a King Kong-sized monkey off its back on a cold Saturday night with a 27-13 victory over the El Molino Lions in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs at Bill Foltmer Field.
The win was the first in three consecutive quarterfinal appearances for the Mustangs (11-1) after annexing their third straight North Central League I North title. In two prior quarterfinal games they lost heartbreakers to Salesian (2008) and Valley Christian (2009).
“We also also beat a real good NCL team to get both those things off our back,” said Foltmer in reference to the manner in which the Mustangs shredded NCL I South champ St. Helena 56-0 in the opening round of the playoffs on Nov. 19.
The breakthrough against El Molino on Saturday night was a showpiece for Middletown”s franchise player, Jake Davis, who bulled his way to 203 yards on 18 carries and sparked a defense that shut the Lions out for the first half while holding them to only 87 yards. After both teams struggled through the first quarter, Davis established the tempo with 9:42 remaining in the second quarter on a smashing 80-yard run straight up the middle, breaking one tackle near the line of scrimmage by simpling running over a Lion defender and another 15 yards down the field. On Middletown”s next offensive series, Davis scored a second TD on a 1-yard smash to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive.
A 29-yard Kyle Brown to John-Wesley Davis scoring strike late in the quarter set the Mustangs up with a 20-0 halftime lead. At that point, El Molino had only 29 yards on the ground and Middletown had blunted the heralded passing game of the Lions” stellar dropback passer, Mike Pierson.
Gargantuan primates aside, the Mustangs — if they are to be Division IV champions — will have to overcome two more monolithic challenges, the first being No. 1 seed Healdsburg (8-3) next Friday night in Middletown, the second being the winner of the other semifinal game between Salesian and Ferndale, teams they have had only a modicum of success in dealing with in the past.
But in past games against these tenacious opponents ? most recently a 57-52 loss to Salesian in week one — they didn”t have Jake Davis, who drew Foltmer”s praise for his performance against El Molino. Davis” 80-yard run “was needed to break things open a little bit,” Foltmer acknowledged.
“I knew he was going to have a good game,” he added. “I tell my kids all the time your best players are going to have their best games against the best teams. He (Davis) showed up. He had a real good game offensively and defensively.
“You just saw the toughness in him,” the Middleown coach added. “I think that last playoff game (a 56-0 win over St. Helena) you saw the real Jake Davis. These past two game were the kind of games I was expecting from him all year. But you can”t beat a team like this without the rest of the kids playing well, too. One guy”s not going to beat a team running the football. You gotta have guys opening holes.”
Maybe so, but Davis was a critical dynamic and an alternative weapon in the early going when the Lions were reasonably successful in coping with Middletown”s record-setting scorer and top running back, David Pike. To a degree Davis opened the running lanes for Pike”s sweeps, leading to Pike”s 148 yards rushing and his 33rd rushing touchdown and 35th TD overall.
El Molino”s sluggishness in the first half was totally unexpected. The Lions rallied in the second half to score twice and their passing game began to click. But only after they were down 27-0. Just as mysterious was the Mustangs” sloppy play late in the game when they turned the ball over twice on an interception and fumble and failed to follow Foltmer”s instructions on handling an onside kick with a 27-13 lead and 2:37 remaining (Middletown did recover it after a scramble for the ball).
“It was very sloppy,” Foltmer said, “and they”re going to hear about it as soon as I go in there (the locker room). It was our worst game as far as penalties. We were trying to finish the game cleanly.”
The Mustang coach regretted calling the pass from the El Molino 45 that was intercepted.
“I probably never should have called that pass.,” he said. “What I said was if it”s not there, throw the ball away. We”ll take the sack or whatever. On the onside kick, I said if it”s coming real hard let it go through. It will go out-of-bounds, but I”ll be danged if a kid doesn”t try to pick it up.
“It”s a good thing we were able to get the win. We”ll work on those things.”
But with Middletown up by 20 at half, the Lions sensed they were beaten.
“We came out in the second half to have fun when there was nothing to lose,” said Pierson. “In the first half we kind of got a little ahead of ourselves . We were a little tight and scared to fail on any plays and that kind of backfired on us.”
At Middletown
El Molino 0 0 7 6 — 13
Middletown 0 20 7 0 — 27
M ? Ja. Davis 80 run (run failed after bad snap on PAT), 9:42 left 2nd.
M ? Ja. Davis 1 run (Cardenas kick), 1:49 left 2nd.
M — J-W Davis 29 pass from Brown (Cardenas kick), 29. 4 left 2nd.
M ? Pike 4 run (Cardenas kick), 6:13 left 3rd.
EM ? Douglass 16 pass from Pierson (Davis kick), 3:14 left 3rd.
EM ? Nordy 14 pass from Pierson (kick blocked), 2:36 left 4th.
El Molino statistics
Rushing ? Krausmann 17×85, Lamber 1×2. Totals: 18×87.
Passing ? Pierson 14-35-2 143 yards, 2 TDs.
Receiving ? Douglass 4×34, TD; Nordy 5×56, TD; Lamber 2×21, Hansen 1×10, Afman 1×4, Palmer 1×18.
Total offense ? 230 yards.
Third-down conversions ? 6×12.
Fourth-down conversions 0x3.
First downs ? 12.
Penalties ? 4×28.
Turnovers ? two.
Fumble recoveries Licciardo.
Interceptions ? Douglass, Nordy.
Sacks ? none.
Final record ? 7-5.
Middletown statistics
Pike 26×148, TD; Ja. Davis 18×203, 2 TDs. Hoefer 5×39. Totals: 49×390, 3 TDs.
Passing ? Brown 1-6-1, 29 yards, TD; Pike 0-1-0. Totals: 1-7-1, 29 yards, TD.
Receiving ? J-W Davis 1×29, TD.
Total offense ? 419 yards.
Third-down conversions ? 3×9.
Fourth-down conversions ? 1×2.
First downs ? 20.
Penalties 7×50.
Turnovers ? three.
Fumble recoveries ? none.
Interceptions ? Chick, J-W Davis.
Sacks ? None.
Record ? 11-1.
Next up ? Home vs. Healdsburg (8-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
