MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Mustangs face their biggest challenge of the season since a week-one 57-52 loss to Salesian tonight when they host the top-seeded Healdsburg Greyhounds in the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division IV football playoffs at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Not much of a buildup is necessary for this one as the winner advances to the Division IV championship game the following weekend and will face either No. 3 seed Salesian of Richmond or No. 7 Ferndale. Those two teams square off Saturday at 1 p.m. at Salesian High School in Richmond.
Middletown (11-1), which has the best record of the four semifinalists and is the No. 4 seed, is gunning for its first trip to a sectional final since 2001 when the Mustangs beat the Cloverdale Eagles 21-7 at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa to complete a 12-0 campaign and claim the school”s third sectional championship (following wins in 1997 over Cloverdale and 1999 over Kelseyville).
Healdsburg (8-3) last won a sectional title in 1998, claiming the old Redwood Empire 2A division (the 2A division at one time honored separate 2A Redwood Empire and East Bay champions). The Greyhounds also won the 2A Redwood Empire crown in 1991.
Middletown beat St. Helena 56-0 and El Molino 27-13 to reach the semifinals. Healdsburg had a first-round bye before dispatching defending Division IV champion Fort Bragg a week ago in the quarterfinals, 41-20.
Both Middletown and Healdsburg have longtime and respected head coaches. Bill Foltmer is in his 26th season with the Mustangs while Healdsburg”s Tom Kirkpatrick is in his 17th season with the Greyhounds and has never had a losing campaign.
Middletown and Healdsburg are alike in many ways. They both rely on speedy running backs to move the ball on the ground, they both can throw the ball if the run isn”t working, and each has a fast, aggressive defense.
Middletown running back David Pike enters play with a school-record 1,658 yards and 33 rushing touchdowns, while Carson Seanor has been fantastic for the Greyhounds with 1,529 yards and 24 TDs.
“When you get to this point of the tournament, there are not a lot of surprises,” Foltmer said. “We”re going to get a heavy dose of Carson Seanor and they”re going to get a heavy dose of David Pike and Jake Davis.”
Davis, Middletown”s powerful fullback, is coming off a 203-yard, two-touchdown effort against El Molino.
Seanor, without a doubt the focal point of the Greyhounds” offense, doesn”t need much room to break one, according to Foltmer.
“He”s small, like a scatback, but he runs hard and he seems to find that sliver of room, then he accelerates,” Foltmer said.
Healdsburg”s starting quarterback, Max Opperman, has completed 60 of 103 passes for 770 yards and eight TDs. The Greyhounds also have a capable backup in Luis Nieves, who started in the team”s win over Fort Bragg as Opperman recovered from an injury.
“We don”t know who will start at quarterback and we”ve prepared for both,” Foltmer said. “Opperman has a little more command of the offense, but Nieves ran the offense very well against Fort Bragg. He doesn”t run as much as Opperman, but he passed the ball fine. He hit some short stuff but also completed a couple of long passes.”
Healdsburg runs out of three different formations — power-I, offset-I, and twins out of a shotgun.
“They mix up their formations by series,” Foltmer said. “They”ll alternate between them until they find something that”s working. Ferndale does a lot of that.”
On defense, the Greyhounds will load up the box in an attempt to snuff out their opponent”s running game.
“They mix it up, blitz a lot, try to stuff you up front,” Foltmer said. “But for the last nine weeks that”s all we”ve seen.”
Middletown”s passing game is ready to go should it be needed, according to Foltmer.
“I think we”re going to have to throw the ball a little more than in the past (weeks). It”s been ready. We worked on the passing a lot this week and it”s ready to go if the situation dictates it.”
As always, Foltmer said the Mustangs are as prepared as they can be going into tonight”s showdown.
“We”ve had a great week with long, long practices and a lot of film time,” Foltmer said. “I don”t think we can do more to prepare ourselves. It”s now down to blocking and tackling.”
As an added emphasis on the importance of tonight”s game, Foltmer said it”s the last time his seniors will play at home because next week”s championship game is likely to be played at a neutral site regardless of who wins in the semifinals — the game will be closer to Middletown if both Middletown and Ferndale advance to the finals or closer to Salesian if Salesian beats Ferndale.
“I don”t know how many more seasons I have left, so who knows if we”ll be in this situation again,” Foltmer said. “This team has worked to get here and it”s a big opportunity.”
Middletown”s field was in good shape as of Thursday, but with rain forecast Thursday night into today, there could be some muddy patches.
“If a good rain comes in, it won”t take much,” Foltmer said.
Homefield advantage in the playoffs has certainly been that through the first and quarterfinals rounds of the Division IV playoffs. Home teams are 9-0.
“What you have are a lot of teams playing well at home,” Foltmer said.
