Week two games
Friday night
Upper Lake 18, Middletown 14
Esparto 25, Kelseyville 7
Valley Christian 34, Clear Lake 13
Arcata 42, Lower Lake 12
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Bradley Brackett rushed for 176 yards on 22 carries, one of those a 50-yard touchdown run, in Upper Lake”s big win over Middletown. Tyler Drew led Middletown with 114 yards on 18 carries and a TD. Jared Thompson gained 83 yards on 10 carries for Lower Lake while backfield mate Jerald Drummond had 82 yards on 15 carries and a TD. Geno Poloni”s 66 yards on 18 carries led Kelseyville against Esparto. Andre Buendia had 53 yards on 13 carries and a TD for Clear Lake against Valley Christian.
Passing — Lower Lake”s Richard Tucker made good on 15 of 29 pass for 254 yards and a TD against Arcata, but he also threw five interceptions. Kelseyville”s John Mark Reagan completed 6 of 18 passes for 117 yards a touchdown against Esparto. Clear Lake”s Andre Buendia went 3-for-6 for 66 yards in the loss to Valley Christian.
Receiving — Lower Lake”s Alphonsos Daniels pulled in nine passes for 207 yards, including a 60-yard TD, against Arcata. Greg Fricker of Kelseyville caught three passes for 50 yards and a TD against Esparto. Upper Lake”s Joey Valdez had three catches for 35 yards and a TD in the win over Middletown. Middletown”s Nick Dellia had a 17-yard TD catch against Upper Lake.
Highlights
Special teams — Upper Lake”s Joey Valdez blocked a punt that set up a touchdown against Middletown.
Defense — Upper Lake outside linebacker Robert Simmondi had seven tackles and four assists while teammate Bruce Tucker, an inside linebacker, had six tackles and seven assists in his first start at that position. Kelseyville”s Devin Baker had six tackles and five assists in his 2011 debut. Lower Lake”s Joseph Gonzalez recovered a fumble he caused and also had a sack.
North of the (California) border — Former Kelseyville and Lower Lake varsity head coach Stan Weiper is 2-1 in his first season with the Ione High School (Oregon) eight-man football team. Weiper lost his Ione debut but has won two straight since.
Familiar foes — Hamilton City beat Durham 28-26 at Durham last Friday night. Hamilton City downed Kelseyville in week one while Durham defeated Clear Lake in week one.
0-for-season — Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Middletown are a combined 0-8 through the first two weeks of the 2011 season. Upper Lake (2-0) has the only two county wins thus far. There doesn”t appear to be many soft touches in week three for county teams. Upper Lake plays at Hoopa (3-0), Kelseyville is home against Ferndale (2-1), Lower Lake travels to Valley Christian (3-0), Middletown hosts Brookside Christian (0-3) and Clear Lake hits the road to play St. Vincent (1-2). Brookside Christian, a year removed from reaching the state title game in the small school”s division, has been outscored 198-48 in its first three games this season.
You might see this one again — Hoopa and Upper Lake play Friday night in Hoopa and could easily end up playing again in the Division V playoffs.
Reality sets in — The Record-Bee sports desk received three calls, almost in a row, late Friday night asking if Upper Lake had indeed beaten Middletown. Two of the callers were very happy, one not so much.
Speaking of Upper Lake-Middletown — That was Upper Lake”s first win against Middletown since 1998 and the Cougars” first victory at Middletown since 1994.
JV football results –? JV coaches need to report their weekend game results either Monday or Tuesday, but no later.
JV roundup — Lower Lake and Middletown won on Friday, both schools improving to 2-0.
Bleeding in the red zone — “We were beating ourselves in the red zone,” Lower Lake coach Mike Huffman said of the Trojans” numerous red zone turnovers against Arcata. The Trojans had 426 yards of total offense but scored only 12 points.
From the 2010 files — Bradley Brackett rushed 14 times for 162 yards during the entire 2010 season for Upper Lake. This year? Two games, 36 carries, 338 yards. Enough said.
Sneakin” a peak — NCL I teams Willits and St. Helena are both 2-0. The NCL I race opens the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
Two textbook come-from-ahead losses — Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.
Adoption papers going through — Yes, the Sumpter family (notice, no N in the last name) is adopting Press Democrat columnist Bob Padecky, as fine a writer as you”ll ever meet.
Just for the heck of it — Rick Rescorla, gone but not forgotten.
It”s nearly time for the JV parents come to Jesus speech — No, JV is not as important as varsity. Sorry, that”s just the way it is.
Parental notification — If you are not reading about your son”s or daughter”s game in the Record-Bee, the score wasn”t reported by the coach.
Photos welcome — If you”re out and about shooting photos of community sports, send ”em along to the Record-Bee and we will give you credit in the newspaper. Get close, get the action, get it in focus, and get the name of the person in the photo and we can do business. You can email RBSports@aol.com with your submissions.
Retired and rubbing it in — Gary Pickle, Geri Giovannetti. OK, you deserve it, and I do love receiving pictures of Waikiki at sunset when I”m on deadline during a busy night.
