Week three games
Friday
Hoopa 26, Upper Lake 22
Middletown 41, Brookside Christian 8
Ferndale 35, Kelseyville 8
Valley Christian 42, Lower Lake 0
Saturday
St. Vincent 42, Clear Lake 21
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Middletown”s Tyler Drew piled up 201 yards on 22 carries while scoring three touchdowns against Brookside Christian. Upper Lake”s Joey Valdez had 155 yards on 17 carries in a loss to Hoopa, and Kelseyville”s Geno Poloni gained 117 yards on 19 carries in a homecoming loss to Ferndale.
Passing — Kyle Brown of Middletown had his best game of the season, going 5-for-12 for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Receiving — Middletown tight end Nick Dellia had two catches for 63 yards while teammate Nick Hoefer had two receptions for 46 yards, one of them a 7-yard TD. Kelseyville”s Greg Fricker caught three passes for 43 yards.
Highlights
Special teams — Upper Lake”s Bradley Brackett returned the opening kickoff against Hoopa 80 yards for a touchdown. Middletown”s Tyler Drew converted five of six extra-point kicks against Brookside Christian.
Sack attack — The Middletown Mustangs sacked Brookside”s Austin Caldron seven times. Nick Dellia had three of those and Dylan Finley two. Bradley Bracket had two sacks for Upper Lake against Hoopa.
Doing plenty of business — Upper Lake linebacker Robert Simondi had five unassisted tackles, including a sack, and 13 assists. Braiden Wayment had eight solo stops and four assists for Kelseyville against Ferndale while teammate James Green had five tackles, two assists and an interception.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 — Hoopa beat Upper Lake 26-22 in a battle of the two top-ranked teams in Division V of the North Coast Section on Friday night in Hoopa. The game ended when Upper Lake fullback Joey Valdez was tackled at the Hoopa 3-yard line. Hoopa, the defending Division V champion, improved to 4-0. It wouldn”t be a surprise if the two teams faced off again in the Division V championship game. To put it another way, this party is only getting started.
League play opens — The first of seven weeks of North Central League I action opens Friday. St. Helena, Willits and Middletown appear to be the teams to beat going in.
It”s always nice … — … When coaches ask me for the phone number to the Press Democrat sports desk on game night. On the other hand, it”s like Macy”s sending customers to Gimbels — and vice versa — in the Miracle on 34th Street.
3-0 JV teams — Middletown and Lower Lake both improved to 3-0 with wins last weekend. They square off against Friday night in Lower Lake as league play opens.
Still looking for win No. 1 — The Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Lower Lake varsity squads and the Upper Lake JVs.
Welcome to the varsity — Called up from the Middletown JVs, Austin Benson rushed for 62 yards on nine carries, including a 1-yard TD run, in the varsity”s 41-8 win over Brookside Christian.
For the record — Running back and placekicker Tyler Drew was erroneously referred to as Drew Tyler in the Middletown-Brookside Christian game story. And it was Dylan Finley, not brother Trevor. That”s what happens sometimes during the dance known as the deadline rush.
Ouch, ouch, ouch! — Lower Lake suited up 22 players and finished with just 15 in a 42-0 loss to Valley Christian.
Shameless plug for my daughter update — Sarah Sumpter of UC Davis, 12th out of 278 runners in the collegiate women”s 6k race Saturday at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto. She helped Davis finish second in the team standings behind Stanford.
They were movin” — Upper Lake High”s frosh-soph girls” squad brought home a third-place trophy from the Frogtown Invitational on Saturday in Angels Camp. Markie Stifter led the team.
On a roll — Former Kelseyville and Lower Lake head coach Stan Weiper guided the Ione (Oregon) Cardinals to a 33-6 win over South Wasco County on Saturday in eight-man football. Ione has won three straight since a season-opening loss. Maybe it”s just me, but considering all the years Weiper spent at Kelseyville, I find it amusing the Ione mascot is a Cardinal.
Six touchdowns — St. Vincent quarterback Mitch Sheppard passed for 254 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for a sixth score in a 42-21 win over Clear Lake. He also kicked all six PATs for good measure.
It”s an all-in-the-county weekend ? Lower Lake hosts Middletown, Kelseyville hosts Willits and Clear Lake entertains Fort Bragg in NCL I openers on Friday. On Saturday, it”s Upper Lake at home to play South Fork in non-league action.
Turn to Page A16 — For a color photo page from Middletown”s homecoming win over Brookside Christian.
Setting the NFL back 50 years — The 49ers” 13-8 win over Cincinnati on Sunday.
Oh well, there”s always next year — For the formerly defending World Champion San Francisco Giants. A movie documenting the Giants” 2011 title defense is currently in the works in Hollywood, with special interviews from those who made 2011 possible, such as Barry Zito, Aaron Roward, Miguel Tejada, Andres Torres and Aubrey Huff.
Nothing wrong with being honest — “We are a long ways from behing anywhere,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said of the state of his team following a 42-21 loss to St. Vincent.
