Week six games
Friday
Middletown 7, Fort Bragg 0
Cloverdale 34, Kelseyville 29
Willits 42, Clear Lake 0
St. Helena 58, Lower Lake 6
Saturday
Upper Lake 46, St. Vincent 40
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Geno Poloni gained 224 yards on 28 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns in Kelseyville”s loss to Cloverdale. Teammate Stephen Beck added 107 yards and a TD. Bradley Brackett”s 173 yards and three TDs sparked Upper Lake”s offense in a 46-40 win over St. Vincent. Tyler Drew had 90 yards on 12 carries in Middletown”s 7-0 victory over Fort Bragg, a game in which Austin Benson (10 carries for 66 yards) rushed for the only touchdown. Ward Beecher had 81 yards on 17 carries and a TD for Upper Lake.
Passing — Lower Lake”s Jake Peters completed 5 of 18 passes for 99 yards and one TD against St. Helena.
Receiving — Alphonsos Daniels of Lower Lake had three catches for 87 yards and a TD.
Highlights
Special teams –? Long kickoff returns by Upper Lake”s Stoney Timmons and Ward Beecher set up touchdowns in the Cougars” wild 46-40 shootout victory over St. Vincent. On the other end of the spectrum, Upper Lake”s Travis Coleman had the shortest punt of the 2011 season with a minus-1 yard kick. Coleman made it up for it, however.
Defense — Travis Coleman”s 55-yard interception return for a touchdown was one of many big plays for the Cougars in their win over St. Vincent. Pedro Hernandez recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass for Kelseyville against Cloverdale.
Scary sight, happy ending — Upper Lake”s Joey Valdez is sore, but OK, after being injured while making a tackle late in the second quarter against St. Vincent. The severe stinger left Valdez on the St. Vincent turf for a good 15 minutes before he was loaded into an ambulance and transported to the hospital to be checked out.
Scary sight (for defensive coordinators) — Upper Lake”s and St. Vincent”s defenses allowed a combined 769 yards of total offense Saturday.
Happy ending — If you”re going to allow 437 yards of offense, a 46-40 win is a pretty good consolation prize, according to Upper Lake coach Alex Stabiner.
That one hurts — Kelseyville had a nine-point lead with 5:55 remaining against Cloverdale only to lose 34-29. The Knights are now 0-6 on the season and have lost eight straight stretching back to last year.
6-0 and ready to go — Middletown”s JVs improved to 6-0 with a 41-20 victory over Fort Bragg on Friday night in Middletown. Middletown trailed 13-7 before going on a second-quarter scoring spree, including two touchdowns in the final two minutes. Middletown hosts the 6-0 St. Helena JVs this Friday in a battle for first place in the NCL I standings.
It was no Upper Lake-St. Vincent — While Upper Lake and St. Vincent were combining for 86 points on Saturday, Middletown and Fort Bragg scored a grand total of seven on Friday night. Two years ago those same two teams combined for 90 points in a memorable 49-41 victory at Middletown. Foltmer had a classic quote to describe the 7-0 win, but I can”t print it here.
200 wins at Middletown — The 7-0 victory over Fort Bragg was coach Bill Foltmer”s 200th win at the school and No. 219 of his career.
Only in the NFL — Would there be controversy over a handshake at game”s end.
St. Vincent”s field — Absolutely the best playing surface around.
Bass Bowl II — Matching Clear Lake and Kelseyville is Nov. 4 in Lakeport. Can”t you feel the suspense building?
Officials showed up — Clear Lake beat Fort Bragg 2-1 in varsity girls” soccer action Monday at Lakeport. “I think it threw us off,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea joked. “We”re not used to that.” Larrea was referring to two recent games in Mendocino County where the officials either did not show up or were several hours late.
He”s a player — St. Vincent sophomore running back John Porchivina rushed for 145 yards and a TD and caught five passes for 119 yards in the team”s loss to Upper Lake. He also had a 55-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Coming up BIG — Upper Lake”s Travis Coleman escaped a sack — somehow — on a fourth-and-seven play and scrambled 23 yards for a touchdown to put the Cougars ahead for good in the third quarter against St. Vincent. Moments later he returned an interception 55 yards for another touchdown.
The NFL it”s not — Clear Lake and Kelseyville completed no passes this past weekend and Upper Lake and Middletown completed just one apiece.
Hide the children — It”s homecoming Saturday for Upper Lake this weekend against Calistoga. The over/under in this one is 63 1/2.
Week 7 spotlight — In the NCL I, it”s St. Helena (3-0, 6-0) at Middletown (2-1, 3-3). In the NCL II it”s St. Vincent (1-1, 3-3) at Tomales (1-0-1, 3-2-1). Both games are Friday night.
Plug for my daughter — Sarah Sumpter of UC Davis placed 25th out of 303 runners Sunday at the NCAA Division I Pre-Nationals, hosted by Indiana State University in Terre Haute. The UC Davis women were sixth out of 40 teams.
