MIDDLETOWN — Rarely has a Middletown offense been so offensive ? in the disgusting sense of the word — as the Mustangs were on Friday night in losing 16-2 to unbeaten St. Helena in North Central League I varsity football action at Middletown.
The offense”s transgressions — four turnovers and four wasted scoring opportunities — negated a solid defensive effort against the Saints” potent offense, led by junior quarterback Richard Hoppe, who has yet to throw an interception, and powerful running bak Charles Bertoli.
The Mustangs averted their first shutout only by the grace of a safety, awarded when Hoppe was called for intentional grounding in the end zone with 9:49 remaining.
“Yeah, we avoided the shutout, but who you going to beat with four turnovers?” quipped Mustang coach Bill Foltmer.
The loss to St. Helena, which has a 4-0 league mark, a 7-0 overall record and shares the NCL I lead with Willits, pretty much eliminates the Mustangs (2-2, 3-4) from the league race. But with a winning record for the season, possible only if the Mustangs win their final three games, they could still secure a spot in the playoffs.
“Right now I”m not even thinking about that,” said Foltmer. “We”ll just see what goes on for the rest of the season.”
What went on Friday night was far from inspiring. As its record indicates, St. Helena is a good team although most of its wins to date have come against teams with losing records. The story might have been different if Middletown could have held onto the ball. Certainly the defense was sufficient and the Mustangs trailed only 3-0 at half, the result of a 35-yard field goal with 29 seconds remaining.
“These kids have played their asses off,” Foltmer said. “I thought we did a real good job against Bertoli and Hoppe. Defensively, they played a great game, I thought.”
The Mustang game plan was to shut down Bertoli effectively enough to gang up in the defensive secondary against Hoppe. And it mostly worked. Bertoli had ony 43 yards on eight carries in the first half and Hoppe could do little damage with only 45 yards on five receptions. Bertoli finally broke loose, going 53 yards on a sweep to the left for the Saints” second touchdown with 5:55 remaining.
The Saints got their first TD in the third quarter when Hoppe hooked up on a 56-yard pass play to Peter Delbondio, who had an open field after catching the ball at the Mustang 40.
The Mustangs meantime blew their chances of scoring when they:
— Lost possession on downs in the red zone after driving from their own 48 in the first quarter.
— Yielded the ball on a Nick Hoefer fumble on the Saints 34 after he caught a first-down pass in the third quarter.
— Were stopped on their next offensive series by a diving interception of a Kyle Brown pass by Joey Brink at the Saints 34, which they had gained on a drive from their own 20.
— … And worst of all failing to score from the St. Helena 13 on four downs after gaining possession on a flubbed punt in the final period.
In short, there was no joy in M”ville.
