Editor”s note: This is the third in a five-part series profiling Lake County”s varsity football teams.
KELSEYVILLE — Rob Ishihara”s first two seasons as head coach of the Kelseyville Knights were a textbook example of the highs and lows of his profession.
There was his rookie campaign of 2010, when the Knights ended a string of losing seasons by going 7-4, including a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs, and then there was last season, when the Knights just missed posting the worst record in school history, saved by a 36-18 win over Lower Lake on the final week of the regular season. At least 1-9 was better than 0-10.
Nine months removed from the train wreck that was 2011, the Knights head into a new season with considerably higher expectations, according to Ishihara.
“It can”t get much worse,” Ishihara said of his team”s struggles last season, especially in the turnover department. “At least we”re starting the 2012 season undefeated.”
And with a one-game winning streak to boot as the Knights were the only Lake County club to win their final game of 2011.
Looking back on last season, Kelseyville”s trouble-plagued 2011 campaign was divided into two distinct segments. The first five games, all one-sided losses, came to four playoff-bound teams as well as a physical Esparto club. The Knights” final five games included four league losses by margins of three to 10 points, and the win over Lower Lake.
“After three non-league games (Hamilton City, Esparto and Ferndale), we opened league against St. Helena and Willits (the eventual North Central League I champion and runner-up),” Ishihara said. “That wasn”t to our advantage. That”s not the way I would have drawn up the schedule if it had been up to me.”
The final five games were, in order, a 34-29 loss to Cloverdale, a game the Knights lost in the final seconds; a turnover-ridden 17-7 loss to Fort Bragg; a 28-25 loss to Middletown, a game the Knights had a chance to win; a 7-3 Bass Bowl setback to Clear Lake; and finally and mercifully, a 36-18 win over a Lower Lake team that also entered the final week of the regular without a win (the Trojans finished 0-9-1).
While the Knights” drop-off in success from 2010 to 2011 is readily apparent in the win column, Ishihara said it wasn”t for lack of effort on the part of his coaching staff.
“I probably did a better job of coaching last year,” Ishihara said. “So many things happened to us … I had a lot of sleepless nights.”
Not one to hang onto a tough loss, Ishihara said it was hard not to after a couple of his team”s more bitter defeats last season, the setback to Cloverdale being at the very top of that list.
“Cloverdale was probably the worst game coaching-wise,” Ishihara said with a shake of his head.
The Knights enter 2012 with a handful of familiar faces returning to starting positions, most notably veteran quarterback John Mark Reagan, a senior, but will heavily rely on the talents of several newcomers, including running backs Robert McLean, a sophomore, and Kevin Duty, a junior.
McLean and Duty provided the 1-2 punch in Kelseyville”s junior varsity backfield a year ago and are being counted on to do big things for the varsity this season, according to Ishihara.
“He”s one of the hardest workers we have,” Ishihara said of McLean. “He”s one of the first to arrive at practice and one of the last to leave. He really wants to win.”
McLean is also a student of the game.
“He”s always asking questions, he”s always looking for ways to get better,” Ishihara said.
Duty, a more physical back, is the guy who opened up holes for McLean a year ago, according to Ishihara.
“Duty is more of a north-south runner, big and pretty physical,” Ishihara said.
The Knights” abundance of running backs is one of the team”s strengths heading into the season. While they”ll be running behind another small offensive line, Ishihara said that isn”t the worst scenario given Kelseyville”s offense, the Wing-T, which doesn”t require bruisers up front.
Looking to grab the job at halfback is Jake Peters, who opened the 2011 season as Lower Lake”s quarterback. Now at Kelseyville, where he starred in baseball last spring, Peters gives the Knights a competent backup to Reagan as well as a versatile athlete who Ishihara plans to use in a variety of capacities.
Other running back candidates are veteran Nathan Jones and newcomer Graham Laws, who didn”t play last season.
“He”s fast, strong but a little green,” Ishihara said of Laws.
Piecing together a functional line will be a little more difficult for the Knights, who were auditioning several players in the first weeks of the 2012 season.
Dasan Vasquez and Zac Cocco, both veterans, and Zack Krohn, a senior who didn”t play last year, are top candidates. Moving up from the JV ranks are David Simonson, Justin Johnson, Eugene Mitchell and Marc Erickson.
“We”re even smaller up front than last year, but we”ve got guards who can run and that”s what we need in this offense.”
While it”s still early, Ishihara likes the way his offense is shaping up.
“We”re going to be more balanced than we were last year when (Geno) Poloni pretty much had to carry us,” Ishihara said of the Knights” standout running back a year ago. Poloni rushed for 1,292 yards (second in the county) during his senior season.
“This year we have more options,” Ishihara said. “We won”t need one person to carry the load.”
An improved running game should open the Knights” passing game as well. Expect Reagan to be looking downfield for such targets as wide receivers Greg Fricker and Pedro Hernandez.
One area where the Knights must improve this season is on defense, according to Ishihara.
“Our defense has to have a good season … we have to stop somebody,” Ishihara said. “That was the big key to the second half of last season. The kids started to gel.”
Looking at the entirety of his roster, Ishihara describes the 2012 Knights as follows:
“We”re not the biggest team but we are pretty fast and we are athletic. We”re a pretty young team, but I wouldn”t call it a rebuilding team. We have had leaders emerge and everybody”s attitude is pretty good,” Ishihara said.
How well the Knights hold up in their first four games will be key to their success in 2012, according to Ishihara. They open the season at home against Upper Lake on Aug. 31, travel the following week to play John Swett, then return home to play Esparto. In week four, they open their North Central League I schedule at Willits.
“Our first four games are against four big and physical teams,” Ishihara said. “We have to find a way to stop them on defense and to move the ball on offense.”
In the upcoming NCL I race, Ishihara”s preseason favorites are Middletown, St. Helena and Willits.
“They all had pretty good JV teams last season,” Ishihara said.
