UPPER LAKE — Middletown stands between the Upper Lake Cougars and what would be a most impressive start to the 2012 season. Seen from the other side of the lake, Upper Lake stands between Middletown and its first win of the season as the Mustangs look to gain momentum going into their difficult North Central League I schedule in two weeks.
In other words, it”s a bellwether game for Upper Lake (1-0) and Middletown (0-1) on Saturday afternoon when the two teams collide at Upper Lake High School, a rematch of last year”s contest won 18-14 by Upper Lake at Bill Foltmer Field.
While Middletown-Upper Lake caps week two of the high school football season for Lake County teams, the party gets started tonight when Clear Lake (0-1) hosts Stellar Prep (1-1) of Hayward, Lower Lake (0-1) entertains Arcata (1-1), and Kelseyville (0-1) visits Crockett to play John Swett (1-1).
Middletown at Upper Lake
It”s a classic battle of Middletown”s speed versus Upper Lake”s size. The two teams played diametrically opposed openers a week ago, the Mustangs giving Salesian all it could handle in a 7-3 loss to the two-time North Coast Section Division IV champions at Middletown, while the Cougars spoiled Kelseyville”s season and home openers with a 52-6 pounding that included a 28-0 first quarter.
Both schools are in the same position record-wise that they were a year ago — Middletown lost 33-7 to Salesian in its 2011 opener while Upper Lake opened with a 47-14 rout of Portola (the Cougars” opponent next week).
The Mustangs appear to be improved from last season”s 6-5 club. The Cougars, based on their debut against the Knights, are looking every bit as imposing as last year”s 7-3-1 team.
How much better are the two teams this season? It might take a few more weeks to figure that one out, according to both coaches.
“I don”t know how good Kelseyville is,” Upper Lake coach Alex Stabiner said. “Once we get a few common opponents, then we can start doing some comparing. It”s hard to tell this early in the season.”
Going head-to-head against Middletown won”t need any common-opponent interpretation, according to Stabiner.
“Middletown played Salesian tough … 7-3 against a Salesian team is a pretty good score,” Stabiner said. “I know their quarterback (Middletown”s Ben Pike) threw pretty well and put up some impressive numbers. They also forced three turnovers. Bill”s a great coach and Middletown has a pretty good team.”
Upper Lake”s game plan is pretty simple; take control at the line of scrimmage and keep the game close going into the fourth quarter.
“If we control the line of scrimmage, control the ball, we”ve got a good chance to win,” Stabiner said.
Two seniors with limited or no high school experience certainly stepped to the forefront a week ago against Kelseyville. Jeremy Martin, who hasn”t played since the eighth grade, returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, rushed for 19 yards, and turned in a strong effort in the Upper Lake secondary. The other, Scott Menan, who hasn”t played since his freshman season, had one of the Cougars” three fumbles while also playing well in the secondary.
“He (Martin) runs a lot like Bradley Brackett (Lake County”s rushing leader a year ago),” Stabiner said. “He”s got a lot of heart, he”s real quick, he”s just not as big as Brackett.”
Menan chalked up a handful of tackles while coming up to defend against the running game.
“He was making tackles in the right places,” Stabiner said.
To beat the Mustangs for a second straight season, the Cougars will have to bring their “A” game on defense, especially the relatively untested linebacker corps.
“Middletown likes to throw short, high-percentage passes and that means linebacker play,” Stabiner said. “Our linebackers have to play well.”
Stabiner gave his linebackers a “C+” for their effort last week against Kelseyville.
“A lot of times they were backpedaling, getting into their zone when they (Knights) were running the ball. Other times they were jumping forward too soon.”
Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said the Cougars, despite losses to graduation, remain a formidable opponet.
“They were a good team last year and they have a lot of players back,” Foltmer said. “(Joe) Valdez is one of the best football players in the county. He has the ability to break a tackle and ramble once he gets going. He”s a perfect back for that (toss) offense. And Ward Beecher can cut back and bounce outside, so you have to be careful there, too.”
To be successful against Upper Lake”s offense, Foltmer said the Middletown defense has to do one thing particularly well.
“We”ve got to control the push at the point of attack. We have to fight off their blockers and get control of that push,” Foltmer said.
“It”s no secret what the team is attempting to do. Tomales runs the same offense and we played them for years. They call it smash-mouth football,” Foltmer added.
Foltmer said the Upper Lake defense will have to figure out a way to slow down Middletown”s offense, a unit that is coming along nicely, according to the veteran coach.
“I”ve got a good offense,” Foltmer said. “I”ve got two good running backs, wide receivers who can catch the ball and an athletic quarterback who can run and pass. Our line is small, but we”re getting to where we need to be. I”m real pleased with how the line is coming along.”
Middletown nearly broke a couple of long runs against Salesian, but the Pride secondary was able to limit the damage, according to Foltmer.
“We got our backs behind their linebackers a couple of times, but their secondary did a good job of coming up and saving the plays from being big gainers.”
Stellar Prep at Clear Lake
The Cardinals turned in a solid effort in a 27-20 road loss to Durham, a game they might have won with a break or two. They make their home debut tonight against the new Hayward school, now a member of the North Central League II, that is fielding a varsity football team for the first time. The Thunder”s roster includes 19 sophomores, two juniors and no seniors (the school doesn”t have a senior class yet).
“They have a very good quarterback,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said of 6-foot-4, 190-pound sophomore Cameron Burston. “He”s very elusive, very quick. We have to concentrate on keeping him under wraps.”
Bottling up the Durham quarterback is one of the things the Cardinals didn”t do very well a week ago, according to Meyer.
“Our defensive ends struggled to keep containment on the quarterback last week and it cost us a couple of times,” Meyer said.
Stellar Prep also has a size advantage, including 300-pound sophomore defensive tackle Marcus Corona and 330-pound two-way lineman Jay Kaho, one of the team”s two juniors.
While the Cardinals have no game film on the Thunder, who lost 48-14 to Mendota two weeks ago but beat Stone Ridge Christian 52-26 last week, Meyer said the Stellar Prep quarterback makes the team tick.
“The Stone Ridge coach told us the kid has a great arm and threw 40-yard passes on the run,” Meyer said.
Clear Lake defensive coordinator Steve Newnham has designed a game plan with that in mind, according to Meyer.
“He”s got something planned for those guys and we”ll see if it works,” Meyer said of Newnham. “He did a great job last week.”
Turned around on offense, the Cardinals will be ready to throw — they put the ball in the air 18 times last week — if the Thunder crowd the line against Clear Lake”s option attack.
“They have a tendency to fill the box with a lot of players,” Meyer said. “That doesn”t mean we”ll go away from our game of off-tackle runs and the option. We need to make the right reads and get outside of their people.”
Vince Rave, the Cardinals” leading rusher last season who missed last week”s opener, will be available this week. In his absence a week ago, Luke Punzalan rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown.
Arcata at Lower Lake
Arcata, a 42-12 winner over Lower Lake in week two last season in Arcata, visits Gordon Sadler Field to take on the win-hungry Trojans, who last tasted victory on the final week of the 2010 regular season, a 26-7 win over Clear Lake at Lakeport. Lower Lake has gone even longer since its last home win – Oct. 1, 2010, to be exact, a 52-6 rout of Upper Lake.
The Tigers (1-1) lost 48-14 to Valley Christian of Dublin in their season opener two weeks ago before bouncing back with a win last week, a 36-20 home victory over Trinity.
“They played better in that (Valley Christian) game than the score shows,” Lower Lake coach Mike Huffman said. “Arcata is a really good team and we”ll have to make fewer mistakes to win.”
Lower Lake played a competitive first half with defending NCS Division V champion Hoopa a week ago before falling 41-14 at McKinleyville High School.
“Arcata isn”t as big as Hoopa, but Hoopa is huge,” Huffman said.
The Tigers run a Wing-T offense and their school colors — orange and black — remind Huffman of a Lake County team that uses the same offense, the Kelseyville Knights.
While another week of practice has helped the Trojans correct some of their deficiencies against Hoopa, especially on defense where Huffman admits his team was “a step slow” rallying to the point of attack, the biggest factor favoring Lower Lake this week is the return of two-way starters Eric Moreno (running back/linebacker) and Billy Martin (lineman) to the lineup.
“We didn”t have them a week ago and had to go with some younger kids in their spots,” Huffman said. “We”re at full strength this week.”
Kelseyville at John Swett
It may be only week two of the season, but the Knights need a win … now. Dominated by the Upper Lake Cougars in pretty much every way possible a week ago, Kelseyville visits Crockett to play a John Swett team that hasn”t had a winning season since 2006 (8-4). In fact, the Indians have been downright awful the last four years, going 2-7 in ”08, 3-7 in ”09, 2-8 in ”10 and 0-10 last season.
Swett”s 2012 season didn”t start well either as the team dropped a 22-19 decision to a South Fork club coming off a 1-9 campaign in 2011 (South Fork lost to Calistoga 61-28 a week ago).
Holding onto the football would be a good first step for the Knights, who lost two fumbles a week ago against Upper Lake, both leading to quick touchdowns. Fifty yards in penalties against the Cougars didn”t help either.
