Week three games
Friday night
Middletown 38, El Molino 0
Kelseyville 36, Esparto 0
Clear Lake 38, South Fork 7
Portola 29, Upper Lake 26
Valley Christian 49, Lower Lake 0
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Five Lake County running backs rushed for more than 100 yards in week three, led by Kelseyville sophomore Robert McLean, who had 119 on 13 carries with three touchdowns in a 36-0 win over Esparto. Middletown junior Austin Benson had 116 yards and two TDs in a 38-0 rout of El Molino, Upper Lake”s Jeremy Martin gained 110 yards on 14 carries in a 29-26 loss to Portola, teammate Ward Beecher had 108 yards on 18 carries, and Clear Lake”s Andre Buendia had 103 yards and a TD in a 38-7 win over South Fork.
Passing — Lower Lake”s Richard Tucker went 8-for-14 for 152 yards in a 49-0 loss to Valley Christian. Middletown”s Ben Pike went 6-for-8 for 144 yards and two TDs against El Molino. Clear Lake”s Kenny Henninger completed 7 of 14 passes for 63 yards and a TD against South Fork.
Receiving — Lower Lake tight end Thomas Cross had five catches for 80 yards. Middletown”s Anthonie Guzman caught three passes for 51 yards. Clear Lake”s Zuhuri Manley had three catches for 41 yards and a TD.
Highlights
Special teams — Clear Lake”s David Mansell set up a pair of Cardinal touchdowns with a 27-yard punt return in the first quarter and 50-yard kickoff return to open the second half.
Defense — Clear Lake sacked the South Fork quarterback six times and forced three turnovers. Vince Rave and RaShaan Orozco had two sacks apiece. Kelseyville”s Preston Herdt recovered a fumble and had a sack. Upper Lake”s Joey Valdez had 12 total tackles in the loss to Portola. Middletown”s Anthonie Guzman picked off two El Molino passes.
Interceptions galore — Lake County teams had a combined zero interceptions through the first two weeks of the 2012 season. They made up for it with seven in week three.
Hat trick (three touchdowns) — Clear Lake”s Luke Punzalan rushed for three scores and just missed 100 yards (96) in the win over South Fork. Kelseyville”s Robert McLean rushed for three TDs, and Middletown”s Austin Benson ran for two and caught another against El Molino.
Streaks — Middletown, Kelseyville and Clear Lake have won two straight since dropping their season openers. Lower Lake is 0-12-1 in its last 13 games.
JVs undefeated — Clear Lake is 3-0 and Middletown 2-0. Clear Lake also hasn”t allowed a point.
Not bad — Middletown”s varsity won two games in a five-day span last week.
League openers — So much for the preseason. North Central League I & II action kicks off Friday with Lower Lake at Middletown, Clear Lake at Fort Bragg, Kelseyville at Willits, and Upper Lake at CSD.
It”s all gravy — Clear Lake quarterback Kenny Henninger has passed for five touchdowns in the first three weeks of the 2012 season. A year ago the Cardinals had a grand total of two passing TDs.
Two-point conversion blues — The Cougars converted just one of four against Portola in a three-point loss. Middletown and Clear Lake, both minus their kickers because of injury, fared better, Clear Lake went 4-for-4 against South Fork while Middletown went 4-for-5 against El Molino.
Lucky 7 — Middletown”s Austin Benson has seven TDs in his last two games.
Win came with big price tag — Kelseyville”s 36-0 victory over Esparto came at the expense of quarterback John Mark Reason (shoulder injury) and Dasan Vasquez (ankle injury).
Just like old times — The backbone of last year”s Kelseyville JV team, running backs Robert McLean and Kevin Duty, combined for 213 rushing yards and five TDs in the Kelseyville varsity”s 36-0 win over Esparto. Kelseyville”s JVs obviously misses those guys. They lost 41-0.
