MIDDLETOWN — It was a break-out game for Middletown fullback Brad Beckwith and a revelation night for his coach, Bill Foltmer. Applying the theory that it”s never too late, Beckwith emerged Friday night to lead the Mustangs to a 34-0 victory over Kelseyville at Bill Foltmer Field.
Until Friday night, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder had been utilized mainly as a man for the hard yard. As a for-instance, he scored two touchdowns from the 1-yard-line and one from the 2 a week ago against St. Helena. But against Kelseyville, he proved himself a man for a lot of hard yards. Hard, in terms of brutally hard yards — 177 of them in 18 carries — against Kelseyville, plus a pair of TDs.
The most common sight of the night was Beckwith blasting through the Knight defense out of the Mustangs” power-I, making it look easy to brush off mobs of would-be tacklers tacklers and moving piles of humanity forward.
Applying the theory that it”s never too late, Foltmer conceded that Beckwith changed the face of Middletown”s offense in their eighth game of the season from a system of pony backs. Beckwith is definitely a horse of another color. If the hard-running junior was there for all this time, why hadn”t he been given the ball more regularly? As Foltmer explained it, it was a matter of evolution.
“You know we just started seeing him do that now. Scrimmages and things like that we didn”t see that early on,” Foltmer said. “Beckwith was a little slower. He didn”t get the ball more because I didn”t know he ran like that earlier in the season. He”s only a junior and he”s getting the confidence. But now it”s nice to have that big power back. You”ll see more and more of him.
“I”ve also seen him become more aggressive on defense,” Foltmer said of Beckwith who starts as middle linebacker.”
With the victory, the Mustangs” fifth in eight games, they took much of the sting out of the whipping they took last week against St. Helena”s unbeaten Saints. In that sense, it was a confidence rebuilder and reminiscent of the times when they buried their foes in a big black hole with relentless drives. To build a 21-0 lead at half, they drove 90 yards in 12 plays with Austin Benson taking it in from the 1, 79 yards in 10 plays with Beckwith running it in from the 15, and 56 yards in 11 plays with Beckwith scoring again from the 3.
With two second-half TDs, they also scored in every quarter. Backup quarterback Josiah Amos and tight end Tyler Rockwell hooked up on an 8-yard TD pass in the third quarter and reserve fullback Logan Smith rumbled up the middle for 16 yards in the final period to round out the scoring.
The Mustangs preserved a shutout when they stopped the Knights from scoring from the Middletown 3 in the final minute. It was the fifth straight loss for Kelseyville (0-5, 2-6).
With fleet-footed junior Benson contributing 130 yards on 19 carries, the Mustangs have the makings of a 1-2 rushing punch that appears to be their offense of the future.
