MIDDLETOWN — Middletown”s offense can run and pass. St. Helena”s offense can run and pass. Middletown plays airtight defense. So does St. Helena.
In a week two battle of North Central League I powers, both entering play 2-0 in league and 4-1 overall, the Middletown Mustangs host the St. Helena Saints on Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field. The winner continues on undefeated in league play and in significantly better shape than the loser, especially true in the case of the Mustangs who already have beaten another of the league”s top teams, Fort Bragg. St. Helena and Fort Bragg square off Oct. 25 in St. Helena.
In other week six action tonight, the Clear Lake Cardinals (2-0, 4-1) play their homecoming game against the Lower Lake Trojans (0-2, 2-3), needing a victory to stay even with the Middletown-St. Helena winner atop the NCL I standings, and the Kelseyville Knights (0-2, 3-2) travel to Fort Bragg (1-1, 2-3) looking to snap a two-game league losing streak.
In NCL II action on Saturday, the Upper Lake Cougars (0-2) celebrate their homecoming against the Emery Spartans (1-1, 4-2) in a varsity-only battle that kicks off at 2 p.m.
St. Helena at Middletown
St. Helena star running back Sebastian Segura is expected to take the field against Middletown after leaving with a foot injury early in the Saints” 44-6 win at Lower Lake a week ago. Segura probably could have returned against the Trojans, but the Saints didn”t need him as they jumped out to a 38-0 halftime lead.
St. Helena”s defense has allowed just 39 points and six offensive touchdowns in its first five games. Middletown”s defense hasn”t allowed a point since the fourth quarter of a 21-14 victory over Salesian in week one (a game the Mustangs had to forfeit for using an ineligible player although a final Middletown appeal is to be heard Oct. 26 by the section). Since then, the Mustangs have shut out, in order, Healdsburg, El Molino, Willits and Fort Bragg by a 192-0 combined tally.
Healdsburg, a 35-0 loser to Middletown in week two, handed St. Helena its lone loss to date, 16-14 on Sept. 6 at St. Helena.
While the Mustangs have made a living running the ball for a good part of coach Bill Foltmer”s 28-plus seasons at the school, they”ve got a bonafide passing attack complimenting running back Austin Benson”s considerable skills this season. Quarterback Josiah Amos could break 1,000 yards for the season tonight. He enters play 46-for-79 for 848 yards, 11 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
“This is a huge game for us if we want to control our own destiny,” Foltmer said. “Going into the season I thought St. Helena would be a big game for us and it looks like things are turning out that way.”
While both teams are alike in many ways, Foltmer said the difference, in his opinion, is another year of maturity for his players. Middletown”s 2012 roster was dominated by underclassmen.
“And Amos wasn”t even starting for us at quarterback last year,” Foltmer said. “Our kids are a year older. Last year we were starting four sophomores and (Anthonie) Guzman was hurt.”
The keys to the game for the Mustangs, at least as Foltmer sees them, are:
? Keep Segura under control. “We can”t let him have a 180-yard game,” Foltmer said.
? Contain quarterback Jack Preston, who doesn”t have Amos-like numbers but has passed for more than 400 yards.
? Prevent Preston and his top wide receiver, Gatlin Blakely, from hooking up on game-changing big plays.
? Continue a season-long trend of playing nearly penalty-free football with almost no turnovers.
Lower Lake at Clear Lake
The Cardinals have made the most of a favorable league schedule to this point, slipping past Cloverdale 20-19 and routing a winless Willits squad 53-6 a week ago. After their game with Lower Lake tonight, the Cardinals have a tough road over the final four weeks, with games remaining at St. Helena, home against Kelseyville, at Middletown and home against Fort Bragg.
“We have a chance to go 3-0 and stay even with Middletown or St. Helena, but it”s a different 3-0 by a bunch,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said. “I don”t know how good these kids can be yet. I guess we”re going to find out starting tonight.”
In Lower Lake, the Cardinals draw an opponent running the spread offense for the fourth time in six games.
“Every one has had a different aspect that we”ve had to adjust to,” Meyer said.
Containing Lower Lake”s mobile quarterback, Isazah King, will be essential, according to Meyer.
“Swarming to the ball with more than one guy would help,” Meyer said. “But they have other guys who cause problems, too. Their No. 42 (Erick Moreno) looks pretty good.”
Lower Lake completed a successful preseason at 2-1 but has struggled in its first two league games against Fort Bragg and St. Helena. The Trojans get King back tonight after he was forced to sit out the St. Helena game because of his ejection at Fort Bragg two weeks ago.
“Something good did come out of it,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said of King”s ejection. “He”s regrouped himself a little bit. He”s got a little extra edge to him. He knows there is a huge opportunity in front of him.”
Beating the Cardinals on their home turf won”t be easy, according to Gaddy.
“It”s a good team with a good collection of athletes,” Gaddy said. “They seem to pass the ball real well. (David) Mansell is a good all-around skilled athlete. (Adrian) Adams is one of the better quarterbacks Clear Lake has had in some time. We”re excited to match up against them.”
A young team for the most part, Lower Lake has played like one in recent weeks, committing too many penalties.
“I have to keep reminding myself that we are a young team,” Gaddy said. “We just need to go out there and put it out (the effort). We”ve got to come out and play and believe in what we”re doing.”
Kelseyville at Fort Bragg
It only gets tougher for the Knights as they travel to Fort Bragg to face a Timberwolf squad that is ready to inflict some misery after enduring a 42-0 pasting at the hands of Middletown last week. The Timberwolves will also have quarterback/linebacker Tyler Ashby back on the field after he missed the Middletown game following his ejection against Lower Lake two weeks ago.
Kelseyville rushed for more than 300 yards last week against Cloverdale only to lose 23-22. The Knights were done in by turnovers and 135 yards worth of penalties that wiped out two touchdowns.
A win would generate some much-needed momentum for first-year coach Mike McGuire”s Knights, who will need it when they return home next week to play Middletown.
Emery at Upper Lake
The Upper Lake Cougars will be hard-pressed to get their first win of the season Saturday against Emery, not so much because Emery is a dominant team but because Upper Lake hasn”t scored a point in either of its last two games – league losses to California School for the Deaf and Stellar Prep.
The Cougars did win the turnover battle against Stellar Prep, two to one, and they”ll try to do it again Saturday against Emery, which gives its opponents a variety of looks on offense, according to Upper Lake coach Alex Stabiner.
“They run a little bit of everything,” Stabiner said.
Nate Walker, a mobile quarterback with a good arm, has a couple of legitimate weapons in running back Ronald Kidd and wide reciever Elijah Lucy.
“He goes up for a lot of jump balls and catches a lot of them,” Stabiner said of Lucy.
Upper Lake has incorporated the remnants of its junior varsity team, which won”t play another game this season because of inadequate numbers, but it”s a mixed blessing, according to Stabiner.
“Some are ready to play at the varsity level and some just aren”t,” he said.
The Cougars are without two of their better linemen, Augie Duarte and Tyler Herman, both out with knee injuries. On a more positive health note, Ian Seevers, the team”s leading rusher who has missed the last two weeks because of a fractured hand, has been cleared for placekicking duties only.
“He wanted to do what he could do,” Stabiner said. “He can placekick and kick off. And we”ve put together a field goal team.”
