KELSEYVILLE >> Talk about your fast starts. Senior running back Robert McLean of the Kelseyville Knights is averaging 204.5 rushing yards a game through the first two weeks of the 2014 schedule. Kelseyville (2-0) has benefited with a pair of lopsided wins to open the season, 42-14 over De Anza on Aug. 28 and 41-0 on Friday night against Upper Lake, a team the Knights couldn”t shake until the second half.
Here”s a look back at the first full week of the high school season, with highlights and lowlights from the four games involving Lake County teams.
Statistics
Rushing — McLean easily led the way with 18 carries for 234 yards and three touchdowns and the Knights piled up 356 yards on the ground against Upper Lake. Lower Lake quarterback Isazah King had a big night as well with 154 yards on 17 carries in the Trojans” season-opening 28-6 loss to El Molino. Middletown”s Wyatt Hall, an All-League first-team offensive lineman a year ago, gained 78 yards on only five carries, including a 50-yard touchdown in the Mustangs” 33-7 season-opening loss to Salesian. Lower Lake”s Johnny Egger had 74 yards on 11 carries.
Passing — Middletown”s Connor Armstrong completed 14 of 23 passes for 197 yards in his varsity debut against Salesian. Clear Lake”s Damian Lopez was 8 of 13 for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals” 15-13 win over Durham.
Receiving — Middletown veteran Anthonie Guzman had 10 catches for 137 yards against Salesian. Clear Lake”s Deshawn White caught six passes for 96 yards and a TD. Brendan Maninger had three receptions for 35 yards in Lower Lake”s loss.
Highlights
Special teams — Kelseyville”s Elias Alvarez went 5-for-6 on PATs against Upper Lake. He”s 11-for-12 for the season. Upper Lake”s David Lopez has taken over the full-time kicking and punting duties for the Cougars and distinguished himself in both areas against Kelseyville on Friday night, according to coach Frank Gudmundson. Lower Lake”s Isazah King returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown for the Trojans” only points against El Molino.
Too many turnovers — Middletown and Clear Lake each committed four turnovers on Friday night. Middletown couldn”t overcome those mistakes against defending Division V section champion Salesian while Clear Lake was able to beat Durham.
Momentum shifted like a tsunami — Middletown was trailing 12-7 and driving for a go-ahead score against Salesian in the second quarter Friday night when the Mustangs fumbled and Salesian returned the ball deep into Middletown territory before going on to score a touchown and take a 20-7 lead. “We had opportunities to stay in the game and couldn”t do it,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said.
Quote of the week — “We were soft. They were lacking a toughness about them,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said of his players after the loss to Salesian.
Cliche of the week — It”s hard to single out just one story. They all read pretty well.
A night”s work — Kelseyville running back Robert McLean rushed for 234 yards and three TDs, caught two passes for 24 yards and another TD, and recovered a pair of fumbles. Besides that he had a pretty quiet night.
Sack attack — Led by Cole Brodnansky”s three sacks, the Cardinals dropped Durham”s quarterback six times on Friday night. Brodnansky also had a fumble recovery. Kelseyville registered four sacks against Upper Lake.
Yellow blizzard — Kelseyville was flagged 18 times for well over 100 yards in penalty yardage against Upper Lake. Upper Lake coach Frank Gudmundson said the rain of yellow flags on both sides made it hard to establish any kind of continuity.
JV news — Clear Lake and Kelseyville both improved to 2-0 in the JV ranks on Friday night while Middletown and Lower Lake notched season-opening wins.
There were positives aplenty — Upper Lake coach Frank Gudmundson said the Cougars turned in a solid effort, especially in the first half, during their game Friday night in Kelseyville. Upper Lake trailed just 14-0 at halftime in a game Gudmundson said “everyone had us losing 90-0.” Mike Di Andrea had 45 yards rushing on eight carries for the Cougars and also picked off a Kelseyville pass. Jesse Campanero led the defense with nine tackles while Di Andrea, Junior Serrano, Charles Edmonds and Andrew Redder added four tackles apiece. “Our guys put a rush on the quarterback and pressured him.” Best of all according to Gudmundson, no one displayed a negative attitude all night, a big change from the team”s 63-0 loss to California School for the Deaf a week earlier. “Not a single player on that football field gave up. I think this (performance) is going to be huge for us. Kelseyville is a good team and the first half was a football game. We played one hell of a first half.”
Streaks — With their 21-0 win over Salesian on Friday night, the Middletown JVs have won 11 straight games. The Mustangs” last loss was 14-0 to Clear Lake on the final week of the 2012 season (Clear Lake went 10-0 that year just like Middletown did a year ago).
Week 2 preview — Lower Lake plays its first home game against 0-2 Durham while Clear Lake and Kelseyville, both 2-0, are home to face Upper Lake (0-2) and South Fork (1-1), respectively. Middletown hits the road to play Healdsburg (0-2), which should be a good measuring stick for the Mustangs as far as the upcoming North Central League I race is concerned because St. Helena beat Healdsburg 13-10 last weekend in Healdsburg.
Just for the heck of it — The Middletown girls” soccer team, now under the direction of first-year coach Amy Emerson, is off to a 3-0 start after a 3-1 victory on Saturday against Ferndale. The Mustangs face a huge test today at home against Ukiah at 4 p.m. Ukiah is coming off a 6-0 win on Saturday against Clear Lake at the Ukiah Tournament.
That”s why they call it gambling — You could have made a fortune or lost one betting on those sure-fire picks made by all those alleged experts who jam the radio airwaves before every NFL weekend. One of the best had the Cowboys covering the four-and-a-half point spread against the 49ers. Fail.
Game results — Can”t emphasize this one enough. If you call in your results, be they JV or varsity, they will appear in the paper. If you don”t, they won”t. If there”s an easier way to explain this, it escapes me.
