LOWER LAKE >> Not all the football milestones at Lower Lake High School are measured on the gridiron. Not anymore.
While the Trojans (1-1), fresh off a 27-18 home win over Durham a week ago, are plenty motivated heading into tonight”s homecoming game against the Upper Lake Cougars (0-3), they”re about to celebrate a victory that has nothing to do with touchdowns or points scored.
“It”s actually pretty awesome news,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said. “Grades are coming out and we”re going to have of the highest GPAs in the history of Lower Lake (varsity) football.”
If you”re thinking success in the classroom doesn”t equate to success on the football field, think again. Players who don”t meet the school”s 2.0 minimum GPA aren”t eligible to participate in athletics and Lower Lake”s recent history has been one of losing players at the grading period instead of retaining them. That”s one tradition Gaddy wants no part of as long he”s coaching the Trojans.
“The JVs didn”t do quite as well, a couple of kids are below where we want to see them, but the varsity did an outstanding job,” Gaddy said.
Lower Lake”s second-year coach is also impressed, motivated even, by the increasing community support for the school”s football program.
“It”s been a while since we”ve seen that many people show up for a home football game let alone the JV game,” Gaddy said of attendance last week against Durham. “If you”re working hard, if you”re doing your part, they”ll support you.”
Many Lower Lake businesses on Main Street have decorated their storefronts in preparation for today”s homecoming parade prior to tonight”s game against the Cougars.
“All the businesses agreed to do it, which is great,” Gaddy said. “There is a sense of pride in the community.”
In the only other game involving a Lake County team tonight, Middletown (1-1) hits the road again this week to play El Molino (2-1).
Upper Lake at Lower Lake
While the Trojans are a prohibitive favorite tonight against a winless Upper Lake team coming off a disappointing 77-0 loss a week ago to Clear Lake at Lakeport, Gaddy said the Trojans have zero room in their gameplan for overconfidence.
“Upper Lake doesn”t have many kids, but the kids left are the tough ones, the ones who want to be out there playing,” Gaddy said.
While Lower Lake”s running game, defense and special teams have done their job for the most part through the first two weeks of the season, Gaddy said the passing game still isn”t where he wants it to be and that has to change ? now.
“It”s our last preseason game and we still have kids competing for spots. We definitely need some of our receivers to step up,” Gaddy said.
Not just when it comes to catching the passes thrown by quarterback Isazah King, but also blocking.
“A lot of little things,” Gaddy said. “We need to make some plays. They did it during the summer. They need to relax and play the game the way we know they can play it.”
Working on the offense”s efficiency inside the opponent”s 20-yard line (also known as the red zone) and doing a better job when it comes to third-down conversions are also high on Gaddy”s list of things that need addressing before the Trojans open league play Sept. 26 at home against Fort Bragg. As far as the upcoming North Central League I race goes, the early schedule is not Lower Lake”s friend. After playing the Timberwolves in their league opener, they hit the road Oct. 3 to take on St. Helena.
“We have to do some things better. We”re hoping to see some of that improvement tonight (against Upper Lake),” Gaddy said.
Upper Lake has 14 eligible players for tonight”s game, and at least two will miss most of the first half for disciplinary reasons. Head coach Frank Gudmundson won”t be at the game (he had a trip planned before the start of the season).leaving the Cougars in the capable hands of junior varsity head coach Mike Smith.
“Our coordinators will run things, I”m just there to make sure it”s all coming together,” Smith said.
While the past week in practice has been a challenge of sorts following the beating the Cougars absorbed against the Cardinals, Smith said Upper Lake is simply taking it week to week and addressing personnel challenges as they come up.
“I think we”re going to make it through,” Smith said.
Upper Lake has a bye week the following weekend before opening league play Oct. 4 at home against Tomales. Since Tomales has no JV team this year, the Upper Lake varsity is likely to receive an influx of JV talent for that one game only ? reinforcements if you will.
Defensing Lower Lake”s spread offense, run by the talented King, is the task facing Upper Lake tonight.
“Their QB is tough and we”re going to have our hands full corralling that guy,” Smith said. “If we let him get outside (the pocket), it”s going to be a long night.”
Upper Lake is also looking for its first point of the season. If the Cougars get it, it will be without fullback Junior Serrano, who is taking part in another school activity.
“It”s not a surprise, we knew about it,” Smith said.
Upper Lake quarterback Mike Di Andrea is also nursing a sore back.
Middletown at El Molino
The pass-happy El Molino Lions, coming off a 35-19 road loss last week to Fort Bragg, are the second straight Sonoma County League opponent for the Mustangs, who beat Healdsburg 12-0 last Friday in Healdsburg.
“They have a real good quarterback (Steve Mori) and four wide receivers they put into a spread set, all good athletes,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “Their No. 5 (receiver Lani Gaspar) is really fast. They have a lot of team speed.”
The Lions” defense is vulnerable to the run, one area where the Mustangs hope to see a marked improvement from their first two games although Foltmer is quick to point out that both of Middletown”s first two opponents — Healdsburg and Salesian — play solid run defense.
“We”re starting a lot of juniors on our (offensive) line, so they”re not going to play like seniors right away,” Foltmer said. “But if you want to win a league championship, they have to.” Diversifying the team”s passing game is also on Foltmer”s to-do list. Quarterback Connor Armstrong has completed 23 passes so far, 19 of them to wideout Anthonie Guzman.
Cutting down on turnovers is another must, according to Foltmer. “We can”t put that added pressure on our defense.”
Speaking of defense, Middletown”s unit has played well even if that season-opening 33-7 home loss to Salesian stands out a bit.
“We would play good defense for three downs in a row and then they would bust one,” Foltmer said of the Pride. “We made some key mistakes and they took advantage of them. Overall we played pretty good defense against a very good club.”
Middletown”s shutout of Healdsburg pounded that point home, according to Foltmer.
“We”ve played two very good opponents so far and we”re going to play a third (tonight). When league comes around we”ll be ready,” Foltmer said.
Middletown hosts Willits in its league opener on Sept. 26, the Mustangs” homecoming.
Clear Lake, Kelseyville off
Lake County”s only two undefeated varsity teams get the weekend off to prepare for their NCL I openers on Sept. 26. Kelseyville (3-0) hosts St. Helena in its homecoming game while Clear Lake (3-0) hosts Cloverdale.
Kelseyville also started 3-0 last season under coach Mike McGuire before falling 42-12 to St. Helena in the league opener for both teams at St. Helena. In fact, the Knights dropped their first four league games before bouncing back with wins in their final three.
The Knights are working on two straight shutouts and have outscored their first three opponents — De Anza, Upper Lake and South Fork — by a 104-12 margin.
Clear Lake first-year coach Darin Brodnansky watched the Cardinals dismantle Upper Lake 77-0 a week ago. The Cardinals have outscored their competition — South Fork, Durham and the Cougars — 124-12.
Both Kelseyville and Clear Lake have four games against NCL I opponents before they”ll meet Oct. 24 in the Bass Bowl at Kelseyville High School. Whether one or both of those schools are still in the league title picture by that point remains to be seen.
