LAKE COUNTY >> The North Central League I football race won”t really factor into the only two games involving Lake County teams tonight, but the all-in-the-county Week 9 matchups lend themselves to a bit of intrigue as the regular season nears the finish line.
Middletown (3-2 league, 5-3 overall) visits Clear Lake (0-5, 3-5) on the north end of the county while Kelseyville (2-3, 5-3) plays Lower Lake (2-3, 4-4) on the south end. On Saturday, the Upper Lake Cougars (0-4, 0-8) play their final home game against NCL II leader St. Vincent (4-0, 4-4).
Middletown at Clear Lake
Neither team did much on offense a week ago and it really cost the Mustangs, who fell out of prime contention for the NCL I title with a 25-7 home loss to the Cloverdale Eagles, who are enjoying their best season in years. Clear Lake also managed just one score while falling 11-8 in excruciating fashion to Kelseyville in Bass Bowl V at Kelseyville High School. While the Cardinals scored first to go up 8-0, they ultimately lost on an Elias Alvarez 36-yard field goal with no time left on the clock, that after a pass interference penalty on the Cardinals gave the Knights one untimed down and moved Alvarez into field goal range.
Middletown is still mathematically alive for a piece of the title, but don”t hold your breath. For that to happen, the three teams in front of them in the standings — Cloverdale, Fort Bragg and St. Helena — would all need to lose at least one more time and the matchups over the final two weeks of the season make that unlikely.
Clear Lake, long ago eliminated from NCL I contention, is simply trying to crack into the win column in league play after dropping its first five. If the Cardinals can”t do it against Middletown, they”ll get one more shot on Nov. 7 when they visit Fort Bragg. Clear Lake has played well on defense in each of its last two games — losses to Kelseyville and St. Helena — but the Cardinal offense has generated just a single score in each game, which makes it tough to win.
“We”re stirring the pot to see if we can find the right hole, the right receiver,” Clear Lake coach Darin Brodnansky said. “It”s definitely there. It”s just a matter of us firing on all eight cylinders.”
The Cardinals also figure to be as healthy as they”ve been in the last few weeks.
“We still have four starters out, but other kids (replacements) have made the adjustments. We”ve weathered it,” Brodnansky said.
Tyler Dore will draw the start at quarterback for the Cardinals, who are playing their final game at home.
“It”s been a good week for us. It”s our last home game, Middletown is coming here and we”re looking forward do it,” Brodnansky said.
Middletown probably won”t need much motivation tonight when it steps on the field at Don Owens Stadium, not after a tough loss to Cloverdale last week. Losing streaks are pretty much a rarity for the Mustangs under head coach Bill Foltmer, who showed a great deal of class following the loss to the Eagles by walking over to their postgame huddle and congratulating them on an outstanding performance.
“We need to concentrate fixing the things we can fix,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said.
“We need to do a better job of stopping the run, we need to play better in the secondary, and we need to do a better job on third downs,” Foltmer added. “Last week against Cloverdale they converted their third downs and we didn”t. We”ve just got to play better.”
Kelseyville at Lower Lake
The winner climbs back to .500 in the league standings and, in Lower Lake”s case, to a winning record overall. Kelseyville can equal its six-win total of a year ago with a victory at Gordon Sadler Field.
Both teams picked up some momentum a week ago with victories. Lower Lake hammered Willits 40-20 behind a 302-yard, four-touchdown rushing performance by star quarterback Isazah King while Kelseyville rallied from behind to win the Bass Bowl on a game-winning field goal. It gave the Knights a 3-2 lead and a second straight win in the series. Kelseyville coach Mike McGuire is 2-0 in his only two Bass Bowl appearances.
Lake County”s two leading rushers also square off tonight — King (1,329 yards, 16 TDs) and Kelseyville”s Robert McLean (1,038 yards, 9 TDs). King is on pace to break a handful of rushing records for Lake County quarterbacks and has at least two games remaining, counting tonight, to do it. McLean is also a decorated veteran, this being his second straight 1,000-yard season.
“That should be a fun part of the game,” McGuire said of the King vs. McLean angle.
But McGuire doesn”t look at this year”s Trojans as a one-man show, far from it.
“I think they”re one of the most improved teams in the league,” McGuire said. “They have other people making plays this year, not just one or two like last year. Their O and D lines are improved. Last year they had size but this year they have better footwork and are maintaining their blocks longer. I”m not surprised at all by where they”re at.”
McGuire said he wouldn”t be surprised if both teams end up advancing to the postseason.
While Kelseyville”s head coach runs the Knights” offense, it”s the Kelseyville defense that has been in the spotlight much of the season.
“I”m pretty excited about how the defense is playing right now,” McGuire said. “We feel good about how the defense has played most of the year. Even against Fort Bragg and St. Helena, those were tight games for the first half.”
Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy, who was ejected by game officials in Willits for arguing what he called non-calls — he claimed Trojan players were hit out of bounds on multiple occasions without any forthcoming penatlies — will have to sit out tonight”s game, which is also senior night for the Trojans.
“It”s senior night for the players and their parents, we have some traditional stuff and I won”t be there for that, which I”m not happy about,” Gaddy said.
Players and coaches ejected in a game are required by rule to miss the next game. Gaddy won”t be lurking near Gordon Sadler Field, either. “You can”t be in visual range or somewhere where they (players) can hear you,” Gaddy said.
Where will he be?
“I”ll be getting updates,” Gaddy said.
Gaddy”s assistants will run the show in his absence.
“I have good people around me and I”ve already talked to the kids about it,” Gaddy said.
A similar situation occurred at Kelseyville earlier this month when McGuire voluntarily sat out a game against Cloverdale owing to player personnel issues. The Knights responded by beating Cloverdale 21-14, the Eagles” only league loss to date.
“Sometimes that can work to your advantage because the kids rally around you,” McGuire said.
Stopping Kelseyville on offense means limiting the damage done by McLean, according to Gaddy.
“If you allow Robert McLean to run in the open field, you”re in trouble,” Gaddy said. “They have two pretty good linemen in 75 (Jason Vaughn) and 77 (Codi McGuire). It makes for some intriguing matchups against our defensive linemen, who are looking forward to facing them.”
If the Trojans win the game to go to 5-4 on the season, Gaddy said he will apply for an at-large berth in the upcoming North Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
“How exciting would that be for our community?” Gaddy said.
Lower Lake last qualified for the playoffs in 2007 and last won a playoff game in 1992.
“We are playing some of our best football that we”ve played all year,” said Gaddy, who will return tot he sidelines for the Trojans” regular-season finale Nov. 7 at Middletown.
St. Vincent at Upper Lake
After playing a tough non-league schedule and going 0-4, the St. Vincent Mustangs have waltzed through the first four games of the six-game NCL II schedule, winning 68-13 over Calistoga, 54-0 over Upper Lake, 40-6 over Tomales and 26-0 over Calistoga. They”ll clinch a tie for the league title with a victory over the Cougars, who have survived — albeit barely — a tumultuous week off the field. When they take the field Saturday against St. Vincent, they”ll have at most 12 players in uniform. In fact, there was talk earlier this week of forfeiting the game.
Upper Lake”s junior varsity squad can win the league title with a victory over St. Vincent. The two teams battled to a 40-40 tie earlier this month in Petaluma.
