MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown”s Anthony Guzman, who summons up the image of a thoroughbred racehorse, was more like a workhorse on Friday night in the Mustangs” 28-13 North Central League I varsity football victory over Lower Lake.
In his last regular-season game, the versatile senior wideout and running back racked up 217 yards on 35 carries and scored three of the Mustangs” four touchdowns on runs of 13, 2 and 9 yards. He also caught two Connor Armstrong passes for 27 yards.
Guzman”s performance was a key to the Mustangs” being able to play Biil Foltmer ball-control football on Bill Foltmer Field. Middletown marched 84 yads on seven plays in the first quarter for its initial TD.
Later in the first quarter the Mustangs launched another scoring drive of 61 yards on six plays, the last of which was Guzman”s first scoring run of the night on the second play of the second quarter.
The Mustangs drove 62 yards with the second-half kickoff for another score by controlling the ball for 11 plays. And they capitalized on one of two Trojan fumbles to round out their scoring. The fumble was recovered by Cody Chorjel on
the Lower Lake 26 and Middletown moved from there to the end zone on four plays, three of them being Guzman runs. Takeaways and penalties, Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said, were the Trojans” Achilles heel.
Also contributing to the loss was Middletown”s defense against Lower Lake quarterback Isazah King. King ran for five yards for one Trojan TD and he completed a 40-yard scoring pass to James Clark for the other. But, because of Middletown”s stingy defense, he had only one carry for three yards in the second half compared to 52 yards on 11 carries in the first half.
Middletown closed out its regular season with a 5-2 league record and 7-3 overall mark. Lower Lake finishes 3-4 and 5-5.
“We had a penalty on the friggin” 2-yard-line ? a penalty away from the ball going in,” Foltmer complained. “And right before the half we let those guys go marching down the field, which is a credit to them. Coach Gaddy has done a
good job with these kids. They never gave up when they were down and they held us on the goal line and got themselves right back into the game. You gotta give credit to Lower Lake on that.”
As to what the win meant for Middletown with respect to the North Coast Section playoffs, which begin next week, Foltmer said, “Nothing. We”re right where we were before the game even started.”
