LAKE COUNTY >> If you go by straight seeding, two of Lake County”s three playoff-bound football teams won”t be around after tonight. The Lower Lake Trojans and Kelseyville Knights each face formidable tasks as they hit the road for North Coast Section first-round games in Division IV.
Both 5-5 during the regular season, Lower Lake plays Humboldt-Del Norte League Big 5 champion Del Norte High School (8-2) in Crescent City — a trip of 284.3 miles — while Kelseyville faces a short trip over Mount St. Helena to take on Justin-Siena (7-3).
In other playoff action this weekend, Middletown (7-3), the No. 4 seed in the Division V field, is home Saturday night to play No. 13 Tomales (7-3) in a game matching two of the section”s longest-tenured coaches — Middletown”s Bill Foltmer (30 seasons) and Tomales” Leon Feliciano (19 seasons). In fact, Feliciano announced his retirement earlier this week, so Saturday”s game at Bill Foltmer Field could mark his coaching farewell.
All three games kick off at 7 p.m.
Lower Lake
The last time Lower Lake won a playoff game (1992), head coach Justin Gaddy was in junior high. Gaddy hopes to update the Trojans” postseason victory resume against the Warriors (8-2), who roll into tonight”s game the winner of six in a row. Since dropping back-to-back games to Yreka, 42-36, and St. Bernard (Eureka) in September, Del Norte hasn”t come close to losing.
Before the Trojans can even take the field against the Warriors, they”ll have to travel some five hours and change by bus just to reach Crescent City.
“We”re leaving at 8 a.m. with a lot of stops along the way,” Gaddy said. “The parents have a barbecue planned for us once we get there, so there will be a lot of good food.”
While the original plan was to leave for Lower Lake right after tonight”s game, things have since changed.
“We will spend the night and leave 8 a.m. the next morning, so we”ll be rested,” Gaddy said.
Lower Lake”s second-year coach said the school”s staff, and especially principal Jessica Taliaferro, were instrumental in organizing the overnight trip, thereby freeing up the coaches to spend as much time possible preparing for the game.
“I like to plan ahead and you can”t do that (in the playoffs) until you know who you”re playing, so I”ve had a busy week,” Gaddy said. “I wake up at 2 or 3 (a.m.) to watch film. I got to school today (Thursday) at 5 (a.m.).
“I”m lucky to have the principal and our school staff work on all the details,” he said. “It has been a great help.”
The Warriors” success this season is no surprise, according to Gaddy.
“They are a group of kids who have grown up together and played together for a number of years, which is a good thing,” he said. “They went undefeated in a tough league.”
Del Norte is a team that scores a lot of points and Gaddy said Lower Lake”s defense needs to “step up” and play its best game of the season.
“Their quarterback (Steven Maready) always has his eyes down the field, like the Fort Bragg quarterback, but he also reminds me of St. Helena”s quarterback in that he”s shifty and once he starts moving in the open field, he”s a lot like our quarterback (Isazah King).”
Maready has a trio of players he enjoys throwing the ball to: wide receivers Austin Healy and Adrian Henderson and running back Chad Bell.
Neither No. 5 seed Del Norte or No. 12 Lower Lake are lacking for team speed, which means a soggy field from recent rainfall could affect both clubs.
Gaddy said preparing for the Warriors in practice this week was made easier because the Trojans have promoted 13 players — 10 sophomores and three freshmen — from their junior varsity squad. Freshman quarterback Hokulani Wickard ran the scout squad in practice and was able to do a good job of simulating the Del Norte quarterback, according to Gaddy.
“That”s a big advantage,” Gaddy said.
“The main thing is we play well. It”s all about how you”re playing at the end of the year and we”re playing our best football right now,” Gaddy added.
Kelseyville
The Knights won”t have to travel as far as Lower Lake for their first-round game, but that won”t make their task of beating No. 3 seed Justin-Siena any easier.
The Braves not only held their own in the MCAL this season, but they are battle tested outside of league. Two of their three losses came in the preseason against Piedmont, 24-14, and Sutter, 49-0. Piedmont (10-0) is the No. 2 seed in the Division IV field while Sutter (10-0) is the No. 1 seed in the Northern Section Division III playoffs.
Justin-Siena”s one loss in league play was 22-0 at Novato, the No. 9 seed in the NCS Division III playoffs.
The Braves also own a win, 3-0, over MCAL champion Marin Catholic, the No. 3 seed in the Division III playoffs.
“Their line on both sides of the football is their strength,” Kelseyville coach Mike McGuire said. “It”s not a huge line but it”s very athletic and very fast ? 200-210 pounds across the board. They”ve had nine different kids rush for 100 yards (in a game) this season, and that tells you about how good their offensive line is.”
The Braves are a run-first team on offense. On defense their specialty is stopping what the Knights do best, run the football.
“They want to run at you,” McGuire said of the Justin-Siena offense. “They throw the ball nine to 10 times a game. Their passing game is not up there with the running game.”
Complicating things for the Knights is the absence of 1,000-yard running back Robert McLean, who was ejected in the Knights” 16-13 loss last week in Willits. He”ll have to sit out tonight”s game. Replacing him is Edgar Ramirez, a late-season roster addition who gained 153 yards and scored a TD in the Willits loss.
“He probably would have been our starting fullback if had been with us back in August,” McGuire said. “He”s a really tough kid physically and a natural when it comes to running the football.”
In order to stay close to Justin-Siena, Kelseyville will have to do a much better job holding onto the football after turning it over three times against Willits a week ago. The Knights also were penalized for major yardage in that loss.
“We simply can”t have that,” McGuire said.
Kelseyville has promoted a handful of junior varsity players to help plug some of the holes produced by a season-ling string of injuries. One of those call-ups is sophomore fullback Aaron Teal, who should also see some action at linebacker.
While the Knights are a big underdog tonight, McGuire said it”s still an honor for his team to reach the playoffs for a second straight season.
Middletown
The Middletown Mustangs are a huge favorite tonight against Tomales, just don”t tell Foltmer that. These are the games he worries about more than any other.
“He (Feliciano) is the master of the toss offense ? I don”t think anyone runs its better or knows it better than Leon,” Foltmer said of his Tomales counterpart. “They call it smash mouth football and that”s what it is.”
The toss involves getting as many players to the point of attack as possible. Toss offenses pull linemen, receivers and even quarterbacks to block for the ballcarrier.
If there”s a scary element to the Tomales team, it”s this, according to Foltmer.
“The last time we faced something like it (toss offense), it was against Cloverdale,” Foltmer said.
Cloverdale eliminated Middletown from the North Central League I race with a 25-7 upset win on Oct. 24 at Middletown. “Some of the things Cloverdale runs are similar to what Tomales does, but I don”t think Tomales has the personnel that Cloverdale has,” Foltmer said.
Middletown and Tomales used to play each other every season when both teams belonged to the NCL II.
“It has been a while since I”ve faced it,” Foltmer said of the toss, which can consume big chunks on the clock when run well.
“It can be very frustrating,” Foltmer said. “After we scored first against Cloverdale, they came back with a (touchdown) drive that used nine or 10 minutes.”
Foltmer said it”s important Middletown get off to a good start and score early.
“That”s one of the keys,” he added.
The Mustangs do enter the playoffs playing at a high level and a 28-13 win over Lower Lake a week ago was a good tuneup for the postseason, according to Foltmer.
“We can stop the run, we proved that against Lower Lake,” he said.
Besides keeping their season alive, a win on Saturday against Tomales guarantees the Mustangs another home game the weekend of Nov. 21-22 against either Stellar Prep or Valley Christian in the quarterfinals. Lurking down the road in the semifinals is a possible showdown with No. 1 seed Salesian.
Before that, the Mustangs need to take care of their own business first.
