LAKE COUNTY >> A sense of normalcy has returned to a Middletown High School football program even if day-to-day life in the southern half of Lake County is still dealing with the the massive fallout from the devastating Valley Fire.
“This week, the school and the football team had a normal week even if some our players are still adjusting to life at home,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “I still have one player living in a campground, so that’s not normal. But as far as football life, it’s kind of back to normal.”
Such was not the case a week ago when Middletown hastily prepared for its North Central League I opener at Lower Lake, a game the Mustangs won 21-0.
“We practiced one day in our street clothes,” Foltmer said. “That (last week) was more of a community event than a football game.”
Middletown continues its Valley Fire recovery, football and otherwise, tonight in Willits against the Wolveriens (1-0 league, 4-0 overall). It’s the first of three critical games for the Mustangs in regard to the NCL I race, all three against undefeated teams entering this weekend. The other games are Oct. 9 at home against Fort Bragg (1-0, 4-0) and Oct. 16 at home against St. Helena (1-0, 4-0).
All three teams are unbeaten for a reason, according to Foltmer.
“Willits … they are big,” Foltmer said. “Their backs are big and if they are able to muscle up and play smash mouth football against us, we’re in trouble.”
Added Foltmer of what’s to come for the Mustangs, “Fort Bragg is flat out good and St. Helena is quietly kicking butt also.”
In other NCL I games involving Lake County teams in Week 5, all of the action taking place on the road, it’s Lower Lake (0-1, 3-1) at Fort Bragg, Kelseyville (0-1, 1-3) at St. Helena, Clear Lake (0-1, 1-3) at Cloverdale (0-1, 3-1), and in NCL III action on Saturday night, it’s Upper Lake (2-1) at Tomales (3-1) in what amounts to a league elimination game as both teams try and remain one game behind undefeated league leaders Anderson Valley (4-0) and Calistoga (4-0).
Middletown at Willits
“We’re not a bad football team but we’ve got some weaknesses on defense,” Foltmer said with an eye toward tonight’s NCL I head-knocker with the Wolverines, who are loaded with seniors as are the Mustangs (1-0, 1-2).
“This game all comes down to one thing,” Foltmer said. “They are big and physical and are going to come right at us. Can we stop it?”
Among the movers and shakers on the Willits offense are running backs Wil Smith (381 yards rushing) and Kyle Martinez (380 yards), quarterback Blake Leslie (478 yards passing) and versatile wide receiver Justin Thom (326 receiving yards, 171 rushing yards).
“You have to stop their powers and power tosses,” Foltmer said of the Willits running game. “He (Smith) is a load.”
Opponents often get so caught up in stopping the Willits running game that they forget about Leslie and Thom, which is a big mistake, according to Foltmer.
“Leslie has a good arm and Thom is their go-to receiver. We have to make sure we don’t forget about him,” Foltmer said.
Middletown’s running game gave a good account of itself against Lower Lake a week ago led by a pair of Coleman Drew scores. But the passing game needs to improve, according to Foltmer.
“We have to get our passing game going a little bit,” he said.
On the defensive side, Foltmer said the Mustangs were most fortunate to come out of the Lower Lake game with a shutout.
“They (Trojans) dropped a lot of passes,” Foltmer said. “It would have been a different game had they caught a few of those.”
Lower Lake at Fort Bragg
No team has a tougher task tonight than do the Lower Lake Trojans, who not only have to play a Fort Bragg team that is on quite the roll, but have to do so at Timberwolf Stadium in Fort Bragg.
“We go from playing defense against a Middletown team that loves to rush the football to one that throws it all over the place,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said of the Timberwolves, who have the top quarterback in the Redwood Empire in senior Kaylor Sullivan.
How good is Sullivan? Through four games he’s completed 108 of 170 passes for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns, nine of those to one the top wide receivers in the Empire in Lucas Triplett, who has 40 catches for 628 yards.
“Our pass rushers will really have to get after the quarterback,” Gaddy said. “And they have a great wide receiver in Triplett.”
Scoring with the Timberwolves will be a must, according to Gaddy.
“We have to have an offense that can keep up with them,” he said. “My guys are capable, but can they execute? It’s one thing to score 52 points at Elsie Allen, another to do it against Fort Bragg and in Fort Bragg of all places.” Lower Lake’s execution was clearly lacking a week ago against Middletown, according to Gaddy.
“We learned a lot about ourselves. We didn’t execute all week in practice leading up to that game and we didn’t execute in the game, either.”
A more focused Lower Lake team has done much better in practice this week and Gaddy is hoping that translates into a strong effort against a Fort Bragg squad that has outscored its first four opponents by a combined 163-28.
“We spent a lot of attention to detail this week,” Gaddy said.
Kelseyville at St. Helena
The Kelseyville Knights gave a good account of themselves a week ago in a 28-19 home loss to Willits and now have to hit the road to play a St. Helena team that finds itself squarely in the running for a second straight NCL I championship.
St. Helena mauled previously undefeated Cloverdale 41-13 a week ago in St. Helena in the league opener for both teams. The Saints are averaging 51.5 points a game.
Clear Lake at Cloverdale
Coming off a 13-6 non-league win against South Fork, the Cardinals stay on the road again this week to play an Eagles sqaud that can’t be too happy about the mauling it received a week ago in a 41-13 loss at St. Helena.
Already hurting for numbers, the Cardinals lost a couple more players this week and suited up only 13 for a Thursday practice session.
Clear Lake opened its league schedule two weeks ago with a 53-6 home loss to Fort Bragg. The Cardinals are back home a week from today for their homecoming game against Willits.
Upper Lake at Tomales
Coming off a bye week following a big 68-6 home victory against Potter Valley on Sept. 19, the Upper Lake Cougars are anxious to return to the gridiron and they’ll have to wait an extra day as their scheduled road trip to Tomales tonight has been moved to Saturday with a 5:30 p.m. varsity kickoff (no JV game).
“We’ve had two pretty good weeks of practice but the first week was a little tough because you aren’t practicing for a game,” Upper Lake coach Frank Gudmundson said. “It was easier keeping the kids focused this week.”
Tomales, just like Upper Lake and Calistoga, are former NCL II teams playing eight-man football for the first time. All three having winning records entering the weekend. The trio of old NCL II teams also have knowledge of each other from many past encounters, though it didn’t help Upper Lake much on Sept. 12 in a 54-16 home loss to the Wildcats.
Tomales has some size, just like Calistoga, but not nearly as much.
“They are running their old toss offense, something we are very familiar with,” Gudmundson said. “It’s an offense most teams don’t see and we’ll see it only once, so we’re doing things in practice this week that we won’t be doing again the rest of the season.”
While Tomales has some size up front, the team’s depth is a real issue.
“They suited up only 11 players against Rincon Valley Christian (last weekend),” Gudmundson said. “We scouted the game, but it was hard to tell just how well we match up with them because both teams kept turning over the football.”
Tomales beat Rincon Valley 34-20 while Upper Lake beat that same RVC team 36-20 back on Sept. 5 in Santa Rosa.
“They do have some big guys and the last time we played big guys (Calistoga) we had some issues,” Gudmundson said.
With Tomales having virtually no bench to call on, Gudmundson said the Cougars’ goal is to keep the Braves players moving when Upper Lake has the ball.
“We want those big guys to be running out of breath,” he said.
Upper Lake’s passing game can certainly do that. Quarterback Derek Pritchard has 442 yards through the air and 11 touchdowns in three games, which represents more than a season’s worth and then some of passing offense for the Cougars based on past years. “More like two or three seasons’ worth,” Gudmundson joked.
The Cougars have 331 yards on the ground as well in their first three games, nearly half of those from Andreas Santos (157 yards, 4 TDs).
“We’ve definitely added some more offense the last two weeks (in practice),” Gudmundson said.
While Upper Lake’s offense appears set, the question is whether the defense will respond if Tomales is able to sustain any level of physicality up front.
“I know we’re athletic, I know we’re fast, but can we handle physical football?” Gudmundson said. “We’re going to find out on Saturday.”
