LAKE COUNTY >> Consider it round one of a three-round title fight.
The Middletown Mustangs not only answered the bell on Friday night against the previously undefeated Willits Wolverines, but they rang it so hard the dang thing broke. Middletown hammered Willits 43-8 at Maize Field to retain a share of the league lead with two other undefeated teams — the Fort Bragg Timberwolves (2-0, 5-0) and the St. Helena Saints (2-0, 5-0) — who visit Middletown on back-to-back Fridays beginning this week. Fort Bragg will be the first visitor to Bill Foltmer Field since the Valley Fire devastated the Middletown area on Sept. 12-13, and St. Helena follows the Timberwolves to town on Oct. 16.
While the Cloverdale Eagles (1-1, 4-1) and Wolverines (1-1, 4-1) certainly remain in title contention, there is no disputing that Middletown’s quest for a championship will largely be decided in the next two weeks, and wouldn’t winning league be some small consolation for a community that has suffered so much the last month?
Middletown is 2-2 overall after losing to a pair of playoff-bound non-league heavyweights in weeks one and two — Salesian and Berean Christian.
While the Mustangs are making noise in the NCL I, the Upper Lake Cougars improved to 3-1 in the NCL III standings on Saturday night with a 44-16 victory at Tomales. Upper Lake faces a critical test at home this Saturday against undefeated Anderson Valley (5-0).
Following are some of the highlights and lowlights involving Lake County teams from Week 5 games:
Statistics
Rushing — Middletown’s Coleman Drew rushed for 179 yards and four touchdowns against Willits. Drew’s teammate, Ty Chorjel, added 75 yards and two TDs as the Mustangs amassed 353 yards on the ground. Upper Lake’s Andreas Santos and Chris Fecht, a freshman, led Upper Lake in its win over Tomales. Santos had 91 yards on 12 carries and two TDs while Fecht added 79 yards, two TDs and three two-point conversions.
Passing — Clear Lake’s Tyler Dore completed 6 of 16 passes for 88 yards and two TDs in a 48-14 loss to Cloverdale. Upper Lake’s Justin Pritchard threw his 12th TD pass of the season. Kelseyville’s Logan Barrick completed the only two passes he attempted in a 41-8 loss to St. Helena, including the first touchdown of his varsity career. Lower Lake’s Hokulani Wickard put up 37 passes against Fort Bragg and completed 17 for 195 yards, a touchdown and four interceptions in a 54-9 loss. Middletown’s Connor Armstrong was an efficient 6-for-9 for 83 yards against Willits.
Receiving — Lower Lake’s Isaiah Klein, Marlon Jones, Kono Geary and Reed Diener had three catches apiece against Fort Bragg.
Special teams
First time — Lower Lake’s Kristen Celli booted a 20-yard field goal for the Trojans’ first points against Fort Bragg, the first field goal by a female kicker in county history, according to Record-Bee records. Shelly Belmont did boot 25 extra points for Middletown in 1995, which is the last time the county had a full-time female kicker. Rob Carey made five of his six extra points in Middletown’s win over Willits.
Highlights
Defense, defense, defense — Middletown’s Noah Williams picked off a pair of Willits passes. Clear Lake’s Austin Davis recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass against Cloverdale. Andreas Santos was in on 15 tackles in Upper Lake’s win over Tomales while Noah Lyndall (12) and Tyler Riewerts (11) racked up the tackles for Kelseyville against St. Helena.
From airtight game to running clock — Trailing just 12-9 to undefeated Fort Bragg midway through the third quarter on Friday night at Timberwolf Stadium, the Lower Lake Trojans were driving for the go-ahead score before fumbling away the ball deep in Fort Bragg territory. The Timberwolves answered with a touchdown to go up 20-9 and then ran away from the Trojans, taking advantage of multiple turnovers to win in blowout fashion 54-9.
All on the road, all at home — All five of Lake County’s varsity football teams played on the road in Week 5 and all five are at home in Week 6.
Two plays, 8-0 lead — Upper Lake’s Chris Fecht turned a simple dive play into a 53-yard touchdown run on the Cougars’ second play from scrimmage Saturday night in Tomales. He added the conversion run to make it 8-0 before most fans were in their seats.
Homecoming for Clear Lake — The Cardinals (0-2 league, 1-4 overall) host the Willits Wolverines on Friday night in the annual homecoming game. Willits (1-1, 4-1) will no doubt be ready to chew steel after being embarrassed on its own field by Middletown last weekend.
Frying pan into the fire — After losing to an undefeated Fort Bragg team, the Lower Lake Trojans return to Gordon Sadler Field on Friday night to play the also-undefeated St. Helena Saints.
Advantage run defense — Tomales threw a ground total of two passes in its loss to Upper Lake.
JV kudos — Running back Patrick Mick rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns in Kelseyville’s 26-0 win over St. Helena. Middletown quarterback Luke Holt passed for two touchdowns and ran for another in a 26-0 win over Willits. Both teams are 2-0 in league.
Just a word of advice — If you’re going to call me about life not being fair to your son, daughter, niece, nephew, granddaughter, grandson, etc., in regard to their athletic endeavors … talk to the hand.
Cross country circles — Kelseyville freshman Andre Williams is off to a pretty good start, a winner of his first three high school races.
Middletown strong — Pretty much across the board, Middletown High School’s fall sports teams are kicking butt and taking names.
What makes a sport editor really happy — Finding accurate roster information — or any roster information about Lake County teams — on MaxPreps.
A giant among Giants — Retiring reliever Jeremy Affeldt wasn’t great all the time, but he was great when he needed to be.
Streaks — Middletown and Upper Lake each have two-game winning streaks. Clear Lake snapped a 10-game losing streak with its 13-6 win over South Fork on Sept. 25.
What’s good with the 49ers this season — …
What’s bad with the 49ers this season — Everything else.
Just for the heck of it — Stump, always in my heart.
