MIDDLETOWN >> It was the night that the Middletown Mustangs called it a day in the North Central League I title race. Worse yet, the undefeated St. Helena Saints knocked the daylights out of the Mustangs, burying them 28-0 Friday night before their home crowd at Bill Foltmer Field.
Middletown coach Bill Foltmer did not hesitate to call it “one of the worst games we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
That’s more than 30 years.
The game, which followed a similar pattern for Middletown against also unbeaten Fort Bragg with a similar result, 28-14 last week in Middletown, will doubtless be a factor in the league race. But the Mustangs won’t be after absorbing their fourth loss against two wins for the ’15 season. They fall to 2-2 in league play.
“They just physically manhandled our defensive line, “ Foltmer said. “Our tackling and our conditioning was not there tonight.”
The Saints (4-0 league, 7-0 overall) also manhandled quarterback Connor Armstrong, sacking him four times and also intercepting him.
Larger and more physical than the Mustangs, the Saints held only a 7-0 lead after three quarters. Then they hit Middletown with everything they had.
Quarterback Dylan Martin and tight end teamed on a 75-yard pass play and scatback Niko Lopez ran it in one play after the Mustangs went for it and missed on fourth-and-eight.
To their credit, the Mustangs battled the Saints until that fateful quarter. The swarming tackling of St. Helena made the resemble a rugby match for the first three quarters. But the premium on offensive yards was hard to pay. Middletown punted seven times in the first three quarters and had only two plays that reached double digits in yardage for the entire first half.
Once more, the Mustangs made it appear that they could make a game of it by driving from their own 30 to the St. Helena 40 in the first period. But a fumble at that point robbed them of their momentum.
Fort Bragg (4-0, 7-0), plays at St. Helena on Oct. 30 in a game that could be for all the NCL I marbles.
