MIDDLETOWN >> A lot has changed since these two teams last met on Oct. 2 in Willits.
Middletown, just a few weeks removed from the destructive Valley Fire, was 1-2 and coming off its first win of the season. Willits was 4-0 and riding high, having dominated three preseason opponents and fresh off a North Central League I-opening win over Kelseyville.
When Middletown and Willits meet up again Friday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division V playoffs, two completely different teams will take the field. Willits limps into the playoff opener at 5-5, a loser of five of its last six. Middletown is 5-4 and a winner of three straight – in fact the Mustangs are undefeated (3-0) since former Steelers head coaching great Bill Cowher visited the campus last month to deliver words of encouragement to the Middletown community — as well as the Mustangs — in the wake of the Valley Fire.
There are other changes as well. Middletown’s starting quarterback is no longer veteran Connor Armstrong, who is out for the season with an injury. The Mustangs will go with backup Rob Carey, a former QB at the junior varsity level. Other changes include several Middletown players out with injuries and others no longer with the team for various reasons.
Carey will be handing off to the likes of halfbacks Nate Holguin, John Kelley and fullback Ty Chorjel, who figure to get the bulk of the carries tonight.
With Carey making his first start at quarterback since Armstrong was injured two weeks ago in a 13-0 win at Cloverdale (the Mustangs had a forfeit win last week against Clear Lake), is Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer concerned the Willits defense will put extra men in the box to slow down a Mustangs running game that pulverized the Wolverines 43-8 early last month at Maize Field?
The answer is a definite no.
“What’s different about that?” Foltmer said. “We prepare for that all the time anyway.”
While Foltmer doesn’t like the thought of playing a team from his own league in a first-round game, he said it’s a small negative outweighed by other positives for the Mustangs.
“I don’t think any coach enjoys playing a team a second time in the same season, but it is what it is,” Foltmer said. “But I think we got a good draw (for the first round) and I like our bracket … we’re away from Salesian.”
Salesian of Richmond, the No. 5 seed and a team the Mustangs haven’t fared very well against in the postseason, is in the top half of the Division V bracket along with No. 1 Berean Christian (9-1). The top teams on Middletown’s side of the bracket are No. 2 St. Bernard Academy of Eureka and No. 3 John Swett of Crockett, both 9-1. In fact, if Middletown beats Willits on Friday the next stop is a quarterfinal-round game Nov. 21 at St. Bernard Academy in Eureka at 1 p.m.
Of course, the biggest positive of all for the Mustangs is opening the playoffs at home. As the No. 7 seed, they easily could have found themselves on the road in other seasons when Division V wasn’t a 16-team tournament.
The Mustangs will be without four of their bigger players tonight, including linemen Antonio Vargas, Henry Webb and Josh Rebolledo, all nursing injuries.
Because only 11 teams qualified for the Division V playoffs this season, the top five seeds all have first-round byes. The only other first-round games besides Middletown-Willits are Stellar Prep (6-3) at Cloverdale (7-3) tonight and Livermore Valley Charter (5-4) at Ferndale (6-4) on Saturday. Berean Christian draws the Cloverdale-Stellar Prep winner in the quarterfinals and John Swett gets the Ferndale-Livermore winner. Another quarterfinal is already set between Salesian (4-6) at Valley Christian (8-2). All quarterfinal games take place the weekend of Nov. 20-21. Semifinals are the weekend of Nov. 27-28 and the championship game will be either Dec. 4 or Dec. 5.
