MIDDLETOWN >> The St. Bernard Crusaders, No. 2-ranked in the North Coast Section Division V football playoffs and 9-1 on the season, stand between the seventh-seeded Middletown Mustangs and a trip to the semifinals next weekend.
Middletown (6-4), riding a four-game winning streak, squares off with St. Bernard today in a quarterfinal-round battle that kicks off at 1 p.m. at St. Bernard Academy in Eureka. The winner draws either No. 3 seed John Swett (9-1) of Crockett or No. 6 Ferndale (7-4) in the semifinals at a day, site and time to be determined, while the loser calls it a season.
St. Bernard won two very close games against Ferndale this season (41-40 in overtime and 34-28) en route to capturing the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Five championship. The Crusaders’ lone loss was a 35-14 setback to Division IV playoff team Justin-Siena of Napa back on Sept. 5 in Eureka.
Middletown’s four losses all came to playoff teams – Salesian and Berean Christian in Division V and Fort Bragg and St. Helena in Division IV.
“We’re happy about where we are,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “My kids are looking forward to it.” Middletown, a team that has overcome all kinds of obstacles this season, the biggest being the Valley Fire firestorm on Sept. 12-13, continues to play well despite a rash of injuries and player personnel losses for varsious reasons. The team will be without running back Noah Holguin, who rushed for a team-leading 186 yards as well as two touchdowns in a 47-0 first-round win over Willits last week in Middletown. Holguin will be away on a family vacation that Foltmer approved months ago.
“We tried to work it out where he could fly out of Eureka after the game, but we just couldn’t do it,” Foltmer said.
The Mustangs are also without several starting linemen, one of their top receivers and starting quarterback Connor Armstrong, lost to a ruptured spleen three weeks ago.
Despite all those losses, Foltmer and his talented staff of assistants keep plugging in new pieces and moving on like nothing has happened.
“It is what it is,” Foltmer said. “Instead of worrying about what we don’t have, we just coach up what we do have and hope it’s enough.”
Middletown rushed for nearly 500 yards in its playoff win over Willits a week ago and the Mustangs are looking for another strong effort on the ground against an athletically gifted St. Bernard squad that isn’t big.
“They’re a spread team, not a big team,” Foltmer said. “They’re not physical. They’re a team that will try to beat you with finesse.”
The key to the Crusaders is their quarterback, junior Jack Rice.
“He can pass the ball but he’ll take off if he sees a hole,” Foltmer said of Rice, who is the Crusaders’ leading rusher with 798 yards and 11 touchdowns.
As a passer, Rice has completed 138 of 250 attempts for 2,648 yards, 30 TDs and 11 interceptions.
“He’s not as good as Fort Bragg’s quarterback (Kaylor Sullivan) if you’re talking about just passing the football, but he’s still very good. He’s a better runner (than Sullivan) and he can hurt you that way,” Foltmer said.
Rice’s favorite receiver is Micha Fontenot-Comely, who has 40 catches for 889 yards and 10 TDs. However, Rice is adept at using a variety of downfield targets. Five St. Bernard receivers have more than 300 yards in catches and Rice has distributed his 30 TD passes among eight players.
“It’s not like you can just drop extra players back into coverage,” Foltmer said. “If you leave him an area to run through, he’ll take off.”
While St. Bernard is a spread team, the Crusaders do have running sets they’ll go to in certain situations, according to Foltmer.
“They run a lot of fly sweeps where they put a receiver in motion and either hand off or fake it,” Foltmer said. “In short-distance situations they’ll use three backs and run option. You have a lot of things to cover on defense when you play them.”
St. Bernard, coming off a first-round playoff bye, is averaging 48.4 points a game. Along with an explosive offense, the Crusaders gamble a lot on special teams with onside kicks and fake punts.
“They’ll run one or two trick plays a game,” Foltmer said.
On defense, the Crusaders make up for a lack of size with a lot of blitzing, according to Foltmer.
Middeltown’s advantage is its size, productive running game, strong schedule and extensive playoff experience. The Mustangs hope to make the most of all those things today.
Middletown even had the opportunity to host the game as St. Bernard made the incredibly generous offer to travel to Lake County out of respect for what the Mustangs endured because of the Valley Fire. Foltmer said he was touched by the offer but couldn’t accept it.
“We’re not going take anything from what their kids deserve. We’re a proud football school,” Foltmer said. “They have seniors too and those seniors deserve to play at home.”
