EUREKA >> Middletown coach Bill Foltmer made the promise. His battered, bruised, beleaguered but scrappy and forever-game Mustangs kept it.
The promise, made a week ago by Foltmer, was that no matter what happens, the Mustangs would “represent our league well” in a North Coast Section Division V quarterfinal-round playoff game.
And despite all the negatives that have swirled around Middletown this season — team-wise (Ioss of a half-dozen starters) and community-wise (the Valley Fire), the Mustangs did exactly that before bowing to the St. Bernard Crusaders 25-14 on Saturday afternoon in Eureka.
In fact, with a couple of bounces in the right direction, the Mustangs (6-5) might have won the game, which pitted a No. 2 seed against seventh-seeded Middletown. Moreover, the Crusaders, now 10-1, are the undefeated champions out of the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Five.
“You wouldn’t know it, but they’ve got six players out due to injury,” said St. Bernard coach Matt Tomlin.
Make that seven. After playing exceptionally well for a second straight week, tailback John Kelley had to sit nearly the final three quarters after sustaining a concussion. He left the game with 72 yards rushing on 10 carries.
Middletown also was without the services of speedy tailback Noah Holguin, who gained 186 yards a week before in a playoff win over Willits. Foltmer approved Holguin’s participation in a family vacation months ago and it just happened to fall on Saturday.
“The kids played hard today. As a coach that’s all you can ask,” said Foltmer. “We just got down to the point where we were too banged up. We’re down to our third tailback (Kelley). Then we lose him.”
Kelley, who scored three touchdowns a week ago against Willits, laid the groundwork for Middletown’s first TD on Saturday when he fought off three tacklers on 13-yard run that took the ball to the 32-yard-line.
The run was key to an eight-play drive that covered 64 yards and gave Middletown a 7-0 lead on fullback Ty Chorjel’s 1-yard run.
The Mustangs actually led twice in the game, the last time with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter just before St. Bernard’s Kaden Law made good on a 20-yard field goal that put the Crusaders up 9-7.
Middletown missed an opportunity to go back in front when a Rob Carey 22-yard field goal went wide right with just over five minutes left. Even worse, the Mustangs had reached the red zone — the St. Bernard 9 — on a well-executed 40-yard pass from Robbie Carey to Stephen Amos, but couldn’t even come away with the three points.
Amos’ play on both sides of the football made a fan of Tomlin.
“I can’t say enough about that big tight end,” Tomlin said. “I thought he was a very special football player. On defense he was a linebacker who was all over the field.”
Tomlin added his praise for the overall tenacity of the Mustangs.
“What (Bill Foltmer) does as a coach and what he means to the community of Middletown is tremendous,” he said. “We just have so much respect for Middletown. God, they gave us a game today.”
The one complaint Foltmer, who now has 31 seasons under his belt as Middletown’s head coach, had about the game was wasted opportunities.
“We were making things happen but couldn’t take advantage of them,” he said. “We had the opportunities but we came away with nothing.”
Foltmer cited a 10-play, second-half drive fueled by the rushes of Chorjel, who converted two third downs and a fourth down that took Middletown all the way to the Crusader 2 and might have given the Mustangs, who were down 19-14 at the time, an upset victory. They ended up turning the ball over on downs.
Offensively, St. Bernard had a by-the-book game – 187 yards passing and 184 yards rushing. Wide receiver Raequan Washington made two third-and-long catches to keep two scoring drives alive and quarterback Jack Rice passed for one touchdown and ran for two others as the Crusaders earned a semifinal-round meeting with HDNL-5 rival Ferndale (8-4), a 27-26 overtime winner over No. 3 seed John Swett. It’ll mark the third time the two teams have met this season.
