LAKE COUNTY >> All four of Lake County’s North Central League I teams haven’t had their fill of football just yet.
Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Middletown all secured at-large berths in the North Coast Section playoffs and three of those four are in action this weekend. Middletown (7-3), the No. 3 seed in the Division V playoffs, has a first-round bye.
While Lower Lake, Kelseyville and Middletown were guaranteed at-large berths even before they took the field Friday night in their regular-season finales, the Clear Lake Cardinals had to beat St. Helena in St. Helena to qualify and they pulled off the big upset, 50-44, capping a solid regular season for first-year coach Mark Cory’s squad.
While the Division V field had room for 16 teams, only 12 qualified and five of those are NCL I schools – Clear Lake (5-5), Kelseyville (7-3), Middletown, Fort Bragg (9-1) and St. Helena (6-4). Top seeds are No. 1 Berean Christian (7-3), No. 2 Fort Bragg (9-1), Middletown and No. 4 Stellar Prep. All receive first-round byes.
The Division IV field, which includes Lower Lake (6-4), has 15 teams. No. 1 seed Cardinal Newman (9-1), the heavy favorite, has a first-round bye.
Division V
No. 9 seed Clear Lake hits the road Friday night to play No. 8 California School of the Deaf (9-1) at Fremont with a 7 p.m. kickoff. The winner advances to the quarterfinals the following weekend and will play No. 1 Berean Christian, a team the Cardinals have already faced once this season – they dropped a 42-6 decision to the Eagles back on Sept. 30 in Lakeport, a game during which Berean Christian star wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins was ejected for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Clear Lake is making its first postseason appearance since 2009.
Kelseyville will had to wait a day longer to play as it hosts the Arcata Tigers (5-5) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The winner travels to Middletown the following weekend to play the Mustangs. If it’s Kelseyville, the Knights will have the opportunity to avenge a 40-8 league loss to Middletown back on Sept. 16 in Middletown, the NCL I opener for both teams.
Kelseyville is the No. 6 seed to Arcata’s No. 11.
Other first-round games in Division V have No. 12 St. Francis (5-5) playing at St. Vincent-St. Patrick (7-3) of Vallejo on Friday at 7 p.m., and No. 10 St. Helena visiting No. 7 Ferndale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
All quarterfinal-round games take place the weekend of Nov. 18-19. Semifinals are Nov. 25-26 and the championship game is the weekend of Dec. 2-3.
Division IV
Lower Lake, the No. 12 seed, draws No. 5 Piedmont in first-round action Friday night at Piedmont. Kickoff is 7 p.m. While the teams have no common opponents this season, the Highlanders are 1-1 against other teams in the Division IV field. They beat No. 6 seed Salesian 28-27 and lost to No. 3 seed Moreau Catholic 24-21 back in September.
If Lower Lake can manufacture an upset in the opening round, it would play the winner of St. Bernard (9-1)-Healdsburg (5-5) in the quarterfinals the following weekend. St. Bernard of Eureka won the Division V state championship last year.
The top four seeds in Division IV are Cardinal Newman, St. Bernard, Moreau Catholic and No. 4 Kennedy (9-1).
Other first-round games in Division IV have San Marin (7-3) at Hercules (9-1), El Molino (5-5) at Kennedy, Swett (6-4) at Del Norte (8-2), Harker (5-5) at Moreau Catholic, and Fortuna (4-6) at Salesian.
All quarterfinal-round games take place the weekend of Nov. 18-19. Semifinals are Nov. 25-26 and the championship game is the weekend of Dec. 2-3.
