LAKE COUNTY >> It’s a case of good news and bad news for fans of the Kelseyville and Middletown high school football teams.
First, the good news. Both teams are alive and kicking through 11 weeks of the 2016 season. Both teams are in the quarterfinal round (or the round of eight) of the North Coast Section Division V playoffs. Both teams are looking forward to still being around in week 12 and one of them is guaranteed a semifinal berth.
Now, the bad news. Since they play each other Saturday night at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown beginning at 7 p.m., one team is about to be added to the 2016 postseason scrap heap.
The quarterfinal-round contest marks a rematch of a league game played Sept. 16 in Middletown where the Mustangs beat the Knights 40-8 in the North Central League I opener for both teams.
For those who have been around the Lake County football scene for some time, you might remember another playoff meeting between these two teams when the stakes were considerably higher. That was back in 1999 when Middletown beat Kelseyville 17-7 on Kelseyville’s own field in the old North Coast Section Class A championship game. It was the second in a series of three odd-year section championship titles for the Mustangs – 1997, 1999 and 2001.
So much for the history lesson. The Knights and Mustangs will write a new chapter in their respective playoff histories come Saturday night. Awaiting the winner will be either No. 2 seed Fort Bragg (9-1) or No. 7 seed Ferndale (7-4). Those two schools square off Friday night in Fort Bragg.
On the other side of the Division V bracket, quarterfinal-round games feature No. 1 seed Berean Christian (7-3) against No. 8 California School for the Deaf (10-1) on Friday night, and No. 4 Stellar Prep (6-3) home Saturday night to play St. Patrick-St. Vincent (8-3).
Following are some of the highlights/lowlights from Week 11 and everything else in between:
Statistics
Rushing — Kelseyville’s Dwayne Yiggins rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns while backfield mate Patrick Mick added 113 yards and two TDs in a 51-6 playoff victory over Arcata on Saturday night in Kelseyville. Lower Lake’s Nick Sani had 66 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown in a 53-14 loss to Piedmont on Friday night in Piedmont in the opening round of the NCS Division IV playoffs.
Passing — Kelseyville’s Logan Barrick went 6-for-12 for 95 yards and a touchdown against Arcata. He also passed for a pair of two-point conversions and ran for another. Lower Lake’s Hokulani Wickard completed a touchdown pass to Ethan Watson against Piedmont, the score giving the Trojans a brief 6-3 lead.
Receiving — Lower Lake’s Ethan Watson had six catches for 45 yards. Kelseyville’s Yiggins caught three passes for 32 yards.
Special teams
Setting the stage — Kelseyville’s Dwayne Yiggins set up each of the Knights’ first two touchdown drives against Arcata with kickoff returns of 30 and 25 yards.
3-for-3 — Kelseyville’s Bryan Carillo made all three of his extra-point kicks in the Knights’ playoff win. A bad snap on another extra-point attempt prevented a kick from taking place.
Defense
Three picks — Logan Barrick, Ian Valenzuela and Dwayne Yiggins all intercepted Arcata passes. Barrick lateraled the ball to Yiggins, who ran it into the end zone from 35 yards out in the second quarter to give the Knights a 30-7 halftime lead. Yiggins’ pick stopped an Arcata drive at the Kelseyville 7-yard line early in the third quarter.
Sack attack — The Knights had three against Arcata and Bryan Carillo had two of them.
11 — The number of tackles Peerliss Brooke had in Lower Lake’s loss to Piedmont.
This and that
Kelseyville firsts — The Knights’ postseason victory over Arcata was their first home playoff game since 2005 and first playoff win of any kind since 2000.
Good night’s work — Kelseyville rushed for 321 yards and five touchdowns against Arcata.
Shutting it down — Arcata passed for 53 yards on its first possession against Kelseyville, ultimately leading to a touchdown, but had only 48 yards through the air the rest of the game.
Solid effort in defeat — Arcata junior running back Demitri Patterson finished with 106 rushing yards on 21 carries. He was the workhorse for the Tigers much in the same way that Yiggins (22 carries) was the workhorse for the Knights.
Nice rebound — The Clear Lake Cardinals fell 24-15 to California School for the Deaf in the opening round of the Division V playoffs on Friday night in Fremont, closing the season at 5-6, but what a turnaround year it was for the Cardinals and first-year coach Mark Cory. After all, a year ago Clear Lake finished 1-6 in league (tied for last), 2-8 overall, including forfeit losses to Middletown and St. Helena, and didn’t come close to sniffing the playoffs.
Speaking of rebounds — The start of the 2016-17 basketball season is just a couple of weeks away.
Just when you thought it was over — Kelseyville’s volleyball team is re-assembling after securing an at-large berth in the Northern California Division IV playoffs. Nearly half the squad was already practicing for basketball season when word came down Sunday that the Knights had made it, some eight days after they were eliminated from the sectional playoffs and nine days after holding their last practice. They play Monte Vista Christian on Wednesday night in Watsonville.
It could be worse — You could be the New Orleans Saints after losing 25-23 to Denver on Sunday when a potential game-winning extra-point kick was blocked and returned the length of the field for a game-winning two-point conversion. That hurts.
Just for the heck of it — President Donald Trump. That was no typo although the next four years will determine whether he is or isn’t.
