KELSEYVILLE >> Based on the first possession for both teams Saturday night at Kelseyville High School, you might have been under the impression that one heck of a ballgame was about to follow.
And you would have been dead wrong.
While underdog Arcata couldn’t stop Kelseyville’s running game and the Knights quickly scored to go up 8-0, the Tigers passed their way right down the field to make it 8-6 a few minutes later. That’s where all the suspense ended.
Kelseyville, backed by 100-yard-plus rushing nights from Dwayne Yiggins and Patrick Mick, rolled to a 51-6 victory in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division V playoffs, setting up a rematch with Middletown in the quarterfinal round this coming Saturday night in Middletown.
Middletown blasted Kelseyville 40-8 in the league opener for both teams back on Sept. 16 in Middletown.
“They definitely exposed a number of our weaknesses the first time we played,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said of the Mustangs. “We’re excited to have another opportunity to play them. The kids are excited about having another crack at them.”
It’s a given that both Kelseyville (8-3) and Middletown (7-3), which had a first-round playoff bye, are happy to still be playing football in mid-November. Arcata (5-6) seemed happy just to get of out of town on Friday night after losing a game and its quarterback – senior Cedrick Roberts sustained a neck injury late in the third quarter and eventually was flown by air ambulance to Vacaville. There was no word on his condition as of Monday although he was moving his arms and legs while being attended to on the field by medical personnel Saturday night, which results in a delay of close to 20 minutes.
Arcata, the No. 11 seed in the 12-team field, was outclassed by Kelseyville once the Knights cleaned up some of their early pass coverage mistakes. Yiggins, a senior, finished with 115 yards, including a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, and is now Lake County’s rushing leader for the season with 1,114 yards. Mick, a junior, added 113 yards and two touchdowns of his own as the Knights secured their first postseason victory in 16 years while playing in their first home playoff game in 11 years.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better night,” Larsen said. “We made too many penalties that one time (a possession midway through the second quarter), but I was happy with the way we moved the ball.”
Up until that point there was no stopping the Knights. They scored on each of their first three possessions, drives of 57, 64 and 50 yards, helped out considerably on the first two by 30- and 25-yard Yiggins kickoff returns.
More impressive yet, the first two times the Knights scored they marched down the field using only their running game, primarily Yiggins and Mick runs but with a little bit of Bryan Carillo and quarterback Logan Barrick mixed in. Yiggins scored on a fourth-and-goal play from the half-yard line for Kelseyville’s first touchdown and Mick ran around the right side to score from 11 yards out later in the first quarter to make it 16-6.
In between Kelseyville’s first two touchdowns, the Tigers marched 70 yards in nine plays, 53 of those through the air, for their only points, which came on a Roberts 1-yard sneak.
On Kelseyville’s third possession, which started from midfield, the Knights covered 40 of their 50 yards on two passing plays, the last one a 35-yard touchdown strike from Barrick to wideout Gideon Turner, who worked his way open behind two Arcata defenders.
Kelseyville then added its third straight two-point conversion of the night for a 24-6 second-quarter lead.
The Knights’ defense also came through in a big way against the Tigers, picking off three Arcata passes and coming up with three sacks, two of those by Carillo. Of the interceptions, two led to touchdowns, the first directly as Barrick picked off a pass inside Arcata territory and smartly pitched it to the wide open Yiggins near the Kelseyville sideline. Yiggins took the lateral and raced 35 yards into the end zone for a touchdown and a 30-6 halftime lead.
Yiggins’ interception of a Roberts pass to open the third quarter snuffed out Arcata’s deepest penetration into Kelseyville territory in the second half as the Knights took over at their own 7-yard line. They went 93 yards in 10 plays, aided by a 15-yard personal foul on the Tigers, and Carillo’s 6-yard touchdown run with 7:16 left in the period pushed the Knights’ advantage to 37-6.
Yiggins’ second 1-yard TD run of the game, that late in the third quarter, made it 44-6, and Mick’s 13-yard run with 4:29 left in the game rounded out the scoring.
“We had the gameplan for these guys and we executed it,” Larsen said. “Now we need to put together a complete football game against Middletown.”
Reaching the playoffs just two years into his tenure as varsity coach, Larsen said he hopes it’s a sign of bigger and better things to come for the Knights as far as future postseason success.
“I’m hoping it’s a change in attitude and culture,” Larsen said. “I’m excited and the kids are excited. They’re starting to believe in the program, what we’re trying to do here.”
