MIDDLETOWN >> Bryan Carillo’s two extra-point kicks accounted for the difference on the scoreboard, but it was dominant line play and a guy by the name of Dwayne Yiggins that propelled the Kelseyville Knights to a 14-12 playoff upset of the Middletown Mustangs on Saturday night at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown.
Kelseyville (9-3), the No. 6 seed in the original North Coast Section Division V field, not only ended No. 3 seed Middletown’s season but punched its ticket to the NCS semifinals on Friday night at No. 2 seed Fort Bragg (10-1). The Timberwolves beat Kelseyville 21-20 on Nov. 4 in the North Central League I finale for both teams at Kelseyville. Of course, Middletown also beat Kelseyville in league play, and by an even bigger margin — 40-8 — back in September.
“We get to play another week in November and that’s just fine with us,” a happy Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen said after watching his team rally from an early 12-0 deficit.
Larsen said he doesn’t mind it one bit that the Knights are the underdogs heading to Fort Bragg.
“Who cares now? We’re coming in with good momentum and we’re happy that we get to play football at least one more week,” Larsen said.
The Kelseyville-Fort Bragg winner advances to the Division V championship game the week of Dec. 2-3 and will meet the winner of the other semifinal game, also scheduled for Friday, between No. 1 seed Berean Christian (8-3) and No. 5 St. Patrick/St. Vincent (9-3) of Vallejo. The section winner continues on in the state playoff tournament.
Middletown coach Bill Foltmer, a veteran of many playoff runs during his 32 seasons at the school, had nothing but praise for Kelseyville following the game, which was played in falling rain about half the time. Some of the heaviest rain came down in the fourth quarter when both teams had some trouble holding onto the football.
“They had a good game plan and just outplayed us,” Foltmer said. “They did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage. They squeezed our running game inside and we weren’t able to break many big ones. They made us pass the ball and our guys didn’t execute.”
“You bet,” Larsen said when asked if the Kelseyville defense went all out to close down Middletown’s running lanes. “Look at what they did to us the first time we played.”
What Middletown did was run for 336 yards and five touchdowns while building a 34-8 halftime lead in the league meeting between the two schools. The Mustangs passed the ball only twice. This time around they had 100 yards on the ground, most of that by Ty Chorjel (82 yards on 16 carries).
Saturday’s game started out much the same way as the first meeting between the two teams but with one notable exception. Middletown scored the first two times it touched the ball, moving 63 yards in seven plays after taking the opening kickoff, then going 96 yards on 14 plays on its next possession following a Kelseyville punt. But Middletown wasn’t able to jam the ball down the Knights’ throat this time. Instead, it mixed in some clutch completions — converting three passes in third-and-long situations — to keep its drives alive. Both ended in similar fashion as Chorjel scored on a 1-yard run midway through the first quarter and on an 8-yard run with 10:10 left in the second quarter go give the Mustangs a 12-0 lead. Middletown went for two points on the conversion each time only to come up short on runs, the second time with a path to the end zone open but the Middletown player appeared to slip and fall just short of the goal line.
Trailing by two touchdowns, Larsen said there was concern but no panic on the Kelseyville sideline.
“I told them they’ve got to play as a team and that’s what they did,” Larsen said. “Middletown came out and punched us in the face. We could have folded right there but instead we answered.”
The tone of the game from that point on changed and it changed dramatically as Kelseyville’s line play, both on offense and defense, began to dictate terms; that and a heaping dose of Yiggins, who rushed for 188 of his 207 yards after the first quarter.
The Knights’ first serious scoring threat ended on downs when quarterback Logan Barrick’s scramble for a first down on a fourth-and-13 play came up short at the Middletown 15-yard line. Kelseyville’s defense then forced a three-and-out. The Knights took over at their 39 following a punt and moved 61 yards in 10 plays to get on the scoreboard. The solid drive consisted of seven runs — all of them by Yiggins for 36 yards — and Barrick’s only three completions of the game — eight- and six-yard passes to Carillo and an 11-yard touchdown strike to a wide open Gideon Turner with 1:35 left in the first half.
Middletown had time enough to answer back after returning the kickoff to near midfield, but once against the Kelseyville defense shut the Mustangs down cold, forcing another three-and-out punt.
While there were no turnovers in the first half, that all changed early in the third quarter. Middletown picked up a first down to move just inside Kelseyville territory when running back John Kelley had the ball knocked from his grasp. The ball went straight up in the air and landed in the hands of Knights linebacker Barrick, who returned it to the Middletown 36.
The Knights took the lead five running plays later when Yiggins surged into the end zone from five yards out. Carillo’s second extra-point kick made it 14-12 with 7:39 remaining in the quarter.
The rest of the game was a seriously one-sided affair even if the scoreboard didn’t indicate it. Kelseyville threatened on three straight time-consuming drives only to come away empty each time. The first of those three was done in a by a costly intentional grounding penalty that eventually led to the Knights punting the ball. On the second, Kelseyville was facing second-and-goal from the Middletown 3 when Yiggins fumbled and Middletown’s Gabe Guzman recovered. On the third, the Middletown defense stopped running back Patrick Mick just short of the end zone on a fourth-and-goal run from the 3.
“The line did a fantastic job for us, and especially the defensive line. And what can you say about Yiggins? He did fumble there, but that’s going to happen in games like this,” Larsen said of the falling rain and slick field conditions..
While the Knights were chewing up big chunks of clock with their Yiggins-powered running game, the Mustangs were at a loss to do much of anything. Other than their initial possession of the half that ended with a fumble, they never moved the ball into Kelseyville territory again. Unable to run it, the Mustangs also couldn’t generate much through the air. Although quarterback Luke Holt had a solid first quarter, completing four of six passes for 92 yards, he went just 4-for-14 for 33 yards the rest of the way.
“Their passing was scaring us a little bit in that first quarter but we took care of a few things and made some adjustments that worked,” Larsen said.
Middletown’s last gasp, a possession that started at its own 4 and made it as far as the 34, ended when Carillo sacked Holt, causing a fumble that Kelseyville’s Andreas Aceves recovered with just over a minute to play.
The Knights ran out the clock, Barrick retreating 15 yards on a fourth-and-nine play as the final seconds ticked off.
“I wish them the best of luck the rest of the way,” Foltmer said of the Knights. “They came in here and beat us in our own house. They deserve it.”
Middletown finishes the season at 7-4.
