KELSEYVILLE >> Pulling a heavy tire or pushing a weighted sled up the field might not sound like a bunch of fun — and it isn’t — but it’s among the things you do while preparing for that long and physically demanding football season staring you in the face.
Kelseyville High School’s junior varsity and varsity players were hard at work doing exactly that on Tuesday evening during the second day of practice for the 2017 season, with game action just a few short weeks away. With several veterans back this season, the Knights are plenty motivated after a solid 2016 campaign — both at the junior varsity and varsity ranks. The JVs won their second straight league title last season while the varsity tied for third place in the league standings and went 9-4 overall, the best record among Lake County’s varsity schools.
Kelseyville is in a unique position among the county schools in that it doesn’t start school under Sept. 5. Clear Lake, Lower Lake and Upper Lake are already back in school and Middletown follows suit on Monday.
“We’ll have a scrimmage and play two games before we’re back,” Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen said. “That creates some challenges.”
With several Kelseyville players working summer jobs, the Knights are holding their practices in the evenings right now to better accommodate all those conflicting work schedules.
Roster numbers through the first few days of practice for the 2017 season have the varsity squad at 27 strong and the JVs at 22.
“We’ll probably pick up a few more (JVs) before school starts,” Larsen said.
The incoming freshman class is a talented one, according to Larsen, the byproduct of a solid youth football program.
“It’s one of the hardest working class of freshmen I’ve ever seen,” Larsen said. “They work well together. They’ve been playing together and running the Wing-T (offense) together since the third grade.”
Inheriting that talent is new JV head coach Billy Shaul, who replaces Jeremy Linnell.
“I can’t thank Jeremy enough for what he did with the program,” Larsen said. “He’ll be missed and I hope he comes back.”
Kelseyville opens the season at home Aug. 25 against Stellar Prep of Oakland and hits the road Sept. 1 to play Berean Christian.
The Kelseyville team will be featured in an in-depth preview story in a future edition of the Record-Bee.
