Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part series previewing Lake County’s varsity football teams. The Middletown Mustangs will be featured on Friday.
KELSEYVILLE >> If the game was draw poker, Kelseyville High School varsity football head coach Erick Larsen would no doubt like the five cards he’s been dealt as the Knights approach their Aug. 25 season opener against Stellar Prep of Oakland.
No Lake County varsity team won more games in 2016 than did Larsen’s Knights, who finished 9-4 after a solid run in the North Coast Section Division V playoffs. They beat Arcata and Middletown in the opening rounds before falling to Fort Bragg in the semifinals. In North Central League I action Kelseyville went 5-3 and tied Lower Lake for third place, with only Fort Bragg (8-0) and Middletown (7-1) doing better.
While a handful of the key players on that team have since graduated – running back/safety Dwayne Yiggins and quarterback/outside linebacker Logan Barrick being at the top of that list – the Knights return a solid group of veterans and are beginning to tap into an abundant pool of junior varsity talent that won league titles each of the last two years.
Back for his third season as the Knights’ head coach, Larsen is optimistic about his team’s chances in the upcoming season.
Offense
“We have good numbers and good depth for the most part,” Larsen said. “We’re a little light on depth with our line.”
That offensive line will be anchored by Scott Sanchez, Liam Terrell, Javante Gregoire and Saul Duran, according to Larsen, who calls that foursome his “returning, bigger kids.”
They’ll be reinforced by this year’s junior class.
“Some of our juniors will have to make a big step up,” Larsen said. “The one thing we have are some quick kids and we’ll take advantage of our faster kids. We might be younger and smaller overall but I feel we’re quicker.”
Another senior who could see time up front is Jon Vanderwall.
“He could help us at pulling guard,” Larsen said. “I’m looking for him to potentially make calls for our line protection.”
Looking for someone to assume a leadership position on that line is another key, according to Larsen. Either Vanderwall or Sanchez could be that guy, according to Larsen.
Operating behind the line at quarterback will be either Alex Garcia, a junior, or Aiden McAdon, a senior. Garcia has the advantage of familiarity with the position and the the Wing-T offense the Knights run.
“He’s been running it since the sixth grade,” Larsen said. “He’s fundamentally sound. He’s a coach on the field.”
McAdon, a varsity veteran who earned All-League honors as a defensive back last season, is a little taller than Garcia and throws a good ball, according to Larsen.
“He also brings that senior leadership, but he has no quarterback experience,” Larsen said.
Whoever lands the starting job will make his fair share of mistakes along the way, according to Larsen. “We’re going to have a new kid back there and that’s just part of the learning curve.”
Either Garcia or McAdon will hand the ball off to an accomplished and lightning-quick group of running backs in Patrick Mick, a senior, and juniors Bryan Carillo, Adrian Villalobos and Jordi Lopez. While they won’t have that bruising backfield presence of a Yiggins, Larsen likes his running backs quite a bit.
“Last year he had a good year as a sophomore and did everything we asked of him,” Larsen said of Carillo, who learned All-League first-team honors at defensive end. “Mick did a great job last year and Adrian put in a lot of time in the offseason to improve his game.”
While Yiggins was the Knights’ chief weapon running the ball last season with 1,284 yards and 14 touchdowns, Mick made the most of his 85 carries, rushing for 679 yards and seven TDs, including a team-best 7.9-yard-per carry average.
Carillo carried the ball sparingly a year ago when Yiggins as Mick received the lion’s share of carries, but he figures to play a much bigger roll in the backfield this season as does Villalobos, one of the stars along with Lopez on last year’s 9-1 JV club.
The team’s top pass-catchers figured to be Carillo, Villalobos and two players up from the JV squad, junior Zack Watkins and sophomore Zack Taylor.
Defense
While the Kelseyville offense has a lot going for it, Larsen says it’s the Kelseyville defense that may turn out to be the strength of the team. Replacing Barrick at outside linebacker and Yiggins at safety are the team’s two biggest challenges.
“I feel good about the group of guys on the line although we need to develop some guys that are off the radar right now,” Larsen said.
Developing capable backups is crucial, according to Larsen. “If it doesn’t happen, we’ll be looking for kids to go both ways.”
Larsen is excited about the progress being made by defensive backs Watkins and Taylor.
“They’ve worked hard in the offseason,” Larsen said.
Sanchez is the likely candidate to step into Barrick’s old job at outside linebacker, adding muscle to a linebacking corps that also returns Kyle Moore and JD Prescott, the team’s leading tackler last season. The aforementioned All-Leaguers McAdon at cornerback and Carillo at defensive end round out a strong unit.
Much like the offensive line, Larsen is looking for a take-charge guy on defense, a role Barrick filled a year ago.
“It might be leadership by committee,” Larsen said.
Overview
The Knights’ Wing-T offense allows them the versatility to run or pass the ball although they stayed primarily on the ground a year ago even with the veteran Barrick at quarterback. Put another way, Kelseyville gained 75 percent of its yards via the rush in 2016.
“We’re trying to become more efficient in what we do,” Larsen said of the Knights’ execution of the Wing-T. “We’ve done a good job of modifying it as we’ve gone along. We ran a pretty basic package my first year (2015) and were able to mix in a few more things last season. The more we improve it the less confusion among the kids.”
Coaching
Larsen is blessed to have a built-in encyclopedia of offensive football knowledge on his coaching staff in former longtime Kelseyville and Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper.
“He’s helping us a ton this year,” Larsen said.
And not only on offense.
“He was my secondary coach last year and I can’t tell you how much my secondary improved from 2015,” Larsen said.
Weiper also is in charge of Kelseyville’s special teams.
League race
Looking ahead to the NCL I race, Larsen said the league appears to be up for grabs for the first time in many years. Fort Bragg is the three-time defending champion, but Larsen said any number of teams could challenge the Timberwolves for the title in 2017, the Knights included in that mix.
“Lower Lake, Middletown, Fort Bragg and Clear Lake … there’s four teams right there I’ve seen do great things,” Larsen said. “And I’m not looking past St. Helena either. I think it’s wide open.”
Heading into league play, the Knights have definitely upgraded their non-league strength of schedule, dropping Healdsburg and South Fork (which is now playing eight-man football) and replacing them with Stellar Prep and Berean Christian of Walnut Creek, two schools that enter the season ranked higher than Kelseyville in preseason polls.
“We need to be tested sooner,” Larsen said with an eye to his league schedule that opens at St. Helena on Sept. 8 followed by a home game Sept. 15 against Middletown.
