LAKE COUNTY >> It’s with heavy hearts but also equal determination that Clear Lake High School’s football players travel to Colusa tonight to kick off the 2017 season.
“It was a hard day yesterday for players, coaches, everyone at the school,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said of Wednesday’s practice session, which came only hours after many team members learned of the death of assistant coach and varsity defensive coordinator Rob Rumfelt, a Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy and former Lakeport Police Department officer who died in the line of duty while returning from a domestic violence call in Lakeport on Tuesday night.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) we had practice and in some ways we were glad to be back out there because it took our minds off everything that was happening, even it was only for a few hours,” Cory said.
The Cardinals held a short practice on Thursday so that they could attend the procession for Rumfelt, whose body was being transported from Napa County back to Lakeport. Funeral services are set for Sept. 9 at Don Owens Stadium on the Clear Lake High School campus.
“It’s a tough situation,” said Cory, who added the Cardinals need to push forward and do the best they can as they go through the grieving process together. “We will play a football game against Colusa and they’re not going to feel sorry for us.”
In other season openers scheduled for tonight, Kelseyville is home against Stellar Prep of Oakland, Lower Lake travels to El Sobrante to play De Anza, and Upper Lake is on the road against Los Molinos. Junior varsity kickoff time is 5:30 p.m. at all sites except Los Molinos where only the varsity teams play beginning at 6 p.m.
Middletown has tonight off and opens its season Sept. 1 at home against Hercules.
Clear Lake vs. Colusa
“They have a power running game,” Cory said of the RedHawks, who went 8-4 at the varsity level and 10-0 at the JV level in 2016. “They kind of run Willits’ offense, will spread it out and throw it.”
The coach of last year’s Colusa JV team, Rich Calcagno, is now the varsity coach and one of his chief weapons is his son, Shane Calcagno, a junior running back/safety.
“He runs hard, he’s fast,” Cory said. “They have another wing back who is also a good one.”
The Cardinals went 5-6 a year ago in Cory’s first season.
K’ville vs. Stellar Prep
Stellar Prep has good athletes and good team speed but might be a little on the young side in the offensive backfield, according to Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen, who said the Knights should be thoroughly tested in their opener.
Coming out of the Lake County Scrimmage last Friday, Larsen said the Knights are still a work in progress through the first three weeks of the 2017 season.
“We definitely saw we are young, we have a lot of talent but a lot of inexperienced talent,” Larsen said. “We hustled and we made a lot of mistakes.”
Those mistakes are fixable, according to Larsen, and will be addressed.
Alex Garcia makes the start at quarterback for the Knights tonight, having won the job at the scrimmage, according to Larsen.
The Knights had one game film from last season as well as scrimmage footage from this season to scout Stellar Prep.
“We need to be fundamentally sound, stay low and drive at them,” Larsen said. “We just need to get some game experience and gear up for league. We’re still learning about ourselves, where everyone needs to be.”
Low. Lake vs. De Anza
It’s a rematch of last year’s opener won 32-0 by De Anza at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake. Both teams went on to finish the season 6-5.
“They’ve very athletic, very quick,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said of the Dons.
In order for the Trojans to be competitive, they need to swarm to the ball on defense and convert third downs on offense.
“We have to show who we are when we’re in the red zone,” Gaddy said. “Last year we got the ball down there and couldn’t score.”
In fact, it was a long interception return for a touchdown by the Dons that completely changed the momentum in the 2016 meeting.
“I don’t care if we go 0-2 in the preseason because we need to see where we are as a team,” said Gaddy, who was not impressed with his team’s effort at last week’s Lake County Scrimmage. “I think our JVs did very well, but our varsity was the worst team there.”
Gaddy said the Trojans try too hard sometimes.
“We need to relax and play,” he said. “We need to trust. Trust in our training, trust our coaches, trust each other and above all else be disciplined out there.”
Upper Lake vs. Los Molinos
Shutting down Los Molinos senior quarterback Alex Russell is Upper Lake’s assignment tonight as the Cougars head up the I-5 corridor to take on the Bulldogs. The Cougars did a pretty good job against Russell a year ago during a 44-20 victory at Upper Lake, and this year’s defense appears to be much stronger.
“He’s there No. 1 weapon,” Upper Lake coach Mike Smith said of Russell, who ran for 1,327 of the team’s 2,044 rushing yards a year ago, including 11 touchdowns.
“He is fast, strong and about 80 percent of their offense,” Smith said. “They run sort of a pistol read option.”
Russell’s passing number weren’t nearly as impressive in 2016. He attempted only 58 passes and completed 25 for 344 yards, five TDs but also nine interceptions.
“He got to us one time when we blitzed,” Smith said of last year’s game.
Upper Lake players split up into two squads last Friday for the annual Red & White Scrimmage. There was a lot of defense played but not much offense as the Red team prevailed 8-0 on a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ray Moran to wide receiver Eddie Crandell in the fourth quarter.
“The biggest thing I took out of the scrimmage is that we have serious depth on defense,” Smith said. “We are going to be fine at any position if we have to sub in guys.”
The only area on the team lacking depth is the offensive line, according to Smith.
“But we still have two subs there and they will be used during a game if we need to make a change, either because someone needs a rest or someone isn’t doing the job,” Smith said.
Among the scrimmage stars were Crandell, who also starts at inside linebacker on defense, and Chris Fecht.
“His play at inside linebacker got me very excited,” Smith said of Crandell. “I was also impressed with Chris Fecht’s overall play.”
Still, it will be the play of the offensive line that determines just how well the Cougars do and how far they go this season, according to Smith.
“If we can hold our blocks just for that extra second, it can make a big difference,” Smith said. “That extra second (provided by guard Andrew Brackett in the scrimmage) set up that touchdown pass to Eddie. That was the difference.”
It also earned Brackett The Hammer award, which is awarded each week to the Upper Lake player who is making the biggest difference on the field.
