LAKE COUNTY >> On the eve of his season opener — and that would be his 33rd consecutive season opener at Middletown — Bill Foltmer had this to say when asked about his longevity as the Mustangs’ head coach.
“I’m a little less excited for games like this,” Foltmer said of the Mustangs’ opener tonight against visiting Hercules, “but for the big games there’s no difference between when I started coaching and now. I still get up for those. I look forward to those games.”
But after all of these years is it still as much fan as it was when he coached his first game at Middletown way back in 1985?
“Every week it’s a different challenge and you look forward to that challenge,” Foltmer said. “That’s why you coach.”
Foltmer long ago passed legendary status at a school that paid him the ultimate compliment in 2010 by naming the field after him. Along the way to winning 242 games at Middletown, he also has upholstered the rafters of the Middletown gym with 18 league championship banners and four North Coast Section pennants, including NCS titles in 1997, 1999 and 2001. That first section championship team (1997), one that featured the likes of Justin Lappin, Ryan Schmitz and Rob Norris, will hold a 20-year reunion on Oct. 13 and will be recognized at halftime of Middletown’s homecoming game with Clear Lake.
Foltmer also witnessed Middletown’s transition from day to night home games back in 2001.
The Mustangs’ home game tonight against Hercules (1-0) marks the first meeting between the two schools. In other non-league football action tonight, Kelseyville (1-0) calls on Berean Christian (0-1) of Walnut Creek, and Lower Lake (1-0) hosts Esparto (0-1). On Saturday, Clear Lake (0-1) makes the long haul to Santa Cruz to play Harbor High (1-0). Upper Lake (1-0) has the weekend off and returns to action Sept. 9 in San Francisco against Stuart Hall.
Hercules at M’town
“They’re fast and athletic,” Foltmer said of the Titans, who had it all their own way in a 39-8 season-opening home win over Mount Diablo of Concord last Friday.
“They’ll throw it up and their kids will go after it,” Foltmer said of the Hercules passing game. “Their wide receivers came down with them last week.”
Running back Tashyia Smith anchored the Hercules running game a week ago with 105 yards, part of a rushing attack that finished with 233 yards. Quarterback Felix Reyes went 6-for-11 for another 145 yards and three TDs, his favorite target Emany Johnson with five catches for 115 yards and two TDs.
“They run a lot of toss,” Foltmer said. “They’re not going to hammer you with their running game, but you have to be careful with their cutbacks.”
Middletown will suit up 17 for the game, which means most of the Mustangs’ starters will be playing both ways against the Titans.
“I’ve got to get kids to give me four quarters on offense and defense,” Foltmer said.
The Mustangs are also starting three talented sophomores, according to their coach.
“James Hernandez, (Dillon) Tingle and (Jared) Pyzer are all starting for me and they’ve done a really good job in practice,” Foltmer said. “I’m looking forward to seeingwhat they can do.”
The Mustangs have done a good job avoiding the injury bug in practice so far, according to Foltmer, who said his squad needs to stay healthy this season to have a shot at winning the league title.
“This is a good group of kids, they practice hard,” Foltmer said of his players. “They take things seriously.”
As usual, Middletown’s preseason schedule is no joke. After Hercules, the Mustangs stay home to take on Berean Christian of Walnut Creek, a playoff team a year ago that is playing three straight NCL I teams in the preseason – Cloverdale, Kelseyville and the Mustangs.
“You want to play the good teams because they’ll exploit your weaknesses,” Foltmer said.
And those weaknesses can then be addressed, according to Foltmer. That was the case a year ago when Middletown opened 0-2, losing to Salesian and Berean Christian. The Mustangs bounced back to go 7-1 in league play.
K’ville at Ber. Christian
Berean Christian dropped a 14-7 decision to Cloverdale in the season opener for both teams a week ago and now it’s the Knights’ turn to see what they can do against the Eagles, who posted a 8-4 record in 2016.
“They had their chances (against Cloverdale) but were unable to take advantage,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said. “You can tell they are a well-coached group. We can’t take them lightly.”
Senior offensive guard/defensive tackle Isaac Hodgins, a Division I-caliber player, is one of the more formidable players on the Berean Christian roster.
“He’s someone you’re going to have to gameplan for,” Larsen said. “They move him around a lot. I’m looking forward to playing that caliber player.”
Kelseyville also opened its season a week ago with a 8-0 home victory over Stellar Prep (the team Cloverdale is playing this week).
While Kelseyville’s defense came up big during the game, stopping the Thunder when it counted most, the play of the offensive line wasn’t consistent enough for the Knights to sustain drives.
“Our lineman were strong with their down blocks but we were not following through,” Larsen said. “Part of that was their size and speed. We were not used to that kind of speed on the line.”
The Knights have made some changes to address that.
“When we gave Alex (Garcia) time, he was able to throw the ball,” Larsen said of his quarterback. “And when we gave our running backs a hole to run through, they were able to do something. We need to sustain those blocks a little longer. Our line really needs to improve.”
While the play of Kelseyville’s defense wasn’t flawless, Larsen said the mistakes they made can be and will be corrected.
“They made the types of mistakes I expect them to make,” he said.
Tight end/defensive end Scott Sanchez will be a game-time decision for the Knights as he sustained a concussion late in the win over Stellar Prep. Otherwise Kelseyville came out of their physical battle with the Thunder in pretty good shape.
Esparto at Lower Lake
Esparto didn’t offer much Lower Lake much of a challenge last season when the Trojans scored a 49-12 road victory and the Spartans got off to a shaky start a week ago, falling 48-8 at Pierce to open the 2017 campaign.
Lower Lake, coming off a 19-14 win over De Anza a week ago, could probably use a break given its injury status going into tonight’s game.
“We are absolutely banged up,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said.
Three starters who won’t face Esparto are middle linebacker/tight end Ray Mayo, who may not return this season because of a broken collar bone, running back/defensive back Charles Powell, and lineman Jesus Betancourt. Linebacker/running back Jordan Lott will be a game-time decision.
“I’ve never had this many injuries so early,” Gaddy said. “I’m hoping we’re getting the injury bug out of the way now.”
Lower Lake lost another player in practice this week when Chris Espinoza, one of the team’s top reserves, went down.
“I’ve already had three calls for the ambulance at practice (this year),” Gaddy said.
Gaddy gave his players a solid thumbs up after reviewing the game film in the De Anza win, but said the Trojans have plenty of things to work on and improve on.
“It confirmed things we kind of knew going in,” Gaddy said. “We show glimpses of greatness, but we have to be more consistent. We’re still making mental mistakes we can’t afford to make against teams we’re going to be facing down the road.”
Clear Lake at Harbor
Clear Lake visits a Harbor High School team that snapped a 22-game losing streak last week with a 26-20 victory over Yerba Buena. Until last Saturday, the Pirates had not won a game since late in the 2014 season.
Clear Lake (0-1) is coming off a 34-28 season-opening loss to a good Colusa club, one that had to hang on against the Cardinals after blowing a 28-6 lead.
“From the middle of the first quarter to the middle of the second quarter, we were a really bad football team and there’s no getting around it,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said. “Colusa is a good football team but we didn’t make them earn three of their touchdowns.”
Before that and after that, the Cardinals gave the RedHawks all they could handle and more.
“We played hard and didn’t give up,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said. “They just kept on battling.”
Clear Lake gave as well as it got in terms of physical play against Colusa, something that wasn’t lost on the Cardinals’ coach.
“We doled it out more than we took it, which is nice change from last season,” Cory said.
A second straight road game will also give Clear Lake a chance to escape Lake County’s triple-digit heat, with Saturday projected to be one of the hottest days of the year in Northern California.
“We’re looking at 85 degrees at game time down there,” Cory said.
Clear Lake has been able to settle back into a more normal routine this week after suffering the loss of assistant coach and defensive coordinator Rob Rumfelt on Aug. 22. Rumfelt, a Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy, was killed in the line of duty while returning from a domestic violence call in Lakeport.
While the Cardinals are still hurting to be sure, the slow healing process is underway.
“We’re getting there,” Cory said. “We were more into a routine this week for the most part.”
The Cardinals will need to keep an eye on Harbor senior quarterback Bailey Schantz, who accounted for almost all of the Pirates’ offense against Yerba Buena.
“He rushed for 253 yards,” Cory said of Schantz, who ran for three touchdowns and passed for another.
“They spread you out with five guys and he looks for somewhere to run,” Cory said of Schantz. “He’s definitely their best athlete.”
The Pirates also like to bring a lot of players to the line of scrimmage on defense.
“They’ll have two down guys and bring four or five others up to the line,” Cory said. “They’ll drop a couple back. I haven’t seen a lot of that. It’s interesting.”
Harbor’s defense figures to have its hands full against Clear Lake quarterback Alex Adams, who passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns against Colusa.
