MIDDLETOWN >> With back-to-back wins over Kelseyville and Lower Lake to open their North Central League I schedule, the Middletown Mustangs are certainly off to the start they wanted in 2017.
The Mustangs turned back a major challenge on Friday night, beating the previously undefeated Lower Lake Trojans 28-0 at Bill Foltmer Field for their third straight victory this season and their 10th straight win over Lower Lake dating back to their last loss to the Trojans in 2007.
“Kelseyville and Lower Lake are both good teams who are going to beat other teams in this league, so I feel pretty good about that,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said with an eye toward the unfolding league race.
The Mustangs (2-0 league, 3-1 overall) haven’t won a league title since 2013. While that’s only four years ago, it’s the longest title drought Foltmer has experienced at Middletown since his first four years at the school (1985-88). Since 1988, his teams have won an incredible 18 undisputed or co-championships.
“We still have a lot of games left to play, but I like where we’re at right now,” Foltmer said.
Lower Lake (2-1, 4-1) entered play off to its best start since 1995 when Gordon Sadler, for whom the Trojans’ homefield is now named, was in his final year as Lower Lake’s coach. They won eight straight that season before finally losing to Fort Bragg. Looking for a fifth straight win on Friday, the Trojans were simply overwhelmed up front by Middletown’s offensive and defensive lines.
“Their defense did a great job,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said of the Mustangs. “They took away our running game. They were physical, they were in the right places all night and they did all the things Middletown teams do. There were no surprises there.”
“They’ve been running the ball well against other teams but I thought our defense played real well,” Foltmer said. “We got ahead and were able to back off against them, keep them in front of us. We missed some opportunities (on offense) or it could have been worse.”
How dominant were the Mustangs on defense?
— They held Lower Lake to 42 rushing yards for the game. Lower Lake ran the ball only three times in the second half, and two of those were scrambles by quarterback Hokulani Wickard.
— Lower Lake didn’t pick up its initial first down of the game until the second-to-last play of the first quarter, by which time they were already trailing 13-0.
— The Trojans moved the ball inside Middletown’s 20-yard line once, and then only briefly. After getting to the 17 late in the fourth quarter, a holding penalty backed them up.
And if Middletown’s defense was dominant, the offense wasn’t bad either although Foltmer clearly was not pleased with a handful of wasted opportunities, including a dropped pass deep in Lower Lake territory early in the second quarter that had touchdown written all over it, and especially a 71-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Luke Holt to tight end Devin Ross early in the first quarter that was wiped out by a false start penalty. The Trojans’ ended up punting.
Middletown had another touchdown called back early in the second quarter when a Drake Harbison 28-yard run was wiped out by a holding penalty, but Harbison bounced right back to score on the next play, his second of three touchdowns during the game.
Harbison, no matter how you slice it, had a giant night for the Mustangs. He carried the ball 20 times and finished with 231 yards, including TD runs of 50 yards early in the first quarter, 22 yards in the second quarter, and 60 yards in the fourth quarter.
Isaiah Moore scored on a 7-yard run to cap a three-play, 22-yard drive late in the first quarter following RH Hess’ interception of a Hokulani Wickard pass, the only turnover of the night by the Trojans. That gave the Mustangs a 13-0 lead following Harbison’s TD run earlier in the quarter.
Middletown had a 21-0 lead after Harbison’s second touchdown run, and the Mustangs were driving again until Charles Powell intercepted a Holt pass.
Lower Lake actually dominated time of possession both in the second and fourth quarters as Wickard hit a bunch of short passes, however Middletown’s sensational open-field tackling turned a lot of those completions into short gains when it appeared they would result in much bigger ones.
“Having the lead allowed us to back off a bit,” Foltmer said. “We didn’t give up the big play.”
While the Trojans were able to chip their way down the field and pick up a handful of first downs, they couldn’t sustain those possessions and eventually had to punt or they simply ran out of downs.
And the Mustangs were content, especially in the second half, to let them move the ball some just as long as the clock kept moving.
Wickard attempted 49 passes on the night and completed 29 for 225 yards. He threw 22 passes in the fourth quarter alone, but a 15-play drive followed by a nine-play drive both stalled on downs.
Middletown’s rushing attack ate up nine minutes on the clock with a 15-play drive in the third quarter that produced no points as Holt threw his second interception of the game, with Lower Lake’s Powell doing the honors again.
While Holt didn’t complete a pass to a teammate in six attempts, Middletown’s 347 total rushing yards more than compensated for the lack of a passing game on this night.
“It wasn’t all his fault,” Foltmer said. “We missed some blocks and we dropped some passes that we should have caught, and he had the one touchdown called back.”
While disappointed with the outcome, Gaddy said the Trojans won’t hang their heads.
“We’ve got to get back to work,” he said. “The kids accepted they didn’t play very well and they were positive about getting back to work.”
Lower Lake faces another tough road test next Friday in St. Helena. Middletown returns to action Sept. 30 with a road game at St. Vincent.
