KELSEYVILLE >> JD Prescott might not catch your eye if he’s standing on the Kelseyville sideline. Listed as 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds on the team roster, the senior is not exactly what you envision when you think of a middle linebacker.
And it just goes to show that looks can be deceiving. Put Prescott on a field and he’s a hard-hitting dynamo who never, ever seems to be far from the football.
“He’s Captain Konocti when he’s out there,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said of the Superman-like transformation that takes place when Prescott sprints onto the playing field. “He plays with a ton of heart. He had the game of his life tonight and he was having fun.”
Prescott and company, which is to say the rest of the Knights’ roster, worked over the Cloverdale Eagles to the tune of a 44-7 rout on Friday night at Kelseyville High School, a win that leaves the Knights at 2-1 in the North Central League I standings and 3-2 overall.
While Prescott didn’t beat the Eagles all by himself, he did outscore them. The first of his two touchdowns came on a 26-yard fumble recovery in the closing seconds of the first half, lifting Kelseyville to a 19-0 lead. He also rushed for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as a reserve running back to make it 44-0.
And that was only part of Prescott’s big outing. He led the team with 15 tackles and it was his interception – one of three by Kelseyville on the night – and 20-yard return that set up another Knights score, this time a Jordy Lopez 1-yard run late in the third quarter to make it 31-0.
“From last year to this year he’s a more disciplined player,” Larsen said. “He stopped their quarterback trap tonight and he dropped back into pass coverage on that interception. He plays complete defense this year. He’s a hustler and he’s a grinder.”
The Knights were two different teams against the Eagles (1-3, 2-4). They played a sloppy first half during which they turned the ball over twice and failed to convert on a fourth-and-short play deep in Cloverdale territory. It was only a 7-0 game until quarterback Alex Garcia, who scored the Knights’ first touchdown on a 5-yard keeper midway through the first quarter, connected with wide receiver Zack Watkins on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 1:12 left in the first half.
It appeared the half would end with the Knights leading 13-0, but Cloverdale fumbled the ball three plays later and the alert Prescott scooped it up and weaved his way into the end zone with just 41.1 seconds left.
Whereas the Knights squandered three scoring opportunities in the first half, their play in the second half was pretty much flawless. For the Eagles, it was simply a night of mounting frustration. That was never more evident than in the third quarter when the Eagles took the kickoff and held the ball for 12 plays and more than seven minutes only to come away empty as their long and time-consuming march down the field ended with back-to-back sacks.
The Knights took over on downs at their own 30 and had a 25-0 lead two plays later when running back Patrick Mick scored on a back-breaking 63-yard run down the Eagles’ sideline. Only one Cloverdale player had a shot at the senior and not until he was deep in Eagles territory.
Larsen called it the “play of the game” for the Knights during the post-game huddle and praised the blocking of his linemen..
“We ran that same play last week (in a 50-29 loss to St. Patrick/St. Vincent), we didn’t block it well and it got stuffed,” Larsen said. “This week we blocked it the right way and he (Mick) was gone.”
Of the four juniors new to the offensive line, Larsen said, “They’re starting to come together.”
So much so that the Knights chewed up a fair amount of real estate, rushing for 213 yards, 97 of those belonging to Mick.
“We played with more discipline in the second half,” added Larsen, who said he simply asked his players during halftime to “focus” on what they were doing.
They did, both on offense and defense.
The Knights’ scored a second defensive touchdown on a Luke Molinero 23-yard interception return with 1:43 left in the third quarter, pushing their lead to 38-0 and producing a running clock in the fourth quarter.
After Presoctt’s TD run in the fourth quarter, the ensuing kickoff led to the Eagles’ only points as Cesar Buenrostro motored 95 yards for a touchdown.
The Eagles finished with only 110 yards of total offense. They turned the ball over three times and quarterback James Wirt was sacked six times in all, including twice by Bryan Carillo. During one stretch in the second half Wirt was sacked on three consecutive plays.
Kelseyville remains home next Friday to play archrival Clear Lake (3-0, 4-1).
