LAKE COUNTY >> The good news is that all four of Lake County’s North Central League I football entries — champion Middletown, runner-up Kelseyville and third-place teams Lower Lake and Clear Lake — are moving on to the North Coast Section playoffs, which begin this weekend with first-round games.
The bad news is you’ll have to wait an extra week before Middletown (8-1), Kelseyville (7-2) and Clear Lake (6-3) take the field. All three teams received first-round byes in the 12-team Division V bracket, which means they’ll host quarterfinal-round games the weekend of Nov. 17-18. There was room for 16 teams in the Division V tournament field but only 12 teams applied. As a result the top four seeds all get the first week off to rest up for the next round. Those four seeds are No. 1 St. Patrick/St. Vincent (9-1) of Vallejo, No. 2 Middletown, No. 3 Kelseyville and No. 4 Clear Lake.
Lower Lake (7-2), a Division IV playoff team because it has a larger enrollment than its fellow county NCL I neighbors, hits the road Friday to play Piedmont in a first-round game at 7 p.m.
Division IV
If Lower Lake-Piedmont has a familiar ring to it, it’s because those same two schools met a year ago in a first-round game at Piedmont, a contest thoroughly dominated by the Highlanders, who went on to win 53-14.
Piedmont, the No. 6 seed in the 16-team Division V field, brings a 6-4 record into the game against the 11th-seeded Trojans. It was nearly an identical setup a year ago when Piedmont was the fifth seed and Lower Lake the 12th seed. Piedmont made it as far as the semifinals before losing 54-8 to Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, the eventual section champion.
If the Trojans can score the upset that eluded them a year ago, they’ll face the winner of a first-round game between No. 3 Harker (9-0) of San Jose and No. 14 Sonoma Valley (3-4) in the quarterfinals the weekend of Nov. 17-18.
The top four seeds in Division IV are No. 1 St. Bernard (10-0) of Eureka, No. 2 Kennedy (8-1) of Richmond, No. 3 Harker and No. 4 Fortuna (8-2).
Semifinal-round games are set for the weekend of Nov. 24-25. The Division IV championship game takes place the weekend of Dec. 1-2.
Division V
Middletown, Kelseyville and Clear Lake all have two weeks to prepare for their quarterfinal-round opponents. Middletown plays the winner of a Saturday first-round game between No. 7 Ferndale (4-6) and No. 10 Berean Christian (4-4); Kelseyville draws the winner of a Friday first-round game between No. 6 seed Fort Bragg (3-7) and No. 11 Willits (1-8); and Clear Lake gets the winner of a Friday first-round game between No. 5 Arcata (6-4) and No. 12 Elsie Allen (1-6) of Santa Rosa.
If Middletown and Kelseyville prevail in the quarterfinals, they’ll square off in the semifinals either Nov. 24 or Nov. 25 at Middletown, a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal-round game won by the Knights, 14-12, also at Middletown.
If Clear Lake wins at home in the quarterfinals, it could draw No. 1 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent in the semifinals the weekend of Nov. 24-25. St. Patrick/St. Vincent is gunning for a second straight Division V championship after beating Fort Bragg 49-35 in last year’s title game.
