LAKE COUNTY >> After back-to-back road wins to open the season, the Middletown Mustangs return to the friendly confines of Bill Foltmer Field on Friday night. Awaiting them are the also-undefeated Moreau Catholic Mariners out of Hayward.
While a battle of 2-0 and 3-0 teams might not generate a ton of attention at this early juncture of the 2018 high school football season, it has the makings of a pretty interesting matchup and also marks the first ever meeting between the two schools.
“We know we’ve got our hands full,” Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said. “They’re on a little bit of an upswing. They beat Salesian last week by 30 points. A few years ago Salesian beat them by 40. They have a very good JV team. I think for the next three or four years they’re going to be a very good football team.”
Middletown will be close to full strength after missing several starters a week ago because of their participation in the Lake County Fair. Unfortunately the Mustangs will be without starting running back Drake Harbison, who was limited to two carries a week ago against Berean Christian after straining his hamstring in practice.
“He won’t play,” Foltmer said. “One of our objectives this week is to come out of this game healthy and ready for league, so we’re not going to take any chances with him. He hasn’t even dressed down this week.”
In other football action under the Friday night lights, the Lower Lake Trojans (1-1) celebrate their homecoming against the Novato Hornets (0-2), the Clear Lake Cardinals (0-2) hit the road to take on University Prep (1-1) of Redding, and the Upper Lake Cougars (0-2) make their home debut as the Calistoga Wildcats (1-1) travel to the Northshore for an eight-man contest.
Kelseyville (2-1) is off this week as it prepares for its NCL I opener the following Friday in St. Helena.
Moreau Catholic at Middletown
Moreau Catholic used big plays to take apart Salesian 50-22 a week ago. The Mariners also own a 48-26 victory over St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo, the defending North Coast Section Division V champion now playing up in Division IV.
“They scored on two long passes, a kickoff, a punt return and on a long run, all over 40 yards,” Foltmer said. “Our job is to make them work for everything they get and stay away from the big play. Offensively we need to control the ball, slow the game down a little bit.”
There isn’t much finesse in the Mariners’ game, according to Foltmer.
“They very aggressive, very physical,” he said.
Novato at Lower Lake
It’s not often a team’s first home game of the season is its homecoming game but that’s the case Friday as the Lower Lake Trojans (1-1) host the Novato Hornets (0-2), who are playing their first four contests on the road in 2018.
Novato lost to Piner (Santa Rosa) 20-6 in week one and 35-6 to Cloverdale last week.
Lower Lake is coming off a 29-27 victory at El Molino.
“I’m glad we didn’t win by more points,” Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said. “It’s less stressful when you win by a bunch of points, but the way we held them (Lions) off, that was good thing for the team.”
Quarterback Elijah Hernandez, a first-year varsity starter, threw for 312 yards and a touchdown against the Lions while running for two more scores.
“He’s doing a good job of operating the offense,” Gaddy said. “His progress, development, footwork and leadership … he’s doing everything the team needs him to do. He’s doing a great job.”
The victory over El Molino did cost the Trojans two starting linemen. Jacob Billings is out for the season with a heel injury while Alex Castillo, the only returning starter off the 2017 team, is sidelined for up to six weeks with strained tendons.
“We need our other guys on the line to step up,” Gaddy said. “We have to be able to run the ball, we have to be able to move the yardsticks.”
Lower Lake’s running game came alive in the fourth quarter a week ago and helped the Trojans run out the clock against the Lions.
Novato, which has a new coach this season, runs some spread offense and some dive option.
“They like to get their quarterback out in space and give him the option to run,” Gaddy said.
Lower Lake’s homecoming parade starts at 4 p.m. downtown.
Clear Lake at Univ. Prep
Quarterback Chris White returns from a one-game suspension to lead a Clear Lake offense still looking for its first point of the season. Fullback Treppa Marcks is also back from an injury, but the Cardinals (0-2) will have to wait a bit longer to get back All-League running back Rodrigo Lupercio (ankle).
“He’s out another week or two,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said.
The Cardinals face an added obstacle on Friday against University Prep (1-1) as starting offensive linemen Jonathan Werner and Dominic Legender are out with injuries.
Getting the offense going after 28-0 and 26-0 losses to Colusa and Pierce is priority No. 1 for the Cardinals, according to Cory.
“We’ve got to give our defense some help,” Cory said. “We do some things well (on offense) but we’re not consistent enough at this point.”
University Prep is a spread team, a change from the physical Colusa and Pierce teams the Cardinals faced the first two weeks of the season.
“They’re a spread team, they’re gonna throw the ball, but they do like to run,” Cory said. “Up front they’re not the same caliber as the other two teams we’ve played. “They (Colusa and Pierce) are on par with the better teams in our league.”
Cory said the Cardinals will give it everything they’ve got no matter the outcome.
“These kids play hard and they’ve worked hard in practice all week.”
Calistoga at Upper Lake
The Upper Lake Cougars are finally at home after road losses to Virginia City and South Fork to open their season. The two biggest questions are can a young offensive line begin to come together and can the Upper Lake run defense slow down the Calistoga Wildcats’ powerful option attack?
“We started two freshmen and a sophomore last week,” Upper Lake coach Vince Moran said.
The sophomore, Lukas Kalawaia, went down with a knee injury and will be out for some time, according to Moran. Either Mark Dutcher or Ryan Grivette will replace him against Calistoga.
“Dutcher has more experience, but Grivette has more size,” Moran said. “We haven’t made a final decision yet.”
To address the team’s deficiencies on run defense, Moran said the Cougars have made some adjustments in practice this week he hopes will slow down the Wildcats, who are coming off a 46-6 win over Woodside Priory after opening the season with a 28-20 loss to South Fork.
Upper Lake’s field, badly in need of some maintenance the last few months, is finally getting it, according to Moran.
“There was a lot of work on the field this week,” Moran said. “It’s looking good.”
Kelseyville bye
The Kelseyville Knights, their 2-1 preseason in the books, have a bye this weekend as they prepare for their league opener Sept. 14 in St. Helena. Even without All-League running back Adrian Villalobos, who continues to heal from a collar bone injury sustained in the team’s season opener against Stellar Prep, the Knights’ offense has been ultra-productive in the early going.
“Jordi Lopez has been on fire,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsren said of his senior running back, who rushed for 161 yards and two TDs last week in a 54-22 victory over Biggs.
