MIDDLETOWN — It wasn’t the cleanest game the Middletown Mustangs have ever played, but it got the job done.
On homecoming Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field, the Mustangs scored twice on the ground, twice through the air and once on special teams while delivering a 33-12 knockout blow to the Willits Wolverines in North Central League I varsity football action in Middletown.
“We’ll take the win, but it wasn’t one of our better games,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “We made too many mistakes. We’re going to have play better than we did tonight in our next two (league) games or we’re going to get beat.”
Middletown (4-1 league, 6-2 overall) outscored Willits 27-6 after the Wolverines briefly tied the game at 6-all in the second quarter on the first of two touchdown passes from quarterback DJ Buzzard to Jacob Arms. Drake Harbison returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to put the Mustangs ahead to stay.
The Mustangs added to their lead before halftime as Nico Barrio scored on a 4-yard run to make it 19-6.
In the second half, fullback Nash Field opened the scoring for Middletown on a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback RH Hess that included plenty of hard running on Field’s part.
“He broke three tackles, one at the 5-yard line,” Foltmer said. “It was a nice run by him.”
Harbison added the two-point conversion to make it 27-6.
Willits closed to 27-12 on a Buzzard 10-yard pass to Arms. Harbison’s 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring.
“He scored right before I was going to take him out of the game,” Foltmer said of Harbison.
Middletown’s first points of the night came on a 70-yard pass from Hess to Barrio in the first quarter.
“Fifty or 60 of those yards were in the air,” Foltmer said of the bomb thrown by Hess. “RH did a good job of finding the open guys. They were putting 10 guys in the box, trying to make us pass.”
Hess finished the night 6-for-9 for 158 yards and the two touchdowns and no interceptions. Barrio had three catches for 102 yards.
Despite Willits’ best efforts on defense to clog up the running lanes, Middletown still rushed for more than 200 yards, most of those by Harbison, who had 85 yards on 12 carries, and fullback Dillon Tingle, who had 73 yards on six carries.
The Mustangs’ defense intercepted three passes, two of them by Hess, and sacked Buzzard four times, including twice by Jared Pyzer.
While Willits had to forfeit the junior varsity game after losing several players to grades earlier in the week, Foltmer said the varsity club didn’t appear to suffer any significant losses.
“Willits showed up, their main guys were there,” Foltmer said. “They played us tough. They ran the ball hard and were physical.”
The Mustangs hit the road next Friday to take on the Fort Bragg Timberwolves. A week after that Middletown closes out the regular season at home against Cloverdale.
Cloverdale 41, Clear Lake 27
At Lakeport, on a night when Clear Lake’s offense showed up, the defense couldn’t do much against the Cloverdale Eagles.
“We struggled with the stuff they were doing,” Clear Lake head coach Mark Cory said. “Defensively it was not a good night, we didn’t get it done.”
Cloverdale (4-1, 6-2) never looked back after establishing a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The Eagles didn’t waste any time pushing in front as they took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for a touchdown. After Clear Lake went three and out on its initial possession, the Eagles moved 80 yards in five plays to score again.
Clear Lake (1-4, 1-7) answered with a long drive of its own in the second quarter, twice converting on fourth down before Treppa Marcks scored on a 2-yard run to make it 14-6.
Cloverdale came right back with a 60-yard drive capped by quarterback Shayne Turner’s 19-yard touchdown run.
The Cardinals had a chance to get right back into the game trailing 21-6. An interception return to the Cloverdale 4-yard line gave Clear Lake a first-and-goal, but the drive stalled on downs as a Darius Ford pass fell incomplete on fourth down.
The Eagles moved ahead 27-6 in the third quarter, setting the stage for a wild fourth quarter that saw the two teams combine for 35 points.
“There wasn’t much defense being played,” Cory said.
Ford, making only his third start at quarterback, connected with Preston Jones on touchdown passes of 60 and 20 yards while Marcks scored on a 4-yard run.
Unfortunately the Eagles were able to maintain no less than a two-touchdown cushion throughout the quarter thanks to a pair of Cesar Buenrostro scoring runs.
“Cloverdale’s got some good backs, but we didn’t make some tackles that we should have,” Cory said. “We made ’em look a lot better.”
Ford was certainly among the bright spots for Clear Lake. He completed six of 22 passes for 114 yards, including the two touchdowns to Jones, who ended up with five catches for 110 yards. Ford’s only interception of the night was significant as Garrett Robertson returned it for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Even so, Cory said he’s impressed with Ford’s rapid development at a position that’s not easy to learn.
“Darius is looking better and better each game,” he said.
Treppa Marcks was Clear Lake’s leading rusher with 75 yards on 25 carries.
While the Cardinals didn’t play much defense, both Jones and Rolando Amaya intercepted Cloverdale passes. Tj Marcks also had a sack.
The Cardinals play their final home game next Friday against Lower Lake.
Cloverdale beat Clear Lake 42-12 in the JV game.
