MIDDLETOWN — Drake Harbison certainly did his part to help Middletown secure a first-round home playoff game Friday night against the Cloverdale Eagles. All the senior running back did was rush for 145 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-20 victory in the North Central League I finale for both of these varsity football teams.
Middletown (5-2 league, 7-3 overall) learned on Sunday it had secured the No. 5 seed in the North Coast Section Division V playoff and will host St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma on Saturday at 7 p.m. in opening-round action.
“That win gives us a pretty good season,” Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said. “I thought we needed that win to feel like it was a successful season. Now we start a new season.”
Middletown tied Fort Bragg (5-2, 6-4) for second place in the league standings behind undefeated Kelseyville (7-0, 9-1).
The Mustangs scored on each of their first two possessions of the second half to turn a 19-13 halftime lead into a much more comfortable 35-13 advantage. Harbison’s third and fourth touchdowns of the game — on runs of 41 and 1 yards — accounted for the Mustangs’ scoring in the third quarter. In fact, Harbison scored all 16 of Middletown’s points in the quarter as he followed up his own TDs with conversion runs.
“Our running game grinded on them a little bit,” Foltmer said of the Eagles. “We just kept pounding and pounding and pounding them. It got easier and easier to run as the game went along.”
Cloverdale narrowed the deficit to 35-20 before the Mustangs scored again on a Harbison 6-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Nash Field’s 2-yard run later in the quarter finished off the Eagles.
“It was a big win for us and almost all of my seniors played well I thought,” Foltmer said. “They knew it might be their last home game and they responded. I’m proud of them.”
Harbison’s 2-yard TD run capped Middletown’s first possession of the game. Cloverdale answered with a touchdown to tie the score at 7, but Middletown then pushed ahead to stay on a 41-yard pass from quarterback RH Hess to Field. Harbison’s 13-yard TD run in the second quarter made it 19-7.
Middletown was driving for another touchdown late in the first half when a lost fumble set up a Cloverdale touchdown as the Eagles closed to 19-13 right before halftime.
“Instead of going into halftime two touchdowns up or even three, we were just one up after that turnover,” Foltmer said.
But that was the Mustangs’ only turnover on a night when their defense forced two turnovers of its own, interceptions by Hess and Nico Barrio.
Middletown’s junior varsity squad beat Cloverdale 38-13 to wrap up an undefeated season.
In other weekend action:
St. Helena 40, Lower Lake 30
At St. Helena, Elijah Hernandez closed out the best single season ever by a Lake County quarterback, but the Lower Lake Trojans still came up short Friday night in a season-ending loss to the St. Helena Saints, who did all of their damage on the ground.
“St. Helena is a good team, well-coached, and they run the veer very well,” Lower Lake head coach Justin Gaddy said.
St. Helena outscored Lower Lake 20-8 in the third quarter to break the game open.
Hernandez, a senior, shattered the Lake County single-season passing record with 2,779 yards, including 25 touchdown passes. He won’t reach 3,000 yards, however, as Gaddy said the Trojans would not apply for an at-large berth in the Division IV playoffs. Although they had losing records in league play (0-7) and overall (2-8), the Trojans were playoff eligible because they went 1-0 against other Division IV teams during the season (they beat El Molino 29-27 way back in Week 2).
“I made that choice,” Gaddy said.
Against St. Helena, Hernandez completed 19 of 36 passes for 345 yards, including TD passes of 37 and 29 yards to Darian James, and 29 yards to Adam Deleon. Running back Aries Brooke also threw a touchdown pass, hooking up with Diego Gonzalez on a 78-yard bomb in the first quarter for Lower Lake’s first points.
James finished four catches for 141 yards and Gonzalez had four receptions for 124 yards.
On defense, Deleon led the way with 19 solo tackles while Forrest Fowler had 17. Deleon also intercepted a pass.
Though Lower Lake failed to win a game after going 2-1 in the preseason, Gaddy said the Trojans fought hard to the end.
“It was a tough year but it’s a great group,” he said. “Tonight we played clean and hard football all the way to the end. We kept fighting the whole way … it was beautiful.”
Lower Lake’s JVs closed their season with a 43-6 win over St. Helena.
Upper Lake 40, Crystal Springs 18
At Hillsborough, despite four red-zone turnovers, the Upper Lake Cougars rolled past Crystal Springs Upland in an eight-man non-league game Saturday to close out the regular season.
Upper Lake finishes 3-1 in the NCL III North and 4-6 overall. Better yet, the Cougars end the regular season with a three-game winning streak and will roll into Tomales this coming Friday night as the No. 5 seed in the inaugural NCS eight-man playoffs. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
While Upper Lake turned the ball over five times in its win over Crystal Springs, including four lost fumbles in the red zone, the Cougars forced five turnovers of their own, two directly leading to scores. Russell Gordon recovered a fumble in the end zone in the third quarter to give Upper Lake 28-6 lead and Dylan Armstrong had a 40-yard interception return for a TD in the fourth quarter.
“Our defense did a really good job,” Upper Lake coach Vince Moran said.
Upper Lake’s pass rush constantly harassed Crystal Springs’ quarterback. Jonathan Theissen registered three sacks and had several quarterback hurries.
“JT brought pressure all day,” Moran said. “He also forced a fumble and dropped a running back for a six-yard loss. He was bringing it all day.”
Crystal Springs grabbed an early 6-0 lead that Upper Lake erased on Bradley Sneathen’s 8-yard touchdown run and Amante Wyman’s two-point conversion run in the first quarter. It was pretty much all Upper Lake the rest of the way, according to Moran.
“We went right down the field on our first drive but dropped four passes, a couple of them in the end zone, and ended up turning the ball over on downs at their 2-yard line,” Moran said. “After that we did pretty well.”
Upper Lake had a 22-6 lead by halftime thanks to a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ray Moran to running back Hank Nevarez, and a Moran 9-yard TD run, both scores coming in the second quarter.
Gordon’s fumble recovery for a TD made it 28-6 in the third quarter. Upper Lake kept the pressure on in the fourth quarter as Moran and Nevarez hooked up on a 31-yard scoring pass. Armstrong’s pick-six interception return sealed the victory.
Moran completed 7 of 14 passes for 142 yards and also ran for 32 yards. Nevarez had another big day as well, catching four passes for 104 yards and rushing for 86 additional yards.
“I think we’re in the best spot possible as far as the playoffs go,” Moran said. “And we’re at full strength for the first time in a long time.”
