UPPER LAKE — Upper Lake isn’t supposed to beat the Tomales Braves on Friday night as the North Coast Section’s inaugural eight-man football playoffs kick off, not that Upper Lake coach Vince Moran is greatly concerned.
Upper Lake (4-6) is not only making a bit of history by participating in the first year of a formal playoff for eight-man football teams, but the Cougars are actually taking part in the very first eight-man postseason game under the section’s sanction. That’s because fourth-seeded Tomales (4-4) is the only top-four seed that doesn’t have a first-round bye.
“I’m sure we’re underdogs,” Moran said. “We’re kind of pumped up right now. We have nothing to lose and I think we can surprise these guys.”
The fifth-seeded Cougars are coming off back-to-back wins against Crystal Springs and Round Valley. Technically they’re on a three-game winning streak with a forfeit victory against Point Arena thrown into the mix. If Upper Lake can extend that streak to four straight with a win over Tomales, it would mean a berth in the semifinals against No. 1 seed Branson (8-1) on Nov. 10 at Branson School in Ross.
“It’s definitely a matchup of contrasting styles,” Moran said of the Upper Lake-Tomales game. “They have a big offensive line, a big quarterback and run the ball like they always have. They have good size and are a physical team.”
And that’s something the 2018 Cougars, unlike last year’s squad, are not.
“We’ll be loading up the defense to play run,” Moran said. “Offensively we’ll try to spread them out and use our quickness. By spreading that out we might be able to create lanes for Ray (Nevarez).”
Nevarez, one of the Cougars’ chief weapon on offense both running and catching the football, is coming off a big game a week ago in a 40-18 victory over Crystal Springs. He had 104 yards and two touchdowns receiving and 86 yards on the ground.
Tomales’ football program has followed a similar arc to Upper Lake’s in recent seasons. Once an 11-man power and a title contender nearly every year in the old North Central League II under former coach Leon Feliciano, the school switched to the eight-man game in 2015, the same year as Upper Lake. After going 5-4 in 2015, the Braves slipped to 3-5 in both 2016 and last season.
“This year they kind of made a comeback,” Moran said.
Tomales has been an offensive juggernaut of sorts, scoring 340 points, 46 of those in a 46-8 win over Calistoga, a team the Cougars lost to 39-20.
Action at Tomales High School kicks off at 7 p.m.
In other playoff action this weekend:
St. Vincent at Middletown
Formerly rivals in both the NCL I and NCL II, the St. Vincent Mustangs (6-4) and Middletown Mustangs (7-3) collide Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the Division V playoffs at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown.
St. Vincent dropped out of the NCL I following the 2017 season and is now an independent team. They enter Saturday’s game as a distinct underdog.
“They’re a ‘tweener school. They’re not big enough for the NCL I, but they’re big enough that they don’t want to go eight-man, that’s their dilemma,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “They have a good coach (Trent Harzog) and he’s trying to turn that program around.”
After winning the old NCL II in 2014 and finishing 7-5 overall, St. Vincent was forced to find a new league in 2015 (Bay Football League) because other NCL II schools switched to the eight-man game because of declining player numbers. St. Vincent finished 2-2 in the BFL and 3-7 overall, but wanted out of that league and rejoined the NCL I (for a second time) in 2016. The team finished 0-8 that year and 2-8 overall. It was even worse in 2017 as the Petaluma-based Mustangs went 0-7 in league and 1-8 overall, prompting their decision to league the NCL I (for a second time) and become an independent as former head coach Gary Galloway retired.
Middletown is also is kind of a dilemma going into Saturday’s home game.
“We should be the favorites, big favorites,” Foltmer said. “But we still have to go and play and take the game, it’s not like we can just go show up. I’ve been in games like this before where I end up chewing out my team at halftime because we’re not playing well.”
Ultimately the Mustangs simply need to go about their business, according to Foltmer.
“If we play the kind of football we’re capable of playing, we should win this game,” Foltmer said. “If we don’t, I’ll probably be yelling at them at halftime again.”
Middletown hit on all cylinders a week ago in a 49-20 home victory over Cloverdale in its regular-season finale.
“If we can keep focus we’ll be a force in the playoffs,” Foltmer said.
The Mustangs were brutally efficient running and passing the football against Cloverdale, led by running back Drake Harbison and his 145 yards and five touchdowns rushing.
“Hopefully we get another game like that from him again,” Foltmer said of the senior.
The No. 5 playoff seed to St. Vincent’s No. 12, Middletown is in familiar territory as is tries to reach the Division V championship game for a second year in a row.
“Basically it’s like a league tournament for me to get to the finals,” Foltmer said. “The two higher seeds on my side of the bracket are both NCL I schools (No. 4 Fort Bragg and No. 1 Kelseyville). We have to beat those teams if we want to get back there. We know those teams, but they’re also the two teams that beat us (in league play).”
Middletown enters play against St. Vincent as healthy as it can be, according to Foltmer.
“The only guys I don’t have are walking around here on crutches or in casts, so they’re not coming back,” he said. “Everyone else is ready to go.”
Kelseyville (bye)
The Kelseyville Knights (9-1), the No. 1 seed in Division V, are off this weekend and return to action Nov. 9 in the quarterfinals at home against the winner of a first-round game Friday night between Cloverdale (6-4) and Arcata (6-4) at Humboldt State University.
“I like the thought of playing a different team,” Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen said when asked about which team might be a better matchup for the Knights in the quarterfinals. “You want to see some new faces, have a new challenge. Both of those teams are tough and are going to come to Kelseyville ready to play.”
Kelseyville defeated Cloverdale 22-15 on Oct. 5 in Kelseyville. The Knights also beat Arcata the last time those two teams faced off, a 51-6 home victory in the opening round of the 2016 playoffs.
Whether the bye week is a good thing for Kelseyville remains to be seen. The Knights closed the regular season with nine straight wins, including a 44-0 blowout victory over Clear Lake last weekend in Bass Bowl IX, and were riding a tremendous wave of momentum following their league and regular-season finale.
“Physically we’re going to be in great shape, stronger than we’ve been all year,” Larsen said of one of the positives of the bye week. “The toughest part might be the mental aspect … to keep that sharpness. We’ll be healthier, but do we lose our edge? I’m confident we’ll be fine.”
The bye week will allow two players who missed the end of the regular season with injuries – Jordi Lopez (hand) and Dylan McAdon (concussion) – to return to the lineup just in time for the playoffs.
“Jordi suited up yesterday (Wednesday) and took some handoffs and looked really good,” Larsen said of the Halloween day addition that was all treat.
“Having him back was better than a full-size candy bar,” Larsen said. “McAdon could be cleared today (Thursday).”
“Having them both back builds our depth and gives us continuity,” Larsen said.
Other games
Besides Middletown-St. Vincent and Cloverdale-Arcata, other first-round games have California School for the Deaf (8-2) at Fort Bragg (6-4) on Friday night as well as Hoopa (6-4) at St. Helena (6-4) and Ferndale (4-6) at Berean Christian (4-4) on Saturday night.
The top three seeds in the Division V field – No. 1 Kelseyville, No. 2 Salesian (6-4) and No. 3 Stellar Prep (3-6) – all have first-round byes.
