KELSEYVILLE — There might be a section championship game in Division V after all, which is music to the ears of the two Lake County coaches vying for a berth in the finals.
When the No. 1-seeded Kelseyville Knights (10-1) host the No. 5-seeded Middletown Mustangs (9-3) on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Kelseyville in the semifinal round of the North Coast Section playoffs, the winner will await the outcome of Saturday’s semifinal between No. 2 Salesian (7-4) and No. 3 Stellar Prep (4-6) to figure out what’s happening the following week. As things stand right now, a coin flip or head-to-head results will determine which of the two semifinal winners advances to the state playoffs the following weekend (Dec. 7-8). Because of the many postponements caused by bad air quality from the Camp Fire in Butte County, the North Coast Section was left without a weekend to hold championship games in several of its divisions, including Division V, leaving it up to a coin flip or head-to-head results (if applicable) to determine which semifinal winner advances to the state playoffs and represents the section.
Under the current scenario in Division V, a coin flip would decide it unless the two semifinal winners are Kelseyville and Stellar Prep, in which case Stellar Prep would automatically advance because of a 40-32 win over the Knights way back in August, Kelseyville’s only loss of the season to date.
However, a new wrinkle was added to the state/section playoff scenario on Thursday when North Coast Section Commissioner Gil Lemmon released a letter stating that teams in each section left without a championship weekend could opt to hold their sectional final the weekend of Dec. 7-8 and bypass the state playoffs that also open that weekend.
Lemmon said results of that Division V vote won’t be released until after Salesian’s home game with Stellar Prep on Saturday, but Kelseyville, Middletown and Salesian have already indicated they would rather play a sectional final the weekend of Dec. 7-8 instead of risk a coin flip to reach the state playoffs, in which case the loser of the coin flip has its season end right there.
That type of conclusion to what has been an excruciatingly long year for Middletown and Kelseyville — with fires affecting both the beginning and ending of the season — is the last thing Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer and Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen want to see happen.
“We voted to play the section out,” Foltmer said. “So did Kelseyville and so did Salesian. I don’t know what Stellar Prep decided. If it comes down to a coin flip, there’s a chance you could come away with nothing,” Foltmer said. “If I reach the section finals, I want something to show for it.”
Under the current coin-flip scenario, no section champion for Division V would be declared for 2018, and section runner-up and championship pennants and medals would not be awarded. A Sunday coin flip would determine which of the two semifinal winners advances to the state playoffs and which team has its season end (unless it’s Kelseyville-Stellar Prep, in which case head-to-head results determine things).
“We voted to complete the playoffs as well,” Larsen said. “With my kids, they want to control their own destiny, not let a coin flip determine it. They were happy about the option of playing it out (section playoffs). The section meant more to them than the state playoffs.”
The final decision on which way Division V goes — coin flip/head-to-head results to determine a state playoff berth or to finish the section playoffs and skip state — will come after Saturday’s game between Salesian and Stellar Prep.
If the decision is made to play out the section playoffs to their conclusion, there is also the possibility that the eventual section champion will play a team from Southern California is a Bowl-type game setting the following weekend. That game won’t be an official state playoff game, just a reward for the two schools involved and a nice way to end their seasons.
Of course, the Kelseyville-Middletown and Salesian-Stellar Prep losers this weekend will have their seasons end and won’t have to worry about what follows, that much is certain.
Kelseyville vs. Middletown
Friday’s game is a rematch of a Sept. 21 game at Middletown thoroughly dominated by Kelseyville, which emerged with a 28-0 victory.
“We flat out got our asses handed to us,” Foltmer said.
Foltmer said the Mustangs and the Knights have traded places from a year ago when it was Middletown winning the league with a veteran club and then going on to beat the younger Knights in a playoff game at Bill Foltmer Field. This year the veteran-dominated Knights won the North Central League I championship and are hosting the younger Mustangs in a semifinal-round game at their homefield.
“Now that we’ve got 12 games under out belts, our younger kids have had a chance to progress. They have a better understanding of what they need to do, they own up to their mistakes when they’re watching game film instead of making excuses, and they have a better attitude about what they need to do to get better.”
“I think the control of the line is going to be key and control of the line is going to come down to fundamentals,” Larren said.
Another factor will be holding onto what figures to be a slick football, according to Larsen.
“Whoever takes care of the football better has a better chance,” he said.
The Kelseyville field was inundated with rainfall Wednesday overnight into Thursday.
“The field is a little soggy right now,” Larsen said. “Soggy but good (shape). But the football is going to be wet.”
Foltmer said any team good enough to reach this point of the season can’t worry about the weather.
“If you make the section championship game, chances are you’re going to play one of the games in muddy conditions. And it’s not like it’s going to have a big effect on either team. Both teams are running teams that pass off the run.”
Kelseyville had to wait nearly a month to play Cloverdale in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs because of postponements caused by air quality issues related to the Camp Fire. Middletown hasn’t been off quite that long but has been idle since a 29-22 victory over Fort Bragg in the quarterfinals on Nov. 12 in Fort Bragg.
“After the Fort Bragg game, we were one of the hotter teams around,” Foltmer said. “Hopefully the three weeks off doesn’t take that (edge) away from us.”
Kelseyville, a winner of 10 straight games entering play against Middletown, will make a game-time decision on whether running back Jordi Lopez is available to play on offense.
“He should be OK for defense (at linebacker),” Larsen said.
Lopez re-aggravated a knee injury twice during the win over Cloverdale.
“Everybody else is healthy,” Larsen said. “I just hope we’re peaking at the right time.”
It’s the third straight year Kelseyville and Middletown have met in the Division V playoffs. Kelseyville won 14-12 in the quarterfinal round in 2016 at Middletown while Middletown beat Kelseyville 7-0 in the semifinals a year ago at Bill Foltmer Field.
If the Knights win the rubber match on Friday night, a saying Larsen likes to recite to his players, “The teams you remember play in December,” could take on a whole new meaning. Kelseyville hasn’t won a section title in football since 1982, which is the longest drought by any of the five Lake County schools.
