KELSEYVILLE — Not willing to sit back and let the Kelseyville Knights dominate them like they did during a league meeting in late September at Middletown, the Mustangs rolled the dice, gambled big and came away with a 14-12 victory in the semifinal round of the North Coast Section Division V football playoffs on Friday night in Kelseyville.
The upset of the No. 1-seeded Knights (10-2) means that the No. 5-seeded Mustangs (10-3) advance to the Division V finals against the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between No. 2 Salesian (7-4) and No. 3 Stellar Prep (4-6), which until Friday night was the only team to have beaten Kelseyville this season. That championship game will take place either Dec. 7 or Dec. 8, most likely at Alhambra High School in Martinez.
“We had to gamble,” veteran Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said of the rematch with a Kelseyville team that shut out the Mustangs 28-0 a little more than two months ago. “We manned up without a free safety, we put eight men in the box to stop their running game, and we had our ends crashing hard hoping they wouldn’t run around us. We played the game like we had nothing to lose. We had to do something.”
Added Foltmer, “Defensively our kids played tough. To hold a team like Kelseyville to 12 points is hard to do.”
“You have to give it up for Middletown. They stepped up and made plays,” Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen said after watching his 10-game winning streak end when a desperation pass from backup quarterback Adrian Villalobos was picked off deep in Middletown territory with no time left on the clock.
The multi-talented Villalobos, who rushed for 183 yards in Kelseyville’s 40-21 quarterfinal-round victory over Cloverdale a week earlier, was pressed into service because starting quarterback Alex Garcia was unable to throw the football after sustaining an injury to his right hand early in the second quarter. Up to that point he had hurt the Mustangs by completing all three of his passes for 21 yards.
“I didn’t know he was hurt, but it makes sense now,” Foltmer said of how the game unfolded. “It looks like we caught a big break.”
“We didn’t have the passing game to take advantage of what they were doing on defense,” Larsen said.
Garcia’s injury came on a running play, according to Larsen, who said his quarterback’s throwing hand may have been pinned between the helmets of Middletown players.
“He couldn’t squeeze the ball after that,” Larsen said.
Though the Knights toyed with the idea of replacing Garcia, his value as a running quarterback has been a big part of Kelseyville’s offense this season, so he remained behind center.
Garcia’s counterpart, Middletown quarterback RH Hess, a Kelseyville transfer, ultimately proved to be the player of the game as he connected with running back Nico Barrio and wide receiver Guy Boyd on touchdown passes in the second quarter that staked the Mustangs to a 14-6 halftime lead.
“RH Hess had a game and I couldn’t be happier for the guy,” Foltmer said. “He was very effective tonight. He’s played well for us at the right time. He got off to a sluggish start this season but has really picked it up.”
Hess completed 6 of 9 passes for 81 yards and none was bigger than an 18-yarder to Barrio on a fourth-and-eight play early in the second quarter. Hess was scrambling away from Kelseyville’s pass rush when he spotted Barrio near the end zone pylon on the Kelseyville sideline.
After Kelseyville parlayed a Middletown turnover into a touchdown of its own, that also coming on a fourth-down play as Villalobos broke free on an 18-yard run, Hess directed a 58-yard Middletown scoring drive that began with a 33-yard pass to Barrio and ended with a 21-yard touchdown to Boyd, who made a nice move inside the 10-yard line to shake his pursuit and reach the end zone.
That Middletown placekicker Jorge Fonseca converted both of his extra-point kicks proved to be no small matter in a game where Kelseyville twice went for two-point conversions and failed each time on running plays.
“Two missed extra points,” Larsen said, shaking his head.
The second missed conversion followed a Robert Chavez touchdown run, a 4-yard scamper on a fourth-and-three play with 5:42 left in the game. Chavez finished the night with 22 carries for 107 yards.
There was plenty of drama left, however. Middletown went three-and-out on its next possession and punted the ball back to the Knights, who drove down to the Mustang 37-yard line before turning it over on downs.
Hess took a knee three times to make Kelseyville use its final timeout and to bleed the clock. The Mustangs eventually punted the ball and the Knights took over at their own 45 with just 1.9 seconds to go. Villalobos threw deep down the field as time expired, but Drake Harbison intercepted the pass to end it.
Friday’s meeting marked the third straight year Middletown and Kelseyville have squared off in the sectional playoffs, and it was the Mustangs’ second consecutive victory over the Knights in the semifinal round after last year’s 7-0 win at Middletown. Kelseyville prevailed 14-12 in the quarterfinals in 2016 at Middletown.
Foltmer said winning its rematch with Kelseyville, the undefeated North Central League I champion, means that Middletown has now avenged both of its league losses — one to the Knights and the other to Fort Bragg. The Mustangs defeated the No. 4-seeded Timberwolves 29-22 in the quarterfinal round way back on Nov. 12 at Fort Bragg.
“I’m extremely excited about this one,” Foltmer said of the victory. “I couldn’t be any more proud of my guys.”
Larsen praised the play and careers of many of his seniors, including Garcia, Villalobos, Liam Terrell, Javante Gregoire, Bryan Carrillo and Zack Watkins. He said a special 2018 season wouldn’t have been possible without them.
“They’re coaching staff and their kids had a great season … they won our league and that’s not easy to do,” Foltmer said.
Middletown also reached the Division V finals last season, losing 28-0 to No. 1 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo.
