CONCORD — Nico Barrio rushed for 296 yards and three touchdowns, one of them a 94-yard run early in the third quarter, as the Middletown Mustangs rolled past the Concord Minutemen 41-6 in non-league varsity football action on Friday night in Concord.
Leading 21-6 at halftime, Middletown (1-1) outscored Concord 20-0 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Barrio also scored on runs of 6 and 5 yards. Victor Martinez returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown to finish off the Minutemen.
Middletown scored on each of their first two possessions. Dillon Tingle capped a long drive with a 1-yard run to put the Mustangs up 7-0. When they got the ball back again it was a 5-yard pass from Isaac Perez to Greyson Rockwell that made it 14-0.
“Our opening drive went right down the field, we mixed it up real well,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “And we scored again on our next possession.”
After Concord scored on a 28-yard pass in the second quarter to close the gap to 14-6, Barrio’s first touchdown run of the night, a 6-yard run, pushed Middletown’s lead to 21-6. The Mustangs were threatening in the final seconds of the half before a lost fumble ended the drive.
It was all Middletown in the second half as Barrio went nearly the length of the field on his 94-yard run. He scored again from 5 yards out before Martinez sealed the victory with his pick-six.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a pick-six,” Foltmer said.
Middletown rushed for 440 yards and finished with 510 yards of total offense.
“It was a good effort for our boys,” Foltmer said. “We just outplayed them.”
Middle linebacker Tingle anchored a solid effort by the Middletown defense, according to Foltmer.
“He made some nice open-field tackles and had some big hits,” Foltmer said.
The Mustangs wrap up their preseason schedule next Friday with a game against Moreau Catholic in Hayward.
Middletown won the junior varsity contest 41-7.
In other Friday football action:
Calistoga 64, Upper Lake 29
At Calistoga, the Calistoga Wildcats outscored Upper Lake 30-0 during a nightmarish first quarter for the Cougars and cruised to an easy win.
The two teams spent the final three quarters trading touchdowns, but Upper Lake (0-2) could never put a serious dent in Calistoga’s lead.
“Oh my gosh, that was a long quarter,” Upper Lake coach Vince Moran said of the game’s first 12 minutes when the Wildcats scored early and often.
A long touchdown run by Calistoga quarterback Christian Caldera set the tone. The Wildcats also blocked two Upper Lake punts, recovering one for a touchdown.
“Everything that could go wrong for us did,” Moran said.
Upper Lake scored its first points on a second-quarter safety when linebacker Jeff Corbin sacked Caldera in the end zone. The Cougars scored their first touchdown of the season a few minutes later when Cody Banks connected with JT Thiessen on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The same combination hooked up again on a 12-yard TD pass in the third quarter.
Running back Gage Goode accounted for the Cougars’ final two scores with touchdown runs of 26 yards in the third quarter and 4 yards in the fourth quarter.
“We picked it up after the first quarter and kept playing hard,” Moran said. “I’m proud of them for that.”
Caldera accounted for 326 yards of total offense all by himself as Calistoga improved to 1-1 on the season. The Wildcats had nine touchdowns in all.
Thiessen had three of Upper Lake’s five sacks. Corbin and Mark Dutcher had the others.
Fortuna 29, Kelseyville 12
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights committed only four penalties against the Fortuna Huskies, but they sure did hurt. A holding penalty in the first quarter wiped out a 54-yard touchdown pass from Cory Holt to Brandon Garcia minutes after the Huskies had taken an 8-0 lead. Two other holding penalties stalled promising Kelseyville drives.
Fortuna’s size up front was another huge factor, according to Kelseyville coach Erick Larsen.
“They controlled the line of scrimmage on both side all night,” he said.
Kelseyville rolled up 311 yards of total offense but critical penalties, two turnovers and nearly a dozen dropped passes took much of the punch out of the Knights’ attack.
Fortuna had a 22-0 lead in the second quarter before Tyler Linnell, who had a big game on defense for the Knights, returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 22-6. He picked off another Fortuna pass later in the game and also recovered a fumble.
Kelseyville was trailing 29-6 in the fourth quarter when running back Robert Chavez scored on a 25-yard run. The senior finished with 119 yards on 16 carries while backfield mate Dylan McAdon added 110 yards on 17 carries.
Chavez also had 12 solo tackles and five assists on defense.
Kelseyville takes next week off before returning to action Sept. 20 at home against St. Helena (3-0), the North Central League I opener for both teams.
Kelseyville beat Fortuna 14-0 in the JV game.
Lower Lake 59, El Molino 35
At Lower Lake, a huge night by the Lower Lake offense provided the Lower Lake Trojans with their initial win of the season and first-year coach Jeremy Jakubowski with his first career victory.
“We were really feeling good,” Jakubowski said. “We played a much more disciplined game. Our kids deserve it.”
The Trojans (1-1) rolled up 574 yards of total offense as they welcomed running back Aries Brooke back to the lineup after the senior missed the Trojans’ opener two weeks ago against Carson with bruised ribs. In his return, Brooke rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns and also caught two passes.
“He was really good running the ball although he’s still not in shape,” Jakubowski said. “He had 18 carries, some big runs and he had a TD called back. Having him back in there was huge.”
While Brooke anchored the Trojans’ running attack, junior quarterback Vann Wilkins completed 22 of 31 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns. Two of his TDs went to Semaj Clark (seven catches for 107 yards) and two others went to Lorenzo Zuniga (six catches for 59 yards), who was filling in for Gavin Watson (serving a one-games suspension after being ejected against Carson).
Zuniga certainly made the most of his opportunity as he also kicked a 23-yard field goal and six extra points.
“He was a pretty good player for the JVs last year,” Jakubowski said.
The Trojans picked up a final touchdown on Cole Doud’s 25-yard pass to Makhi Johnson (four catches for 81 yards).
Lower Lake led 21-14 after one quarter, 31-14 at halftime and 45-21 going into the fourth quarter.
“We started out good and our energy was good, but we got a little bit lackadaisical at the end of the second quarter.”
El Molino beat Lower Lake 22-0 in JV action.
Pierce 46, Clear Lake 14
At Lakeport, the Pierce Bears passed their way to a lopsided victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals (1-2), who trailed 30-7 after three quarters.
“Our defense gave up six long pass plays,” Clear Lake coach Mark Cory said of his team’s long night on the gridiron. The game took just more than three hours to complete, including a 15-minute delay in the second quarter because of a Pierce injury.
“We were ugly,” Cory said of penalties that plagued the Cardinals throughout the game. “We were moving the ball fairly regularly all night, but we were in second-and-25 a lot.”
Clear Lake moved the ball inside Pierce’s 5-yard line twice only to watch those drives stall out on penalties.
“We had some good matchups and opportunities, but we didn’t make it happen,” Cory said.
After falling behind early, the Cardinals couldn’t use their running game much and quarterback Darius Ford attempted 46 passes, completing 14 for 284yards, including a 65-yard touchdown strike to Rolando Amaya in the fourth quarter.
“That’s probably a little bit too much,” Cory said of the 46 passes.
Ford scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter for Clear Lake’s first points.
AJ Adams rushed for 67 yards on 14 carries and Travis Howe caught five passes for 74 yards to lead Clear Lake in those departments. Adams also had a 56-yard reception.
The Cardinals are home next Friday to play University Prep of Redding, a 49-48 winner over Pierce last weekend.
