LAKE COUNTY — The first week of the 2021 high school football season is officially in the books for Lake County teams, who went 2-2 in the opening weekend.
Clear Lake and Upper Lake pounded their opponents, Middletown lost a tough one with St. Mary’s, and Kelseyville experienced plenty of growing pains in a blowout loss to San Marin.
Going into week two, Kelseyville (0-1) and Upper Lake (1-0) both have byes on the Labor Day weekend. Coming off a bye week, Lower Lake (0-0) squares off with Vacaville Christian in a varsity-only game Friday night in its season opener while Clear Lake (1-0) and Middletown (0-1) also hit the road — Clear Lake against Pierce (0-1) at Arbuckle, and Middletown at Bradshaw Christian (1-0) in Sacramento.
Following are some of the highlights and lowlights from week one:
Statistics
Rushing — Kyle Grandi led the way with 101 yards and two touchdowns in Upper Lake’s 46-0 victory over Tomales. Backfield mate Bradley Sneathen added 82 yards and a TD. Middletown’s Cole Ketchum finished with 73 yards on 17 carries, Upper Lake’s Cody Banks had 62 yards and TDs, and Clear Lake’s Ethan Maize had 59 yards on 10 carries in a 33-8 win over Ferndale.
Passing — Clear Lake’s Jack Daskam went 11-for-17 for 142 yards and two TDs in his varsity debut.
Receiving — Clear Lake’s Tyler Haskell had two receptions, both touchdowns, against Ferndale while teammate Ethan Maize stayed busy with five catches for 53 yards.
Special teams
Extra points — Clear Lake’s Cody Hayes went 3-for-4 on PAT kicks while a fifth try was blocked. Brody Breeden went 2-for-2 for Middletown.
Doing his part — Middletown’s Caleb Sternberg set up both of Middletown’s touchdowns against St. Mary’s with fine punt returns (50 and 25 yards).
Defense
Prying it loose — Clear Lake’s defense forced four turnovers, three of which led to touchdowns, against Ferndale.
Shutout No. 1 — Of the 2021 season goes to an Upper Lake defense that put the clamps on the Tomales Braves on their homefield.
Miscellaneous
Penalty free — Middletown wasn’t flagged for a single penalty against St. Mary’s.
Spreading it around — Four different Cougars combined for six rushing touchdowns against Tomales.
Gutsy call — Trailing 14-12 in the third quarter against Middletown, St. Mary’s called for a fake punt on fourth-and-20 from its own 35-yard line and made the first down. The Panthers went on to score a touchdown, part of a 96-yard drive that took the entire third quarter and a minute of the fourth quarter to complete.
Parting gifts — A Ferndale player was ejected in the fourth quarter against Clear Lake after picking up his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game. He’ll have to sit out Ferndale’s next game on Friday night in Fortuna. If he’s ejected from another game in 2021, he’ll sit out the season.
Venue change — Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer isn’t one for excuses and he said the last-minute venue change from Middletown to Albany had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome against St. Mary’s. The game was originally scheduled to take place Friday in Middletown but had to be moved because of unhealthy air created by the state’s many active wildfires. St. Mary’s was scheduled to host Middletown next season but has agreed to play that game in Middletown.
Looking ahead to week three — In games scheduled Sept. 10, Kelseyville visits Fortuna, Lower Lake hosts Miramonte (1-0), and Upper Lake is home against Crystal Springs (0-0). Clear Lake and Middletown have byes.
