LAKE COUNTY — Week 7 of the high school football season features Kelseyville, Clear Lake, Middletown and Upper Lake all playing at home while Lower Lake has a short road trip north to Lakeport.
In North Central League I action, Clear Lake (2-0 league, 4-1 overall) celebrates its homecoming against Lower Lake (0-2, 0-4), Kelseyville (1-1, 1-4) hosts Willits (1-1, 1-4) in another homecoming contest, and Middletown (1-1, 2-3) entertains Fort Bragg (0-2, 1-4) in a varsity-only game as the visiting Timberwolves don’t have enough healthy players to field a junior varsity squad.
NCL II play begins Friday for the five eight-man teams that make up the league this year, including the Upper Lake Cougars (2-2) as they open at home against Potter Valley (0-1).
Lower Lake at Clear Lake
What appears to be a clear mismatch on paper won’t stop Clear Lake from focusing on the only thing that matters, according to head coach Mark Cory.
“We’ve got to get better,” Cory said. “Our ceiling is way up there and we’ve left a lot of things on the table in our games.”
Cory’s philosophy is pretty simple — concentrate on what your doing and not so much about what the other guy is doing or what the other guy’s record happens to be.
“We’re not going to be sleepwalking through our practices,” Cory said as the Cardinals prepare to face a winless Lower Lake squad. “We’ve played some good football lately and the last two quarters (against Middletown) we played really good football.”
Clear Lake beat Middletown 26-18 a week ago in Lakeport to snap a 12-game losing streak against the Mustangs.
Homecoming distractions have been minimal, according to Cory.
“At some point the game needs to be the thing you’re focused on,” Cory said.
For Lower Lake head coach Jeremy Jakubowski, not knowing who will be at practice from day to day is simply one more obstacle to overcome as the Trojans head to Don Owens Stadium to face the Cardinals, winners of three straight.
“There’s no school here this week, which makes for a difficult week of practice,” Jakubowski said. “We had a couple of guys banged up against St. Helena (last week in a 56-0 loss) that haven’t gone all week.
“We’re fighting the injury bug and the 0-4 bug,” Jakubowski added of the Trojans’ record.
Clear Lake followed up a league-opening 53-6 win at Kelseyville with a big home victory against the Mustangs, the defending league champions.
“Clear Lake got a huge win versus Middletown. I watched the game film and they are good. They’ve got athletes on defense and they’re offense is explosive,” Jakubowski added.
If Lower Lake is going to have any chance against Clear Lake, the offensive line play has to make a huge jump from its first four games, according to Jakubowki.
“I think our defense is a little more suited to take away their passing game rather than the running game,” Jakubowski said. “If we can move the ball against them consistently, take away their passing game and keep them from breaking big plays with their running game, I think we can play with them.”
Jakubowski said he knows that’s a tall order against Clear Lake, especially when it comes to moving the ball consistently against a solid Cardinals defensive unit.
“They are aggressive at the line of scrimmage,” he said.
Willits at Kelseyville
In what could very well be the game of the week in the NCL I, the Kelseyville Knights and Willits Wolverines square off in a battle of 1-1 teams.
Smash-mouth football is what the Wolverines bring to the table, according to Kelseyville High School head coach Erick Larsen.
“They are a run-dominated team that runs powers at you and up-the-middle traps, but they also run good counters off of that,” Larsen said. “To be successful against them you need to be physical at the point of attack, but also disciplined on the counters. If we’re not disciplined on the counters, it could be a long night for the Knights.”
While Kelseyville continues to miss some key players because of injuries, those players could be ready to go for an Oct. 15 game at Cloverdale.
“If we can win this one we could be set up pretty good for the rest of league,” Larsen said.
Kelseyville hammered Fort Bragg 43-12 on the road a week ago for its initial league win and first win of the season.
To be successful on offense against the Willits defense, Larsen said the Knights “need to block well in the open field” for starters.
“They have a lot of athletic kids who fire around on defense,” Larsen said. “Their defensive linemen are very physical and they like to crash gaps and create mayhem. Our guards have their work cut out for them. We need to seal that threat off.”
Willits dropped a 28-6 decision to St. Helena in its league opener two weeks ago at St. Helena, and came back strong with a 24-7 home win over Cloverdale last week.
Fort Bragg at Middletown
Following a hard-fought 26-18 loss to Clear Lake a week ago in Lakeport, the Mustangs are ready to move on.
“We can’t let our loss to Clear Lake affect how we got about our business,” Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said. “We’re looking forward to Fort Bragg because they always play us tough whether they’re up or down. My group has a good work ethic, they work hard in practice and their attitudes are good.”
The status of one of Middletown’s top lineman, Nathan Corsetti, remains up in the air because of an ankle injury and whether he goes against Fort Bragg could end up being a game-time decision, according to Foltmer.
Since losing running back/linebacker Cole Ketchum to a collar bone injury two weeks ago against Lower Lake, his replacement, Elijah Diaz, has rushed for more than than 100 yards in two straight games. He has a combined 262 yards and five touchdowns against Lower Lake and Clear Lake.
“I couldn’t be happier with Elijah,” Foltmer said. “He hits the hole quick, runs hard, reads his blocks well.”
Diaz and backfield mate Jacob Urbina both have been solid for the Mustangs in league play.
“It’s the first time he’s played fullback, he used to be a lineman,” Foltmer said of Urbina. “He runs hard and he’s physical.”
While Fort Bragg has struggled in its first two league games, losing 42-0 to Cloverdale two weeks ago and 43-12 to Kelseyville last week, Foltmer said he’s more concerned with what his Mustangs need to do to be successful Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field.
“We have to step up after a loss,” he said. “We have a loss in league and we can’t stumble any more. Every game from here on out is kind of a must-win for us now.”
Potter Valley at Upper Lake
Potter Valley, once a successful 11-man program and now trying to survive as an eight-man team, hasn’t won a game on the field since 2014. While the Bearcats went 1-6 in 2019, that lone victory was a forfeit win over Point Arena.
The Bearcats travel to Upper Lake on Friday night (6 p.m. kickoff) where they’ll celebrate their homecoming. Yep, you read that right.
Potter Valley is playing all of its games on the road this season because its homefield is in terrible shape. That means the Bearcats will celebrate homecoming Friday in Upper Lake one week after the Cougars had their homecoming game against Williams.
“Anything we can do to help them,” Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said. “They’re struggling to keep the team going and we’ll do whatever we can for them.”
Potter Valley’s only official game this season was a 38-30 loss to Cornerstone Christian on Sept. 24.
“I think they’ve had a couple of exhibitions,” Moran said.
Upper Lake and Potter Valley did meet in 2019, the Cougars winning 46-14 at home.
“I remember they were young and I thought they could be a good team in a couple of years,” Moran said.
Potter Valley may be without its full compliment of players against Upper Lake.
“I heard they were down a couple of players and that their top player was injured,” Moran said.
Upper Lake, its last two games 11-man losses to Maxwell and Williams, plays eight-man football from here on out against its NCL II competition and the playoffs that will hopefully follow.
