LAKE COUNTY — If was a good weekend for Lake County and especially North Central League I football teams as the North Coast Section playoffs got under Friday night with three home games in the county.
Middletown, Clear Lake and Upper Lake all came away with lopsided victories to advance to the semifinal round — Clear Lake in Division 6, Middletown in Division 7 and Upper Lake in the eight-man bracket — this coming weekend when all three teams play on the road. In fact, Middletown and Clear Lake are both up against the No. 1 seeds in their respective divisions while Upper Lake (7-2) faces a No. 2 seed in Stuart Hall on Friday night at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, the one-time home of the San Francisco 49ers.
Middletown (7-4) and Clear Lake (7-3) play on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Middletown travels to Richmond to take on Salesian High School while Clear Lake has a shorter trip to play St. Vincent in Petaluma.
The stakes are the same for all three teams — win and advance to the finals the weekend of Nov. 26-27 or lose and turn in your football gear.
While Lake County teams went 3-0 in open-round playoff action, NCL I teams did them one better, going 4-0 as St. Helena and Cloverdale, both Division 7 playoff teams, joined Clear Lake and Middletown as winners Friday night.
Following is a look back at Week 12 in high school action with many of the highlights and a few of the lowlights:
Statistics
Rushing — Middletown’s Elijah Diaz (20 carries for 130 yards) and Brandon Costlow (13 for 72) combined for more than 200 yards on the ground in the Mustangs’ 34-6 win over Pinole Valley. Diaz scored on runs of 10, 1 and 7 yards while Costlow added a pair of TDs. In Upper Lake’s 48-6 win over Cornerstone Christian of Antioch, Cody Banks ran for 54 yards and a TD while backfield mate Bradley Sneathen added 48 yards and a TD.
Passing — Clear Lake’s Jack Daskam added another 270 yards and three touchdowns to his solid season totals in a 40-0 victory over Hoopa Valley. The senior distributed that yardage to five different receivers. Upper Lake freshman Jerod Rosales had a pair of TD passes against Cornerstone Christian. Middletown senior Luke Hoogendoorn went 5-for-8 for 87 yards against Pinole Valley.
Receiving — Clear Lake senior Zane Robinson caught three passes for 132 yards, including TDs of 60 and 74 yards. Teammate Tyler Haskell had two catches for 67 yards and a TD. Middletown tight end Brody Breeden had two receptions for 43 yards.
Special teams
TD return — Upper Lake’s Bradley Sneathen returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown to cap the Cougars’ scoring against Cornerstone Christian.
4-for-5 — Clear Lake’s Zane Robinson and Middletown’s Brody Breeden each converted four of their five extra-point kicks Friday night.
Defense
Three more sacks — One week after recording seven sacks in a league win over South Fork, Upper Lake’s Joey Franklin added three more in the Cougars’ home playoff win over Cornerstone Christian. Two of those sacks led to fumbles that Upper Lake recovered.
Dialing long distance — Clear Lake’s Zane Robinson returned one of his three interceptions against Hoopa 101 yards for a touchdown. The Cardinals also had a fourth pick, a 69-yard pick-six by Jack Daskam.
Staying active — Upper Lake linebacker Bradley Sneathen led the Cougars with 14 tackles on Friday night.
Just missed — Upper Lake’s streak of shutouts ended at three, albeit barely, when Cornerstone Christian scored on a fourth-day pass late in the fourth quarter.
Deuces are wild — Upper Lake’s Will Henry recovered two fumbles.
High five — Clear Lake picked off Hoopa five times. In addition to Zane Robinson’s three interceptions, Jack Daskam and Tyler Haskell each had one.
Miscellaneous
Streaks — Upper Lake takes a five-game winning streak into its semifinal-round playoff game against Stuart Hall on Friday night at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
Clean it up — Hoopa fans probably set a record for the most f-bombs dropped in one game Friday night against Clear Lake in Lakeport. This is going to come as a huge shock to many of the Warriors faithful, but the officials did not cost your team that game. Final score: Clear Lake 40, Hoopa 0.
Artificial turf — Clear Lake will play on St. Vincent’s artificial turf Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals have played on Yarbrough Field’s synthetic surface once before, beating the Mustangs 48-0 in a non-league game back in 2017.
Playoff memories — The last time Middletown and Salesian squared off in the North Coast Section playoffs, and there have been many memorable meetings between these two games, the fifth-seeded Mustangs upset the No. 2-seeded Pride 28-14 in the Division 5 championship game at Alhambra High School in Martinez. Prior to that, Middletown beat No. 1 seed Kelseyville in the semifinals, No. 4 seed Fort Bragg in the quarterfinals, and No. 12 seed St. Vincent in the opening round.
Playoff memories No. 2 — The last time Clear Lake won a section title, in 1998, the victim was St. Vincent.
Youth football kudos — To the Westshore pee wees and to the Middletown junior varsity and varsity teams for their wins in the finals of the Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League playoffs Saturday at Kelseyville High School. Middletown’s JV club went 12-0. Westshore avenged a regular-season loss to Middletown to win the pee wee title.
Big, big, big plays — Five of Clear Lake’s six touchdowns against Hoopa were 60 yards or more.
Non-football kudos — To Upper Lake’s girls soccer team for its runner-up finish in the Division 3 sectional playoffs. St. Bernard’s Emma Wilson had the game of her life in a 5-2 win over the Cougars in the championship game, scoring four times.
Good things come in threes — Upper Lake’s Bradley Sneathen scored three touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving, one on a punt return) to go along with three two-point conversions against Cornerstone Christian. Middletown’s Elijah Diaz rushed for three scores against Pinole Valley. Clear Lake’s Zane Robinson had three interceptions and scored three TDs overall against Hoopa. Besides that, they didn’t do much.
Here’s hoping — With three semifinal-round playoff games in Week 13, here’s hoping there’s a Week 14 for at least one of the county’s teams.
Undefeated in the CMC — Major cross country kudos to Clear Lake High School sophomore Hannity Garrity for going undefeated in the Coastal Mountain Conference this season, not only during regular-season meets but in the conference championship held last week in Santa Rosa. Her next stop is the NCS Championships on Saturday at Hayward High School. And congratulations to the Middletown girls cross country team for winning a third straight league title.
