KELSEYVILLE — In a hard-fought battle between running games and offensive and defensive lines, the Kelseyville Knights emerged with a 18-14 victory over the St. Helena Saints on Friday night in Kelseyville as the North Central League I football race enters the homestretch.
Kelseyville (3-2 league, 3-5 overall) moved above the .500 mark in league play for the first time this season. The Knights travel to Middletown next Friday before wrapping up their regular season Nov. 4 in Lower Lake.
“It was a battle at the line of scrimmage all night,” Kelseyville head coach Erick Larsen said. “St. Helena got two big plays on us to get the lead, but our kids fought back for the win.”
Kelseyville opened up a 12-0 lead in the third quarter on a Kyle Watkins 12-yard run. St. Helena (1-4 league, 3-5 overall) closed to 12-7 on a Clayton Crean touchdown run with 2:43 left in the quarter, then pushed ahead 14-12 on Keaton Smith’s scoring run with 43 seconds remaining.
The Saints nursed that 14-12 lead midway into the fourth quarter when Kelseyville finally answered with the game-winning drive, which was set up by a shanked St. Helena punt that gave the Knights the ball near midfield. Kelseyville converted on a fourth-and-one sneak by quarterback Luke Watkins to retain possession before Kyle Watkins (20 carries for 168 yards) scored on a 30-yard run with 4:37 remaining.
St. Helena was on the move after taking the kickoff but Reme Strong intercepted a Saints pass to end the drive. The Knights picked up two huge first downs before kneeling on the ball to run out the clock.
“Kyle Watkins ran the ball like a madman,” Larsen said of the sophomore running back who anchored another big night by Kelseyville’s running game — 347 yards against the Saints following a 430-yard effort the week before in a 52-41 win over Cloverdale.
“And Luke got a couple of key first downs to keep drives alive,” Larsen said. “Sammy (Vanoven) got some tough yards, too.”
Vanoven, the Kelseyville fullback, finished with 96 yards on 17 carries.
Kelseyville took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on a 16-yard Luke Watkins pass to Strong. It was still 6-0 going into the half.
If the play of Kelseyville’s offensive line was a key to the victory, so was the play of the Knights’ defensive line, including Steven Frace, Alexis Martinez, Ty Steely, Nacho Pille-Montero, Jayden Teabo and JoseCarmen Calivllo.
“We were able to rotate guys in and keep them fresh,” Larsen said.
Kelseyville won the junior varsity game 33-8 to improve to 5-0 in league and 7-1 overall.
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