LAKE COUNTY — It’s been a festive fall sports season at Clear Lake High School where varsity football head coach Mark Cory is just happy to be part of the winning atmosphere.
“It’s a great day to be a Cardinal,” Cory said as his undefeated squad travels to Willits on Friday to play the Wolverines (3-2 league, 6-2 overall), who are standing in Clear Lake’s way of clinching no worse than a North Central League I co-championship.
Cory said he hopes his team can add to Clear Lake’s list of sports successes as the school has already seen its girls soccer team win a league co-championship, the volleyball team advance to the North Coast Section playoffs as the No. 2 seed, and cross country runner Hannah Garrity run away from the opposition week after week.
“It’s great to see those kids out there being successful, having fun, especially after what happened two years ago. That’s what it’s all about. We’re just trying to hold serve when we go to Willits.”
In other Week 10 football games involving Lake County teams, the Kelseyville Knights (3-2, 3-5) visit Middletown (4-1, 4-4) one week after Mustangs head coach Bill Foltmer celebrated his 300th career victory with an amazing come-from-behind win against Cloverdale, the Lower Lake Trojans (0-5, 1-7) close out their home schedule against those very same Eagles (3-2, 5-3), and the banged up Upper Lake Cougars (1-3, 4-3) celebrate senior night in their home finale against Cornerstone Christian (0-4, 3-4) of Antioch in NCL II eight-man action.
Clear Lake
Clear Lake (5-0, 8-0) can guarantee itself no worse than a share of the league crown with a victory at Willits, and if Kelseyville (3-2, 3-5) also beats Middletown (4-1, 4-4) at Bill Foltmer Field, the Cardinals will be the outright champions.
Much like the school’s girls soccer and volleyball squads, Cory said the football team is thrilled to be in the situation it currently finds itself in.
“You’re blessed when you get to be in a game like this,” he said of the stakes involved when Clear Lake plays Willits. “We’ve got out hands full and I think it’s going to be a heck of a game. They’ve got good players and we’ve got good players.”
The Wolverines are back at full strength with the recent addition of a handful of players who have missed time this season, according to Cory.
“I prefer that,” he said. “I don’t want any excuses because this player or that player wasn’t available. We go up there and either win or lose against their best team. That’s the way it should be.”
While the Cardinals finish their league schedule on the road — they visit Cloverdale on Nov. 4 to close out the regular season — playing in the other team’s backyard is just another challenge to be relished, according to Cory.
“I love going into hostile territory, that’s the best,” he said. “That feeds me. I’m just glad it (the game) matters. A lot of time in high school sports it doesn’t seem to matter.”
The Cardinals certainly have plenty to play for as they prepare for another postseason run in the North Coast Section Division 7 playoffs, a bracket that is packed full of talent with contenders such as St. Vincent (Petaluma), St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo), Kelseyville, Cloverdale, St. Helena, Willits and Berean Christian (Walnut Creek).
Clear Lake enters play Friday with a healthy roster, according to Cory.
“We’re as healthy as we can be,” he said.
K’ville/M’town
The congratulations following his 300th career win are still pouring in, according to Foltmer, who said they haven’t been limited to the immediate Middletown community.
“I have heard from every coach in the league, from former coaches, from people throughout the county, not just those in Middletown,” Foltmer said. “That really makes you feel good.”
Settling back down to the business at hand despite the whirlwind of publicity following his milestone victory, Foltmer said the Mustangs are going to have to play four quarters of football to beat a Kelseyville team that has won two straight and three of its last four after starting the season with a brutal four-game stretch.
“We’re definitely playing better football the last few weeks,” Kelseyville’s Erick Larsen said.
“Don’t expect to spot Kelseyville three touchdowns and win,” Foltmer said in reference to last week’s victory over Cloverdale as the Mustangs rallied from a 29-8 deficit to win 36-29. “They’ve been scoring more than us and they’ve been scoring throughout the game, not just in the fourth quarter like we’ve been doing. We seem to struggle in the first three quarters and I don’t think we can do that against them and get away with it.”
Middletown is also dealing with homecoming week and its many distractions, though Foltmer said his players seem to be dealing with the situation pretty well.
“Homecoming is a coach’s worst nightmare, but we don’t cut any corners to accommodate our players (involved in other homecoming activities),” Foltmer said. “My job is to win games … that’s my contribution to homecoming.”
“I hope they have lots of homecoming activities to distract their players,” joked Larsen, who got his own homecoming out of the way several weeks ago against Fort Bragg. “But I know what Bill’s talking about.”
Middletown and Kelseyville are both run-first teams that pick their spots to throw the ball. The Knights have rushed for a combined 800 yards the last two weeks in wins over St. Helena and Cloverdale.
“If our cornerbacks aren’t paying attention, if they get caught playing up tight to the line, they’ll try to hurt us deep,” Larsen said of the Mustangs.
And the same can be said of the Knights with quarterback Luke Watkins and speedy wide receiver Reme Strong ready to strike deep at a moment’s notice.
“Both teams know each other well and we’re similar in what we do,” Foltmer added. “If we’re going to be in this game, we need to finish our drives … and not just in the fourth quarter.”
“Middletown executes very well and is solid fundamentally,” Larsen said. “I think in this game extra points are going to matter. The biggest thing for us is we need to control the line of scrimmage. It’s critical that we stop their fullback power.”
Both teams enter the game healthy. Middletown’s Brandon Costlow, who sat out last week’s win over Cloverdale with a shoulder injury, is ready to go this week, according to Foltmer. His replacement a week ago, freshman Trenton Griffith (244 yards, 3 TDs against Cloverdale) is back down with the junior varsity team.
Middletown needs a win and a Clear Lake loss at Willits to move into a tie for first place with one week remaining in the season, a situation Foltmer didn’t expect his team to be in this year.
“All of a sudden things just changed quickly and dramatically for us,” Foltmer said of Middletown’s three straight comeback wins against Cloverdale, Willits (in overtime) and Fort Bragg.
“I’m impressed with what they’ve been able to do in the fourth quarter,” Larsen said. “They don’t have a lot of players, so that’s a testament to their conditioning.”
Lower Lake
It’s the third week in a row Lower Lake is playing the team that just lost a heartbreaker to the Middletown Mustangs, and so far it’s a trend that hasn’t worked to the Trojans’ advantage. First it was Fort Bragg (40-8 loss), then Willits (45-0 loss), and now it’s the Cloverdale Eagles who can’t help but be a little ticked off after blowing a 21-point lead at home against Middletown.
The Trojans will honor their seniors before taking the field against the Eagles and their high-scoring offense led by freshman quarterback Mason Caturegli.
Scoring isn’t something Lower Lake has done much of lately. The Trojans have been shut out in three of the last four weeks and four times overall this season. They’ve been outscored 207-16 in league play so far.
After Cloverdale, the Trojans close out the season Nov. 4 at Kelseyville.
Upper Lake
Injuries in the backfield have left the Upper Lake Cougars in a difficult spot as they host Cornerstone Christian in their final home game of the season.
“They are a heavy run team, but they’ve been struggling this season,” Upper Lake head coach Vince Moran said. “We’ve been struggling too.”
Benjamin Beecher (groin) and Will Henry (back) both figure to see limited action Friday night, according to Moran. Nick Foster (ribs) is out and Joey Franklin, who has missed most of the season with an injury, isn’t quite ready to return.
“It’s been rough,” Moran said of his backfield situation. “If we take guys from the line it weakens our line. With all of these injuries, we can never really hit our stride.”
Coming off a 30-6 loss to South Fork a week ago, the Cougars may have to rely more on a passing game led by quarterback Jerod Rosales and running back/receiver Delaney Allison, both sophomores.
“They’ve kind of been a constant for us this season,” Moran said of two of his healthier skill players. “We might have to turn to that (passing game) a little more.”
Following the Cornerstone Christian game, the Cougars play Branson on Saturday, Nov. 5 to close out league play and the regular season.
