MIDDLETOWN — Fullback Sammy Vanoven took control of the game for Kelseyville in the fourth quarters as the Knights won a battle of defenses with the Middletown Mustangs, 14-6, in North Central League I varsity football action Friday night at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown.
Kelseyville’s third straight win leaves the Knights (4-2 league, 4-5 overall) in a situation head coach Erick Larsen said he didn’t expect after watching his team lose its first four games this season.
Going into the final week of league play and the regular season, the Knights find themselves locked in four-way tie for second place with Middletown, Willits and Cloverdale, just one game behind a previously undefeated Clear Lake team that lost 15-14 in overtime Friday night at Willits.
If Kelseyville wins next week at home against Lower Lake (0-6) and Clear Lake loses at Cloverdale, the league will end in at least a three-way tie for first and possibly even a four- or five-way tie depending on how Middletown fares at home against St. Helena (2-4) and how Willits does at Fort Bragg (1-5). Clear Lake clinches the outright championship with a victory.
“When you’re sitting at 0-4 and believe you have a good team, that’s faith,” Larsen said. “It feels really good to be at this point because we never lost our faith.”
Added Larsen of playing a struggling Lower Lake team next week in its final league game, “When you go from 0-4 to where we are now, you take nothing for granted, but my boys have earned this.”
“It was just a grind-it-out game,” Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said after watching the Mustangs’ three-game winning streak come to an end. “This game had the same MO as our other games this season. We moved the ball between the 20-yard line but we just don’t finish our drives.”
Kelseyville scored first on a 55-yard run by Kyle Watkins (11 carries for 99 yards) in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead. Middletown tied it later in the same quarter on a 19-yard pass from quarterback Hunter Hartzog to running back Brandon Costlow. Both teams came up short on their two-point conversion runs.
The Knights pushed ahead with what proved to be the winning score in the second quarter on a Vanoven 3-yard run. Luke Watkins’ keeper on the conversion run made it 14-6.
“We made two major penalties on their scoring drive, giving them 30 yards. They were the right calls, we just helped them,” Foltmer said.
There weren’t any more points scored in the game but there was plenty of drama late as Middletown had a pair of scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter, one of them set up an Elijah Diaz interception, but Kelseyville’s defense held firm both times.
“I’m really proud of my guys,” Larsen said.
Kelseyville’s offensive line also did its job, especially in the fourth quarter when the Knights were able to move the sticks and take precious time off the clock.
“Sammy really took over in the fourth quarter,” Larsen said of Vanoven. “He was getting key first downs up the middle and on weakside runs with good second effort.”
One of those first-down runs came on a critical third-and-six play.
Lead blocking by backfield mate Kyle Watkins and a couple of key Steven Frace blocks helped Vanoven finish the game with 157 yards on 24 carries. As a team, the Knights rolled up 344 yards on the ground and have more than 1,100 rushing yards in their last three games alone.
“Down the stretch we were able to control the line of scrimmage,” Larsen said.
Jacob Urbina rushed for 124 yards on 20 carries for the Mustangs while Costlow, who was back in the starting lineup after missing last week’s win over Cloverdale with a shoulder injury, added 51 yards on 16 carries.
“It was pretty much what we thought it would be,” Larsen said of the game. “They played good defense, we played good defense.”
“Kelseyville just outplayed us,” Foltmer said. “We had some opportunities and didn’t take advantage.”
Kelseyville’s junior varsity team beat Middletown 35-14 to improve to 6-0 in league play and 8-1 overall. The Knights have won eight straight.
