LAKE COUNTY— The long awaited prep football season got underway Friday as Lake County teams suited up for action in the high school gridirons. The Kelseyville Knights opened their 2023 campaign against McKinleyville of the Humboldt-Del Norte League. New head coach Leonardo Flores replaced Erick Larsen, who is the new head coach at St. Helena.
Varsity-Kelseyville 62- McKinnleyville 12
Kyle Watkins went 114 yards on 13 carries with 2 touchdowns. Max Hommer had 84 yards for 9 carries and a touchdown in the first half and tacked on another 42 yards on three carries in the second half. Micheal DeJohn had 26 yards on four carries and two of those carries resulted in touch downs.
Casey Huston had 37 yards on six carries and a touchdown and Johnathan Dougherty 46 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. The Knights had two passing touchdowns. Brock Barrick completed 4 of 6 passes for 61 yards. Tyler Bryant had three of those receptions one a 25-yard touchdown reception. Kyle Watkins added a receiving touchdown to his two rushing. Jose Juarez went eight of nine on PATs.
Defensively the Knights gave up few yards and less first downs. A kickoff return by McKinnleyville that put them inside the 15 resulted in their first touchdown and a forced fumble and recovery by McKinnleyville inside the 10 resulted in their second touchdown. Adam Astrup had a fumble recovery while Jayden Teabo lead the Knights with tackles with 5.
Said head coach Leonardo Flores, “The goal is not to be one-dimensional. We want to be dynamic, pass and run, and control the clock. This was a great first step in figuring out how we can achieve those goals this season.” Kelseyville’s defense allowed few yards and first downs. A long kickoff return set up McKinleyville’s first score and a recovered fumble deep in Kelseyville territory set up the other. Jayden Teabo led the Knights with five tackles and Adam Astrup recovered a fumble.
JV- Kelseyville 27- McKinnleyville 0
Bryce Keener had 192 rushing yards on 15 carries for three touchdowns followed by Micheal Dougherty’s 109 yards on 8 carries and 1 touchdown. All 23 players played and helped contribute. Defensively Micheal Dougherty and Milez Giambra lead the team in tackles and Nicolai Trippo and Bryce Keener kept the outside contained to allow for minimal gains by McKinnleyville. Jair Carrillo had 3 PATs (three out of four).
Week 1 scoreboard:
Varsity scores
Kelseyville 62, McKinleyville 12 (final)Piner 15, Middletown 14 (final)…Middletown fails to make two-point conversion with 1:10 left.
Terra Linda 40, Upper Lake 18 (final)
The Cougars returned to the 11-man game for the first time since 2014 but they could not get it going offensively on Friday with the exception of a gift safety in the first quarter of their game against the visiting Terra Linda Trojans. The Trojans committed a number of miscues in the first half of the game, perhaps none bigger than allowing the ball to cross their own endzone leading to two points and the ensuing free kick, but Upper Lake could not get it going defensively, giving up 20 points in the second quarter and falling behind 27-2 at halftime.
Upper Lake’s first touchdown came midway through the third quarter after a 10-play drive culminated on a rushing score by Ben Beecher and a subsequent 2-point conversion, Jerod Rosales to Jonathon Barnes cut the lead to 27-10. With the running clock going in the 4th, the Cougars battled for one last score on the ground and managed another short rushing touchdown and a 2-point conversion to close out the scoring.
—Ariel Carmona
Del Norte 42, Lower Lake 12 (final)
Clear Lake (bye)
JV scores
Upper Lake 14, Terra Linda 6 (final)
Middletown 36, Piner 0 (final)
Kelseyville 27, McKinleyville 0 (final) … Bryce Keener 15 carries for 192 yards, three TDs; Michael Dougherty eight carries for 109 yards, TD; Dougherty, Miley Giambra lead team in tackles; other defensive leaders are Keener and Michael Trippo; Jair Inostroza Carrillo three PAT kicks.
Del Norte 34, Lower Lake 6 (final)
An 87-yard kickoff return from Buddy Felder provided some early excitement for the hometown fans as they opened their game against visiting Del Norte. However, the Warriors spoiled the home opener for the Trojans. Up next for Lower Lake is another home game as they host an Ygnacio Valley (Concord) team that is 0-22 since its last win in 2019.
—Scoreboard updates courtesy of Lake County Sports
