By Brian Sumpter, Lake County Sports
LAKE COUNTY >> Three teams are headed to the playoffs and two of them – Clear Lake or Kelseyville in Division 7 – have an excellent chance of bringing home a North Coast Section title and reaching the state playoffs, a feat accomplished by Clear Lake a year ago, the first time a Lake County team advanced that far.
Both North Central League I co-champion Clear Lake (9-1), fourth-place finisher Kelseyville (7-3) and NCL I co-champion Middletown (8-2), a Division 6 team, are moving on to the postseason looking to add a bit more glory to already successful seasons. Clear Lake, the No. 1 seed in Division 7 and the defending Division 7 champion, has a first-round bye this coming weekend while No. 3 seed Kelseyville is home Friday night (7 p.m. kickoff) to play No. 6 seed St. Patrick-St. Vincent (5-5) of Vallejo, the fourth-place team out of the Tri-Counties Stone League. It’s a rematch of last year’s first-round game won by Kelseyville 48-30 in Vallejo.
Middletown came away with the No. 5 seed in the Division 6 playoff field, one spot lower than it needed to secure a first-round home game. The Mustangs hit the road for Fortuna where they’ll play the Huskies (7-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of that game more than likely will face No. 1 seed St. Vincent (8-2) in the semifinals the weekend of Nov. 17-18 in Petaluma.
St. Vincent reached the Division 7 championship game a year ago, losing a 56-55 barnburner to Clear Lake. Section criteria forced St. Vincent to move up to Division 6 this year, the same criteria that will move Clear Lake up to Division 6 next season.
The Division 7 playoffs are shaping up to be an all-NCL I tournament as the semifinal matchups could easily be St. Helena at Clear Lake and Kelseyville at Willits. Clear Lake and Kelseyville squared off in the semifinals a year ago, and they could meet for the section title the weekend of Nov. 24-25, which would likely be the best-attended game in county history. The state semifinal round is Dec. 1-2 at sites to be determined followed by the state championship games Dec. 8-9 in Southern California.
Middletown has a much tougher road to the section finals but enters the playoffs a winner of six straight. The Mustangs’ first opponent, Fortuna, tied Del Norte (Crescent City) and St. Bernard’s (Eureka) for the Humboldt-Del Norte Big Four title this season.
Following is a look back at some of the highlights and lowlights from Week 11, the final week of the regular season:
Statistics
Rushing – Kelseyville’s Max Hommer gained 142 yards on only 12 carries while teammate Kyle Watkins had 122 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown in a 17-14 loss to St. Helena. After a tough outing the previous week against Kelseyville, Clear Lake’s Hank Ollenberger bounced back with a huge effort in a 39-0 shutout of Cloverdale, rolling up 136 yards on 14 carries with three touchdowns. Middletown’s Brandon Costlow gained 75 yards on just seven carries with a TD in a 35-8 victory over Upper Lake.
Passing – Making his second start at quarterback, Clear Lake senior Cody Hayes went 14-for-15 for 216 yards and three touchdowns against Cloverdale. Middletown’s Blake Costlow went 5-for-7 for 153 yards against Upper Lake. Kelseyville’s Brock Barrick finished with 119 yards and one TD against St. Helena. Lower Lake’s Ashton Hartmann led his team on a drive of 80 yards in the final two minutes to set up a game-winning field goal against Fort Bragg.
Receiving – Hank Ollenberger not only led the Cardinals in rushing against Cloverdale, but in receiving yardage as well with 93 yards on three catches and a TD. Teammate Saul Reyes hauled in nine passes for 87 yards and a TD. Middletown’s Jon Hawkins had only one reception, but the 70-yarder set up a touchdown for Middletown against Upper Lake. Teammate Evan Harper, the Mustangs’ tight end, had two catches for 63 yards.
Special teams
Game-winning kick – Lower Lake’s Guillermo Fernandez booted a game-winning 26-yard field goal with seconds remaining to lift the Trojans to a 21-20 win over Fort Bragg on Thursday night in Lower Lake, ending the Timberwolves’ chances of qualifying for the postseason.
Super-charged return teams – Middletown returned two kicks for touchdowns against Upper Lake, both in the first quarter, while building a 21-0 lead. Jon Hawkins returned the opening kickoff 79 yards for a score and teammate Trenton Griffith took a punt back 73 yards for another touchdown a few minutes later.
Bypassed field goal – Trailing 17-14 with a little more than a minute to play, Kelseyville decided not to go for a game-tying field goal against St. Helena and instead ran a fourth-and-goal play from the St. Helena 5-yard line, looking for the go-ahead touchdown. The pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
Defense
Active Knights — Kelseyville’s Nacho Piller-Montero was in a dozen tackles while teammate Max Hommer had 10 overall tackles against St. Helena. Also for the Knights, Michael DeJohn had eight tackles, Daniel Anderson-Reyes seven and Jonathan Dougherty seven, including a sack.
Back-to-back sacks – Middletown’s Eli Moreno and Gerardo Garcia had back-to-back sacks to blow up an Upper Lake drive on Friday night.
He did everything else, too – Clear Lake’s Hank Ollenberger picked off a Cloverdale pass.
Shutout No. 3 – Clear Lake shut out three opponents in 10 regular-season games.
Miscellaneous
Won’t see that often – It’s a rare for a team to have two 100-yard-plus rushers and still lose, a statistical anomaly that bit Kelseyville in a 17-14 loss at St. Helena. The Knights outgained the Saints by 200 yards and still lost.
Streaks – Lower Lake snapped a six-game losing streak with its season-ending victory over Fort Bragg. Middletown takes a six-game winning streak into the Division 6 playoffs. Kelseyville is trying to end a long, long streak of no section championships. The last one came in 1982. By comparison, Clear Lake’s last section title was in 2022, Middletown’s in 2018, Upper Lake’s in 1992 and Lower Lake’s in 1988.
Back-to-back titles – Clear Lake’s league co-championship with Middletown marks the second straight year the Cardinals have bitten off at least a share of the title. It’s the first time they’ve won back-to-back titles since 2007-08.
Rare opportunity – No Lake County team has even won back-to-back section titles although several have appeared in back-to-back section championship games, the last time by Middletown (2017-18). Clear Lake could accomplish that feat with a second straight Division 7 crown.
290/309 – With his 35-8 win over Upper Lake on Friday night, Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer recorded his 290th win at Middletown and the 309th of his career.
More Foltmer – Middletown’s head coach called a timeout in the final seconds against Upper Lake, stopping a running clock, so that the Cougars could run one last play from Middletown’s 2-yard line. They scored to avoid the shutout.
JV kudos – To Upper Lake High School’s junior varsity football team for winning the outright North Central League I championship.
Youth football kudos – To the Middletown Colts pee wee and varsity teams for winning championships on Saturday.
Shaking it up – Willits is scheduled to move down into the North Central League II in all sports except football for the 2024-25 season. The Wolverines have had a difficult time competing in pretty much every sport except football for many years. Willits’ wrestling program, part of the Coastal Mountain Conference, remains excellent.
