LAKEPORT>> In the wake of a dominant 34 point win over Lower Lake a week ago, the Kelseyville High School varsity team (7-0 league) entered the annual Bass Bowl game with their eyes on the North Central I League title, while the Cardinals found themselves in a rebuilding phase and have been struggling this season, going into Friday’s contest having lost six of their first seven games.
On a rainy fall night where the temperatures dipped into the nippy 50s, the rain wreaking havoc with the field at Don Owens stadium, the Kelseyville Varsity team wasted little time following up their JV counterpart’s earlier victory (9-0) and proceeded to go down the field on 14 play drive to take the early lead 7-0 over CLHS with 4:09 left in the opening quarter.
Most of the early load was carried by senior running back/corner back Kyle Watkins who started them off ripping a long run which the Knights capitalized on to take the first quarter lead. On a key third down play (a counter play) Watkins took it to the endzone on a long scoring run to give the Knights a 13-0 lead with 5:36 left in second quarter. By the time the horn blew for halftime, Kelseyville was already up 20-0 courtesy of Watkins again, this time a 5-yard touchdown reception from Barrick.
It seemed a missed PAT was the only offensive scoring blemish on the night for the Knights at this juncture of the game.
On senior night where a lot of the CLHS players were contemplating the end of their high school football careers, the fans who braved the inclement weather were treated to a halftime ceremony which included Ty Bingham taking his oath of enlistment into the U.S. Army in the middle of the field in front of his cheering family, peers and supporters.
After the break, Barrick scored for the Knights on a short run with 5:46 left in the third. He did most of the damage with his legs during the drive as Kelseyville dominating the scoreboard 27-0 late in the third quarter. A recovered kick by the opportunistic Knights led to another score when Watkins hauled in another pass from his quarterback, stretching their lead to 34-0 late in the third, and the rout was on.
The Cards finally got on the scoreboard on a 3-yard touchdown run authored by Junior Zane McCauley with 20 secs left in the penultimate quarter. Clear Lake High would wind up with another score late, but the contest had long been decided as coach Mark Cory’s team lost a second consecutive Bass Bowl game to the Knights.
“We feel good now,” said Kelseyville head coach Leonardo Flores following the rout and added that the team was getting healthy at the right time with the playoffs looming. “Kyle is healthy now,” he said in reference to Watkins, who experience injuries earlier in the year.
“I have been coaching these guys since they were sophomores.” Flores said, “our offensive line is resilient, and we continue to get healthy.” He noted that despite the team only losing one game thus far this season, a 44-21 non-league loss at Orland on September 6, players missed blocks and assignments and that’s one thing he wants the team to improve on. “We are going to emphasize blocking,” he said, while adding his senior quarterback Brock Barrick is doing a great job. Friday’s victory gives the Knights a 9-5 overall record in the Bass Bowl game.
The Cardinals were scheduled to finish their schedule at Cloverdale next week while the Knights, who clinched part of the league title with the win this week will square off against St. Helena in a home conference game on November 8, kicking off at 7 p.m. in Lakeport.
