Mustangs, Cards hit the road on Football Friday By Brian Sumpter -- Record-Bee sports editor Updated: 10/17/2013 10:59:40 PM PDT LAKE COUNTY -- Middletown and its 3-0 North Central League I record hit the road tonight to play a team desperately seeking its first league win, the Kelseyville Knights, who enter play 0-3. But if you think Mustangs coach Bill Foltmer is feeling invincible going into the game, think again. Thats simply not Foltmers style. We spent three-plus hours practicing today, Foltmer said of Thursdays workout. We dont take anyone lightly. In other action tonight involving Lake County teams, Clear Lake, also 3-0 in the league standings, faces its toughest test to date when it travels to St. Helena to play the Saints (2-1, 4-2), and Lower Lake (0-3, 2-4) celebrates its homecoming against the Cloverdale Eagles (2-1, 2-4), winners of two straight. Upper Lake has a bye this week. Middletown at Kelseyville The Mustangs, 5-1 overall pending final appeal of a forfeited game to Salesian in week one, enter Kelseyville (3-3) with a rather impressive streak on defense. Since giving up a touchdown in the fourth quarter to Salesian, Middletowns defense has blanked the opposition in 20 straight quarters. St. Helenas only touchdown a week ago in a 21-6 loss at Middletown came via its special teams. Last week was one of our best efforts, Foltmer said. I thought we played a great football game. That streak will once again be put to the test by a Kelseyville offense that can move the ball on the ground. Kevin Duty (772 yards, 14 TDs) is coming off a 266-yard, four-touchdown effort in last weeks 44-42 loss at Fort Bragg. Duty isnt even the leading rusher on his team. That honor goes to Robert McLean (780 yards, seven TDs). Anyone who can score 40 points in Fort Bragg is going to grab your attention, Foltmer said. Theyve got two good backs running behind a big line. Kelseyvilles defense also faces quite the challenge in a Middletown offense that can run or throw. Austin Benson, who has 718 rushing yards and eight TDs in only five games this season (he missed Salesian with an injury), is one of the top running backs in the league, and quarterback Josiah Amos has completed 53 of 98 passes for a county-best 926 yards and 12 TDs. Like I always say, theyve got to stop us too, Foltmer said. Middletown is as healthy as it can be for this time of season, according to Foltmer, and the Mustangs also get three players back this week - 290-pound defensive lineman Travis Titus, who was hurt in the Lake County Scrimmage on Aug. 30 in Lakeport; and tackle/middle linebacker Travis Prince and receiver/defensive back Jake Ruggles, who are now both eligible. Titus gives us a little more size on the defensive line, Foltmer said. While the Knights are still looking for their first league win after near-misses against Cloverdale and Fort Bragg, the Mustangs are taking this game every bit as seriously as last weeks first-place showdown with St. Helena. Coming off a big win, you dont want to stub your toe or all that you did (in the big win) will be forgotten, Foltmer said. Weve been playing well with few turnovers or penalties and we need to keep doing that. Clear Lake at St. Helena The Clear Lake Cardinals face their biggest challenge of the season when they play the Saints on their artificial turf field tonight. St. Helena is celebrating its homecoming and still smarting from last weeks loss at Middletown. Were running into unchartered territory, Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said. Were going to be facing teams with winning records for the most part and teams that are doing well, Meyer added of the Cardinals final four league games against St. Helena, Kelseyville, Middletown and Fort Bragg. Its a tough one for us for sure, Meyer said of the Saints. They played well against Middletown. I still dont know what kind of team I have but were going to find out. A win would keep Clear Lake atop the league standings, either alone in first or tied if Middletown defeats Kelseyville. The Cardinals enter play as healthy as any team can be on week seven of the season and grades came out earlier this week and there were no casualties, according to Meyer. We still have everybody, so thats a good thing, he said. Clear Lake returns home a week from tonight to play Kelseyville in Bass Bowl IV. I hope the kids arent looking past St. Helena to the Bass Bowl, Meyer joked. Cloverdale at Lower Lake The Cloverdale Eagles lost their first four games of the season, but back-to-back wins over Kelseyville and Willits have coach Rick Berrys squad at 2-1 in league play and tied with St. Helena and Fort Bragg entering play tonight at Gordon Sadler Field. Coach Berry does a good job, Lower Lake coach Justin Gaddy said. Lower Lake will be looking for league win No. 1 as it celebrates its homecoming. The boys are doing a good job of staying focused, Gaddy said. In a battle of spread teams, both with mobile quarterbacks who can throw the ball, Gaddy said the key for Lower Lake is putting together a complete game, not just two quarters of good football. We need to play four quarters of solid football, Gaddy said. If you look at our track record this season, we havent been a very good first-half team. We cant wait until were 14 points down to start playing. While homecoming offers its fair share of distractions, Gaddy said his players are getting their work done in practice this week. Its important for kids to be involved in homecoming and I really encourage it, Gaddy said. The one thing I like about homecoming is that it gets people excited about football and we need that. A shakeup in team captains seems to be working, too, according to Gaddy. The captains are reiterating the need to focus, Gaddy said. The captains have been stepping up.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 06:26:20 +0000
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