Middletown tops Tomales in first round

Battle-tested Middletown eased past Tomales, 49-0, at Foltmer Field Saturday night in the first round of the North Coast Section Division V football playoffs. The fourth-seeded Mustangs had no trouble containing the Braves ground-oriented offense while scoring 35 points in the first half of their dominating win in Lake County.

Middletown advances to the second round on Saturday as they host Stellar Prep of Oakland. Stellar Prep defeated Valley Christian of Dublin at Chabot College, 34-20.

The 13-seeded Braves went into the game as heavy underdogs knowing that keeping the ball away from the explosive Middletown offense was a priority.

“There is no question about it. Ball control is our only chance tonight,” explained Tomales coach Leon Feliciano before the opening kickoff. “We can’t let this one get away early.”

The strategy of preventing Middletown any extended ball possession unraveled in a hurry.

In the opening offensive series, Tomales found itself pinned deep into Brave territory on fourth down. A bad snap cleared the head of Brave punter Jacob Sampietro and bounded near the goal line where the ball went over to the Mustangs on downs.

On the first play from scrimmage, running back Ryan Hall scored the first of his three touchdowns, and Middletown went ahead for good.

The Mustangs went on to score three touchdowns in less than five minutes to take any mystery out of the contest.

Trailing 14-0, Tomales quarterback Joel Gutierrez attempted a long pass to reverse the game’s momentum, but his throw was picked off near mid field by Anthonie Guzman, who raced down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Mustangs bunched their players to match the strength of the Tomales double-wing formation. Pitches and inside handoffs to workhorse back Willy Lepori went for little yardage. Occasional outside runs to the opposite side by senior teammate Eli Gomez were also contained.

Middletown eased up on the throttle in the second half by scoring only twice against the battling, but out-manned Tomales defenders. The Braves top defensive play makers Alex Palomares, Lepori, Gutierrez and Dante Feliciano were hard pressed to stop the Mustang express which was on the field most of the first half. Palomores led Tomales for the season with 77 total tackles, but he and his two teammates will all be lost to graduation next year.

Senior Ryan Giammona wound up leading the Braves in total stops for the game with seven, mostly in the secondary. Feliciano chipped in with five.

Second-leading tackler Johnny Barajas will return after a fine junior season averaging 6.5 stops per game. He will be joined by continually improving defender Ty Evenich

The loss marked the end of a stellar season for the hard-working Lepori who was limited to 67 yards on 22 carries by the swarming Middletown defense that played up and ignored the threat of a pass. Gomez had 33 yards on eight attempts.

Lepori went into the game with a regular season total of 1,515 yards rushing to top all Division V backs in the North Coast Section.

The Brave ground game, a strong feature all season at 262 yards per game, was limited to 137 yards by the Mustang defenders.

Senior quarterback Gutierrez completed five passes for 18 yards. Sampietro, one of the top Brave receivers this season along with Lepori, gathered in one pass for eight yards.

It was the end of an era for Tomales football as it was the final game for coach Feliciano, who announced his retirement from football before the beginning of the season. In 19 years at Tomales, Feliciano finished with a sparkling record of 137-69-3, including numerous league titles and three division wins. This season, the Braves had another winning campaign with a mark of 7-4.

Guzman led Middletown rushers with 64 yards on seven carries. The Mustangs used the pass sparingly, with one completion to Cody Corjel for 25 yards.