LOWER LAKE — Brandon Costlow rushed for 280 yards and two touchdowns as the Middletown Mustangs picked up their first win of the season with a 29-8 victory over the Lower Lake Trojans in the North Central League I opener for both of these varsity football teams Friday night at Gordon Sadler Field.
"Lower Lake played us real well," Middletown head coach Bill Foltmer said after collecting career win No. 297. "They had a good gamplan for us, but I thought we kind of wore them down between our running game and the injuries they had during the game. They were fairly depleted by the end."
"The injury bug bit us again," Lower Lake head coach Jay Jakubowski said. "We lost our middle linebacker (concussion) and our second quarterback."
With starting quarterback Michael Russell already sidelined with a shoulder injury, his backup, Demarion Jones, sustained a knee injury late in the first half and could not continue.
"Now we're on quarterback No. 3," Jakubowski said of Charles Jones, who scored Lower Lake's touchdown on a 9-yard run in the third quarter and also had two-point conversion run to cut Middletown's 13-0 halftime advantage to 13-8.
Middletown pushed its lead to 21-8 on a Costlow 5-yard run later in the quarter, Costlow also adding the conversion run. The Mustangs put the game away on a Cisco Howland 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, with quarterback Hunter Hartzog adding the conversion run on a busted play.
"Costlow was a workhorse for us," Foltmer said of the junior's 35 carries. "As the game went on he started to get going."
Middletown (1-0 league, 1-3 overall) had another touchdown wiped out by a penalty and also lost a fumble at Lower Lake's 2-yard line late in the game.
"We did a really good job, but we're struggling with some stupid mistakes," Jakubowski said.
Middletown scored its first 13 points in the second quarter. Costlow's 2-yard run broke a scoreless deadlock. Later in the half Troy Taber pulled in a 30-yard pass from Hartzog to make it 13-0.
"Their kid made a great play on the ball," Jakubowski said of Taber. "We could have easily gone into the half down just 7-0."
Lower Lake's defense did recover two fumbles — one each by Micah Gurule and Steven "Buddy" Felder — and Jordan O'Keefe finished with eight tackles and three passes defended.
"We played them tough defensively," Jakubowski said.
Jakubowski also was pleased with the play of Charles Jones at quarterback.
"He rushed for between 50-60 yards and O'Keefe had another 30 to 40 yards."
Added Jakubowski, "Our kids played hard."
Middletown hosts undefeated Clear Lake (1-0, 4-0) next Friday while Lower Lake (0-1, 1-3) visits St. Helena (0-1, 2-2). Willits defeated St. Helena 26-12 on Friday night in another NCL I opener.
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