Most multiple high school towns have a rivalry game. The kind where regardless of win-loss record, the game takes on social and athletic elements because people attend that normally couldn’t care less about sports.
In Napa, there is Big Game, which pits Napa and Vintage High. Most consider the best ever Big Game, in football if not all of sports, to be in 1982 when Napa and Vintage were tied atop the Monticello Empire League standings. Back then, it was only league champions going to the CIF Sac Joaquin Section playoffs. Rich Harbison’s 75-yard run lifted Napa to a 7-0 win. I can’t speak for what it was like to cover that game because I was just 9 years old. I can, however, speak for the 1999 edition.
In football, the rivalry has lost much luster the past decade because Napa has won every game decisively since 2006. In fact, Napa has won 11 of 12 head-to-head matchups since 2002. Until that time, however, the rivalry had been on pretty equal footing. I only covered two Big Games in football because I was always on a different beat within Napa and Solano Counties.
As a sports observer, we have games that still pop up in our memory banks years and decades later. The 1999 version of Big Game football, which Vintage won 18-14, is one such game for me.
Setting the stage: Both teams were at the bottom of the MEL standings but Memorial Stadium was a packed house. Napa entered the game 2-6-1 while Vintage was 1-7-1. Napa had gone into a funk after losing 32-0 in the 1997 Big Game that it was favored to win. The Indians came back the next year to go 3-4-3 in 1998. That same year, Vintage went 6-3-1 as the Crushers had the MEL’s top-ranked defense led by coordinator Steve Vargus.
In 1999, both teams had close losses as well as decisive ones. While Napa was not a great team, it was better than it appeared to be. Between the two teams, Vintage had more decisive losses and was ravaged with both injuries and, without going into particulars, dissention.
Since both programs had regularly been serious players in the MEL, and the SJS, it felt strange to see both programs fall to irrelevance in 1999. Vintage won Section titles in 1980 and 1986. Napa reached the Section title game in 1982 and 1994 before losing. The Indians, however, won the section crown in 2007.
I remember double-covering that game with my longtime friend and then colleague Andy Ward. Based on Napa appearing to be a better team than its record, the entire Napa Valley Register sports staff of yours truly, Ward, Marty James and Bryan Hohnstein picked Napa to win that game. Back then, the Register did predictions on high school football games.
Thumbnail sketch of the game: When Napa’s Phil Jeffrey ran for a 33-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to put his team in front 14-10, it appeared as though the Indians were ready to take control.
Napa, however, failed to extend the lead, which left the door ajar for Vintage. Just over a couple minutes left in the game, Napa faced third and four from its own 48. Memory escapes me on what the time out situation was but if the Indians get a first down, they shorten the game at worst. Instead, Napa quarterback Matt Wood fumbled and Vintage defensive tackle Darriush Garber recovered.
Moments later, Justin Nunley, who threw for a Big Game record 216 yards, connected with Grant Jacka in the right corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 left in the game. Vintage made good on the two-point conversion to go ahead 18-14. When Napa got the ball back, Darrick Graeber intercepted Wood’s pass to seal the win.
Though it’s easy to point to the Nunley-to-Jacka connection, the game was actually lost much earlier. Napa had a chance to go in front 21-10 (17-10 minimum) but thanks to a goal-line stand in which Vintage’s Ryan Hill recovered a fumble, the Indians got nothing.
What it meant: The game meant nothing from a playoff ramification perspective but rivalry games is that they can often define your season. The interesting sidenote of the Nunley-to-Jacka connection is that the two alternated at quarterback earlier in the season and each one took a pounding. The lasting memory I still have of that game was not only the capacity crowd but seeing Jacka, who was battered and bruised by season’s end hoist his younger brother (Cameron) over his shoulders.
Though I am not a believer in bulletin board material, this game was a prime example of how motivation can be a powerful tool. Whether it was the entire Register sports staff (myself included) picking them to lose or just looking to get a season’s worth of frustration out on their rivals, the Crushers had an intangible factor that night. Of course, if Napa takes advantage of its opportunities it’s a much different discussion.
After the season, Jim Costan resigned (or let go depending on who you talk to) as head coach and Les Franco came back into coaching after being dismissed by Napa 11 years earlier. In 2000, Franco and his staff engineered a turnaround season in which they went 8-3. The Crushers, however, went between 4-6 and 6-4 until his tenure ended in 2006. Napa would struggle the next two seasons in going 7-13. Since 2002, however, Napa has been in the playoffs every season including its aforementioned Section title in 2007.
In the meantime, Vintage is still trying to find its way back to relevance. Since Franco resigned at the end of 2006, the coaching position has been a revolving door while Napa has established a strong culture under Troy Mott and earlier Jerry Dunlap. Billy Smith, Dave Shipp and now Kyle Hoffman attempt to put the Crushers back on the radar.
While the Napa-Vintage rivalry has lost some luster in football, this one night in 1999 was an example of how rivalry games can define a season, good or bad.
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