Sometimes motivation can be a powerful tool and sometimes even when things look most bleak, good stories come. To appreciate the 2006 Calistoga High football team, you first have to understand the peaks and valleys between 1999-2005.
Like many high school football programs, Calistoga has seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows. The 2005 season would qualify with the latter. The Wildcats played just four games on the field that season which began with the excitement of the return of Dan Conner as head coach. Conner replaced John Antonio after just two seasons and had coached the Wildcats in two others stints (1974-1977; 1996-2000). Calistoga won the 1999 CIF North Coast Section Class B title in 1999.
Conner would soon discover that “what was” is not always “what is.” Conner always had a rule that if a kid would miss practice for any reason, he had to first let him know. The 2005 season was full of weeks like that in addition to academic ineligibility and even when games were played on the field, it was not a good representation. The poor on-the-field representation included things like post-possession penalties that revealed lack of self-control.
Frustrated with the constant issues, Conner want to cancel the rest of the season. That led to strife between Conner and the Calistoga administration (specifically principle Kevin Eisenberg and to a lesser degree, athletic director Frank DiFede). The latter would make the argument that Conner only had the authority to cancel individual games but not an entire season. Conner resigned and Joe Russo took over as head coach the rest of the season. The Wildcats would only play one game, which was a 27-20 win over Laytonville.
Throughout the entire offseason, there were questions as to whether or not Calistoga High would have a football team in 2006. Assistant coach Shawn Garrity, who was a teacher at Calistoga High, oversaw the offseason program between opening the weight-room and organizing team fundraisers that included a car wash. Garrity even oversaw spring practice.
Calistoga, however, would reach into its past by hiring 1962 CHS graduate Mike Ervin in June 2006. Ervin had coached in various locations both at the college and high school levels including but not limited to Mendocino College, Sonoma State University, Cardinal Newman, Anderson Valley, Analy and Reid High in Sparks, NV.
Ervin would inherit a talented but mostly unproven senior class that included Ziggy Gutierrez, Andrew Watkins, Alex Cedarquist, Alex Lynch and Russ Rider. There were also talented juniors in the mix such as B.J. Schlieder, Jesus Cachu and Bryant Rubio. Ervin would bring in the shotgun veer and a 4-2-5 defense. He would also bring in assistant coaches Jesse Atkinson and Aaron Debacker, both of whom played for Ervin at Analy. That staff also included Calistoga High graduates Julio Ambriz and Jake Blakeley.
The question is, how soon could Ervin get the players to buy into his way of coaching? The first answer to that question would come on Week 1 against North Hills Christian (Vallejo), coached by former Calistoga and St. Helena coach Richard Eaton.
I remember vividly going into that game and season saying that “if Calistoga went 2-8 and didn’t have to forfeit games to academic ineligibility and would get rid of discipline issues the season would be a success.” I also remembered asking, how would the Wildcats do the first time they faced adversity since they were prone to crumbling in times of crisis the previous few seasons before?
Thumbnail sketch of the game: The Wildcats produced 343 yards on the ground with a mixture of Cachu, Gutierrez and Sandro Villasenor. Gutierrez also had an efficient passing game in completing 7-of-12 throws for 68 yards, including a 16-yard scoring strike to Cachu on the game’s opening series. Unlike the previous season, when Calistoga faced adversity, it kept its poise. Defensively, the Wildcats also handled themselves while facing a unique challenge against an Eagles team that threw more passes than a gigolo at a nightclub.
Leading 17-8, the Wildcats appeared to salt the game away midway through the fourth quarter but Gutierrez’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Cedarquist was nullified because of an ineligible man downfield.
Calistoga later turned the ball over on downs but North Hills struck quickly as Darrin Farias scored on a 1-yard sneak with 3:53 left in the game and hit Dallas Hamilton for the two-point conversion, making it 17-16.
Cachu then capped the scoring with a 19-yard run with 56 seconds left in the contest and the Wildcat defense held as cornerback Ricky Mendoza broke up Farias’ last-gasp pass toward the end zone.
What it meant: The Wildcats would lose four of their next five games though against the most difficult part of their schedule that included games against Berean Christian, Vacaville Christian, Mendocino and Tomales to fall to 2-4. The Wildcats then bounced back with three straight wins beating Laytonville (42-12), Round Valley (36-0) and Potter Valley (39-22). Calistoga then finished the regular season with a gut-wrenching 34-27 loss to Anderson Valley.
However, the Wildcats’ 5-5 record was enough to get them into the NCS Class B playoffs. The season ended with a whimper in a 48-0 loss to St. Bernard (Eureka) but anyone who viewed that season plus the previous one knew that 2006 was a resounding success.
Calistoga would go 6-4 in 2007 but the next three seasons the talent dried up and many of the assistants that Ervin had enjoyed good chemistry with, notably Atkinson and Debacker were unable to continue coaching. The next three seasons, Calistoga went a combined 13-19. Ervin resigned after the 2010 season.
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