Sometimes you have to share things that you never had a chance to write about in print. Well, I’m about to share took place before I had a Facebook account. I was going to write a column about it but I relented because I felt it was too personal and would have overshadowed the success that St. Helena High fall sports teams were experiencing at the time. However, I can share it guilt free since I have left the newspaper industry as a career. However, I still contribute to my former employer as a freelance writer and as a blogger.
It was the first week of October 2006 as I was covering the Upper Napa Valley sports beat, specifically St. Helena and Calistoga for the St. Helena Star and Weekly Calistogan. The beat also involved coverage for the Napa Valley Register, our parent publication.
During football season, the Register runs football preview capsules on each of the games as well as a feature story involving one of the schools. The latter was done on a rotating basis. To that end, it was St. Helena’s week so I chose a feature on Saints’ running back David Fanucci. Ian MacMillan, who was St. Helena’s head coach from 2004-2006, brought Fanucci up to varsity as a sophomore and by the time he was a senior morphed into a 1,000 yard rusher along with backfield mate John Hudson. That season, the Saints won the North Central League I South championship for their first league crown since 1978.
St. Helena was 2-2 entering its game at Lower Lake on the heels of consecutive losses (32-28 to Fort Bragg and 15-13 to Willits). The Saints were also limping on the injury front as the team was down to just 16 players entering its aforementioned road game at Lower Lake. At the time, the Saints coaching staff was mostly made up of guys in their 20s that would be part of the scout team.
One day leading up to the game, it had rained in St. Helena so MacMillan had moved practice inside the gym so as not to further risk more injuries. So, I stopped by practice to interview both MacMillan and Fanucci. The former looks over in my direction and asks with a sly grin on his face, “Vince, are you doing anything right now?” I responded with, “You need me to run scout team?” So he nods his head and the kids were egging me on to do it. So, I took the plunge.
I played football and ran track in high school school but, at the time, I was 34 years old. I was active in pilates at the time but cardiovascularly I was not in the best shape. Luckily, this was not a practice involving pads.
So I played the role of Lower Lake wide receiver Kevin Freeman. On running plays, I came off the line of scrimmage aggressively to make downfield blocks. On passing plays, I ran routes without tipping off what they were. There were a few times where I reached down low to catch passes, rolling on the gym floor in the process. The big moment came when I was lined up against Dre Gomes. I ran a post-corner route, Gomes bit hard on the post and I beat him to the corner. Sorry, Dre.
I proceeded to playfully talk smack to the kids and say, “You better get someone to cover me, Dawg! You got an old man beating you downfield!” It produced a good sense of levity. So I tell MacMillan, “Hey coach, I only used up three years of eligibility in high school, you got another jersey?”
Suffice it to say, my legs were sore for about a week but it was a fun experience and I feel like it brought out a different element of the relationship I had with the kids and coaches.
The Saints went on to beat Lower Lake 34-7 that week and I’m pretty certain that I had more receptions and yards that day in practice than Freeman had in the game.
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