Sometimes you remember a game for being misleadingly closer than the score indicated but the winning team dominated the contest more than the final score suggested.
The Napa High football team’s 28-16 road win over the Vacaville Bulldogs at Youngblood Stadium in 2003 had exactly that feeling.
I also remember that game because it turned out to be the early stages of a Monticello Empire League rivalry. True, both teams have their rivalry on a local level. Napa has Vintage and Vacaville has Will C. Wood. However, since 2002, Napa vs. Vacaville has been the game people circle on their calendar in terms of the MEL race.
Setting the stage: For close to two decades (mid-1980s to early 2000s), Vacaville, Fairfield and Vallejo were the most consistently successful MEL programs. In that span, Napa and Vintage also had its share of success but also had some valleys to go along with the peaks. Fairfield and Vallejo are now in the Solano County Athletic Conference.
The Napa Indians experienced their valleys from 1998-2001, going 12-24-4 in that span. Napa closed the 1997 campaign with a 32-0 loss to the crosstown rival Vintage Crushers and were not the same team for a few years. Was that loss a result of what transpired in the ensuing four years? Who knows but it was a symptom of their struggles if nothing else.
Napa, however, enjoyed a renaissance in 2002, going 8-3 overall and 4-1 in the MEL I before losing 21-20 in the first round of the CIF Sac Joaquin Section Division I playoffs to Woodland. That season, the MEL was divided into I and II.
The Indians had a talented roster returning that included but was not limited to future NFL offensive lineman Mike Gibson. Was the success Napa attained in 2002 a mirage or a sign of things to come?
The two teams would start the MEL season head-to-head. The Indians were 3-1-1 with a 24-24 tie against Las Lomas (Walnut Creek). Napa then won its next three games (42-34 over Buhach Colony-Atwater; 40-6 over Vallejo; 21-20 over Hayward). Napa entered its titanic matchup against Vacaville with a 26-23 loss to Eureka.
As for the Bulldogs, they were 4-1 entering the contest. Vacaville defeated Yuba City (45-21), Ygancia Valley-Concord (49-27), Vallejo (35-20), and Fairfield (49-18) to go along with a 38-21 loss to Laguna Creek (Elk Grove).
The schedule might have suggested that this game was simply one out of five in the MEL. The winner of this contest, however, would have an early leg up in the MEL race.
Thumbnail sketch of the game: Thomas Sims led the way for Napa's offense with 131 yards rushing on 24 carries and a trio of touchdowns.
On the defensive end, the Indians took a “unleash the hounds” approach. Napa limited the Bulldogs to 62 yards rushing, producing six quarterback sacks and forcing three turnovers.
Vacaville scored first when it recovered a fumble at the Napa 37-yard line but had to settle for a 36-yard Tony Fracchia field goal to go in front 3-0 with 2:44 left in the opening period.
The Indians dominated the proceedings from that point forward. Sims scored on an 8-yard run up the middle with center Sam Valencia and Gibson leading the way, giving Napa a 7-3 advantage. The Indians went in front 14-3 on a Sims 4-yard run behind right tackle Kyle Tasher and tight end Ryan Stewart with 8:32 left in the first half.
Sims sacked backup quarterback Johnathon Sandopadre to set up the next score, forcing him to fumble and Arthur McHenry pounced on the loose ball at the Vacaville 28.
Napa quarterback Jesus Martinez, who completed all seven of his passes, rolled right and connected with an open Kevin Robledo for a 15-yard scoring strike with 4:45 left in the second quarter. Vacaville cut the Napa lead to 21-10 on Logan Murphy's 1-yard quarterback sneak.
The Indians went in front 28-10 when Sims ran for an 8-yard touchdown between Gibson and Tasher. Vacaville's David Warfield connected with Darren Lobb for a 27-yard touchdown on a halfback option for the final margin of victory.
In a strange twist of fate, Napa head coach Jerry Dunlap decided to show his team the film from the 2002 win over Vacaville (42-7) as opposed to the previous week's 26-23 loss to Eureka in the waning seconds.
The Indians put the clamps on Vacaville’s offense and the players seemed to apply what they learned from the former tape, and for the second year in a row, put the clamps on the Bulldogs offense.
Napa held Vacaville to a mere 62 yards rushing on 36 carries. Ten of those attempts produced negative yardage while 25 totaled less than four yards. The Indians also held Vacaville running back Evan Williams to 14 yards on 10 carries. Williams had broken the 100-yard mark in four of his previous five games, gaining 97 in the other.
Napa's defense also produced five quarterback sacks with linebacker Thomas Sims getting two of them while Chris Harris, Arthur McHenry and Kyle Tasher had one apiece. McHenry, Austin Pridmore and Kevin Robledo each added fumble recoveries. Sims had two tackles for lost yardage while Mike Gibson added one.
The "points allowed" category will show that Napa permitted 16 points but the defense was only truly responsible for six of them. Ten of Vacaville's points came when it started a drive on the Napa side of the field after the Indians' offense turned the ball over, a position that lends itself to an easy scoring opportunity for the offense. The Indians' defense, meanwhile, produced three turnovers.
What it meant: Since 2003, and I use that season as the benchmark because in 2002 the MEL was split into MEL I and MEL II -- sounds like an original and a sequel, the league crown has been either won or shared by either of these two clubs.
Since 2002, the two teams have gone to virtually a dead heat in the win-loss column. In that span, Napa has gone 115-38-1 overall, 55-10 in MEL with one CIF Sac Joaquin Section Div. I title (coming in 2007). Vacaville has gone 116-37-1 overall, 56-9 against MEL clubs with a SJS Div. I title in 2006. The head-to-head matchups in that span are 7-6 in Napa’s favor.
It’s the Big Game between Napa and Vintage that has lost its luster. Napa has won 12 of the last 13, outscoring Vintage by an average score of 34.1-to-12.4.
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