It is often said that when a high school or college team enters league and/or conference competition, that is the time where seasons get defined as successes or failures.
With regard to the 2016 version of American Canyon High football, the Wolves will have a chance to define themselves right away as they enter Solano County Athletic Conference games. American Canyon, which is 5-0 and has outscored its foes 265-97, will face its two biggest hurdles the next two weeks to win another SCAC title. The Wolves are in their sixth varsity football season and have won four straight SCAC titles (solo or shared). The smart money here says there’s a good chance the Wolves make it five, be it shared or sole possession.
American Canyon will host Benicia on Friday, Oct. 7, and will visit Vanden one week later on Oct. 14. Benicia and Vanden are both 2-3 but don’t be fooled, both are a genuine threat to the Wolves. To use a baseball analogy, American Canyon has not only hit the ball out of the park, it has reached the upper deck with tape-measure shots. Highlighting the five wins were blowout victories over reigning CIF Sac Joaquin Section Div. III runnerup Inderkum (54-19) and Wood (71-36). Both teams tormented the Wolves last season with Inderkum beating American Canyon 43-6 and Wood getting the upper hand twice, 70-33 in the regular season and 59-33 in the SJS Div. II playoffs.
The Wolves aforementioned 5-0 record has come against foes that have amassed a 12-13 record. Armijo’s 1-4 mark, however, skews that record. Benicia and Vanden are each 2-3. The former has been outscored 106-84 against teams that have compiled a 11-14 record. Vanden, however, has outscored its opponents 141-67 against teams that have a combined 16-9 mark. The Vikings are no joke.
When you’re 5-0, there are far more things to celebrate than lament. Keep in mind, the Wolves were 1-4 last season at this time. However, it was the Wolves last game on Sept. 23 that had head coach Larry Singer see enough negative things to get his team’s attention during the bye week. Yes, American Canyon blew Armijo’s doors off 57-20 but you can’t just look at the final score and assess a team’s performance.
Though Armijo recorded its first win of the season on Saturday, 30-0 over Fairfield in a battle of two winless clubs, the Indians are struggling for a reason. However, on the first drive Armijo marched right down the field and scored to go ahead 6-0 over the Wolves. The Indians lined up in the wishbone formation and ran right at the Wolves. American Canyon, however, more than recovered in scoring 29 unanswered points. Watching that game, one came away with the feeling that American Canyon played down to Armijo’s level. Wolves head coach Larry Singer said as much after the game.
“We could have played better today,” Singer said. “The bye comes at a perfect time. It doesn’t matter how many points you score. 57 is great but we left a lot out there. I didn’t do a good enough job getting the defense ready for facing a team running right at us. They put up 20 points running the wishbone. I thought I was watching old Big 12 games again.”
Being a Kansas State alum, Singer would know what an old Big 12 game looks like. As a Nebraska alum, so would I. Such an effort does not matter against a subpar team like Armijo, a similar performance though probably gets you beat against Benicia or Vanden. However, things things are equally true: a) One game does not always transfer to the next, b) Each game is its own entity and c) The Wolves were playing at such a high level before the Armijo contest that they were bound to take a step back.
Never mind that Benicia and Vanden are both 2-3, these are high alert games where as a fan/media member as a hobby/truck driver for a living, I encourage you to take a “pump the brakes” approach. I’m not just saying this because I cover the Wolves during football season but I believe they are superior to both teams. However, both are good enough to beat American Canyon if it is not on point but coming out of a bye. I expect a well-prepared Wolves team on Friday and against Vanden. What that translates into the win column who knows but I think you’ll see a different team than the one that played Armijo.
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