When you go out to dinner, whether it’s to a restaurant or someone’s house, before the main course comes the hors-devourses, otherwise known as appetizers. Then you have side dishes like soup or salad. Then you get the main course.
Regardless of which stage of the meal comes your drink of choice. For some, such a drink puts you in an altered state.
As it pertains to high school football season, August before games start is the appetizer stage, be it bread and butter or bread and olive oil. It could be veggies dipped in ranch dressing. It could be chips and salsa.
The non league portion of the schedule is the soup and salad part. For teams playing a difficult non league slate, the soup or salad might be excessively filling or spicy. Some of such teams recover in time for the main course, others get waylayed.
The league and playoff portion of the schedule is the main course -- and if you remain hungry dessert is included with after dinner drink think might involve coffee, altered in some cases. Most main courses involve meat, potatoes and/or pasta. If you are playing on Thanksgiving weekend, however, the main course will involve turkey.
August is also Kool Aid season. Every team is better than it was a year ago. Every team has more unity than last year. Every team is working harder than it did last year. Every team is also 0-0. I say, “If you can’t be optimistic now, when can you be?”
As it pertains to Napa Valley high school teams, every club bears watching for different reasons. Four of the six Napa Valley teams open their season on Aug. 25: Woodland at American Canyon; Pittman (Turlock) at Napa; Piedmont at Justin-Siena. On Aug. 26, Calistoga hosts Round Valley (Covelo).
One week later, the spotlight will be at Wolf Den Stadium as Vintage opens its season at American Canyon on Sept. 1. If you go 25 miles North on Highway 29, St. Helena opens its season at home against Sir Francis Drake (San Anselmo).
Like any team and season, there are compelling storylines. The 2017 campaign figures to be no exception. Here’s a look in alphabetical order:
American Canyon: For most games last season, the Wolves were an Indy 500 racecar and their competition was a Buick that couldn’t get past 55 miles-per-hour. American Canyon went 11-2 including the CIF Sac Joaquin Section Div. III playoffs, outscoring foes 609-260. American Canyon is loaded with skill position players like quarterback Lavar Seay and running backs Kama Aalona and Brendan Johnson. On the offensive line, Lucas Gramlick, who at 6-7, 285, is bigger than most people’s first apartment, returns but gone is Jonathan Roeder. The Wolves are so loaded at skill position that if the line is even middle of the road, they’ll score a ton of points.
Besides the aforementioned matchup against Vintage, the non league games to watch are against Inderkum (Sacramento) and Wood (Vacaville), at home on Sept. 8 and 15 respectively. The Solano County Athletic Conference race involves three horses -- American Canyon, Vanden and Benicia. I believe the Wolves are the best of the three but I can’t bring myself to selling Vanden or Benicia short.
Calistoga: The Wildcats enter Year Three in the Mike Ervin Part II Era. I’ve beaten this drum several times, Calistoga is in 8-man football to stay in all likelihood. Being the second largest school in the North Central League III, the Wildcats have the roster size to play 11-man football but finding a league with competitive equity is another matter.
Calistoga’s biggest problem has been encountering forfeits from its opponents. To that end, the NCL III will be divided into North and South. The latter will consist of Calistoga, Tomales, Rincon Valley Christian, Branson, Potter Valley and Stuart Hall. The North will be comprised of Upper Lake, South Fork, Roseland Prep, Round Valley, Laytonville and Upper Lake. Ervin is hoping this format leads to a 10-game season, rather than eight contests from the last two seasons.
Justin-Siena: The Braves enter head coach Brandon LaRocco’s second season playing the role of fallen champion trying to rise from the canvas. After winning six CIF North Coast Section titles in 14 years, Justin plummeted to 3-7 last season.
Ron Carreti (running back/defensive back), Ret Torkelson (tight end/linebacker) and Colby Bates (offensive line/linebacker) are Braves top players. Justin has a solid core of returning players on defense but some inexperience in the trenches. Improving on last season’s win-loss record is possible, potentially probable, but reaching or getting North of .500 is no easy task. The non league schedule is no joke with Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland), Piedmont and Sacred Heart (San Francisco). Having a record good enough to reach the NCS Div. IV playoff would be a nice start at the program returning to its contender status.
Napa: The best news is that at least the program is having a season. The question is, what kind? The program went through the wringer of intense turmoil based on alleged hazing incidents that led to coaching staff power struggles with the administration and subsequently head coach Troy Mott and staff’s resignation. JV head coach, and Napa High 2004 graduate Jesus Martinez, is now the head coach -- and frankly was the best choice they could have expected under the circumstances.
Though some players opted not to return after the shakeup, Dawson Trent, Chase LaRue, Brandon Herter, Sean Madigan, Alex Perez De Leon, Ethan Harrison, Colby Kelnhofer, Christian Sanchez, Issac Delgado, Keola Frazer, Erick Castro, Logan Zampa, Isaac Castrillo, and Cameron Ross give the Indians a solid group of returnees. As of this writing, there was hope that those who initially opted not to return would have a change of heart. The problem the Indians face a brutal non league schedule with Pittman, Rocklin, Riordan, Nevada Union and Pleasant Valley. For a program that needs good things to happen, that non league schedule will make that an uphill battle.
St. Helena: Though the talent on the roster is not at the level it was in the early 2010s, head coach Brandon Farrell added to an already quality coaching staff that included long-time assistants Sam Licina and Matt Cia. Steve Vargus and Steve Shifflett, two long-time Justin assistants under Rich Cotruvo, join the varsity staff. Ian MacMillan, who was the Saints varsity coach from 2004-2006, is the JV head coach.
St. Helena’s top returnees are quarterback Christian Cia (Matt’s nephew), Connor Dotzler and Casey Walker. Fort Bragg and Middletown are the top two teams in the NCL I with Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Clear Lake improved from years past. The Saints went 6-5 last season with three straight losses to close the year. Can St. Helena reverse that momentum?
Vintage: After going 5-5 in Dylan Leach’s debut as head coach, the Crushers are confident they can climb in the MEL hierarchy. Vintage’s core returning players are Isaiah Garcia, Ronnie Porter, James Robert, Zach Geary, Bruno Martinez, Nolan Brown, Abdiel Ballines, Sam Carter and Max Craig.
The Crushers non league and MEL slates open with significant tests against American Canyon and Vacaville respectively. The former was a 42-14 winner over Vintage last season. Vacaville defeated the Crushers 29-20. Vintage also has some talented young players from a JV team that went 8-2 last season. If they become viable contributors sooner rather than later, that will help Vintage ascend.
Vacaville would be considered the favorite to win the MEL with second place being a three-horse race between Napa, Vintage and Wood while Rodriguez and Armijo pick up the rear.
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