One of my former newspaper collegues once wrote in a lead, “sometimes Goliath wins.” Another one once said, “sometimes a team can gain more respect after a loss than a win.”
The first round of Thursday’s high school football CIF Sac Joaquin Section Div. II playoffs between the No. 2 seeded Inderkum (Sacramento) Tigers and No. 15 seeded Vintage (Napa) Crushers, applied those theories but the latter stands out far more than the former. Vintage saw its season end with a 35-24 defeat against Inderkum, which hosts No. 7 Del Oro on Friday.
Don’t get anything twisted. I’m not about celebrating moral victories and if you interperet my message as such -- have another drink. However, there are honorable losses and there is no disgrace in Vintage’s loss to Inderkum, especially in this fashion. This loss actually defines the 2017 Crushers as much if not more than their seven wins. Vintage was a No. 15 seed walking into a No. 2 seed’s building. They were no shrinking violet. In fact the Crushers led 24-21 at halftime. It was the only time this season the Tigers trailed at recess. Process that for a moment.
Between Michael Webber capping off a 10-play, 90-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring run and Isaiah Garcia returning an interception 57-yards to paydirt, the Crushers had the Tigers stunned out of their mind.
You hear the phrase so much, “you’re only as good as your last game.”
I agree with that but only to a point. I tend to think that a person’s or team’s resume is the body of work over a period of time. The last game of the Crushers 2017 season will sting but there’s no shame losing to an unbeaten Inderkum.
While most of my freelance writing duties involve covering the American Canyon Wolves, as a Napa Valley high school athletic supporter, I have interest in all six teams from AC to the South and Calistoga to the North.
Since I have known Vintage’s second-year head coach Dylan Leach for close to 20 years, the Crushers had my interest this past season. This Crusher team was not as athletic as some teams you’ll see but Leach and his staff had them prepared every week. Even with the team’s 7-3 record, they didn’t always pass the eyeball test. In fact, they looked ugly at times but this is football not gymnastics. In football, you are just trying to be one point better than your opposition. The Crushers went 4-1 in games decided by seven points or less.
When I think of the 2017 Crushers, the loss to Inderkum is not just just a blip on the radar. This game further confirms the culture Leach is cultivating: Step into the ring, put up your dukes and be ready to fight even the best of foes. I was actually surprised the Crushers were not seeded higher than No. 15. The conspiracy theorist in me says it was the SJS giving the Napa schools the double-barrel for relocating to the North Coast Section but that’s another story for another day. Napa and American Canyon will join Vintage in this move that takes effect next year.
The 2017 Crushers are about seniors like Isaiah Garcia, Zach Geary, Merrick Barnett, James Robert, Raymond O’Brien, Bruno Martinez, and Max Craig to name a few. These guys might be the group that kickstarts a lengthy run of success for the Crushers.
The 2017 Vintage Crushers were a pleasure to follow. Vintage football was stuck in neutral for the better part of the last 10-12 years. They were terrible in going 9-31 from 2009-2012. Other than that, most year, they were not good enough to be Napa or Vacaville but not bad enough to be Armijo. However, given Napa’s and Justin-Siena’s perrenial success coupled with American Canyon’s ascent, Vintage had the look of a setting sun. Now they are a rising sun.
Granted, they benefited from Napa’s destruction of being waylaid by an alleged hazing scandal among other things but that’s not the Crushers fault. The point is, they controlled what they could control. They also benefited from an American Canyon team that stumbled out of the gate before reeling off seven wins in a row. The Crushers scored their first Big Game win over Napa since 2005 and atoned for a 42-14 loss to American Canyon with a 28-14 win at Wolf Den Stadium this year. Those are significant psychological hurdles going forward.
Speaking of going forward, the Crushers are in good hands now with Leach and his staff.
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