High school football season is continuing for three teams in the Napa Valley for at least one more week.
The American Canyon Wolves, Vintage Crushers and Justin-Siena Braves definitively earned postseason berths, American Canyon and Vintage in the CIF Sac Joaquin Section, Justin in the North Coast Section. Though in different divisions, American Canyon and Vintage will face Tri County League teams to open the playoffs on Thursday at 7 p.m. First round games are Thursday based on schools being out because of Veterans Day. Teams can play postseason games on either Friday or Saturday if both teams mutually agree to do so.
In the SJS D-III bracket, American Canyon is seeded No. 7 and will host No. 10 River Valley (Yuba City). In the SJS D-II bracket, Vintage is the No. 15 seed and will travel to No. 2 seeded Inderkum (Sacramento).
Despite recording a 3-5 overall mark, Justin returns to the North Coast Section Div. IV playoffs, something it had done 16 of 17 years before missing out last season. The No. 12 seeded Braves will visit No. 5 seeded Moreau Catholic on Saturday at 7 p.m.
St. Helena, which went 3-5, will miss the postseason for the first time since 2009. The Saints did not apply for an at-large bid in the NCS Div. V bracket.
Napa, which went 3-6, will miss the postseason for the first time since 2001. Calistoga, which plays in the North Central League III (8-man football) finished its abbreviated season going 5-2. North Bay wildfires that produced unsafe air quality forced teams to cancel one and in some cases two games.
For American Canyon, this will be the second time in five years they will have opened the playoffs hosting the River Valley Falcons. The two schools met in 2012 with the Wolves winning 37-8. The Wolves and Falcons have two common foes -- Inderkum, Woodland and Wood.
Against Inderkum, American Canyon lost 53-0 and River Valley lost 25-20. Against Wood, the Wolves won 42-29 to start a six-game winning streak they currently take into the postseason. River Valley defeated Wood 42-29. Against Woodland, American Canyon lost 36-34 in overtime and River Valley lost 42-29. In the Wolves loss to Inderkum, they were without transfer running back Eddie Byrdsong. Don’t get anything twisted, I’m not suggesting Byrdsong makes up 53 points but it can’t be ignored the Wolves are 6-0 with him in the lineup.
For the nonleague opponents, the Wolves’ foes had a combined record of 33-13 with an average calpreps.com ranking of 22.2. The Falcons opponents went 15-24 with an average calpreps.com ranking of 15.2. The winner of this contest will either host No. 15 Rio Americano or visit No. 2 Manteca.
For Vintage, the 2017 season has signified a rebirth under second-year head coach Dylan Leach. The Crushers went 7-2, recording the most victories in a season since going 8-3 in 2000. Vintage went 4-1 in games decided by seven points or less and defeated crosstown rival Napa for the first time since 2005.
Beating Inderkum, however, will be a tall order. The Tigers went 10-0, outscoring the opposition by an average of 51.8-10.4. The last two games, however, for the Tigers were much closer as they defeated River Valley 25-20 and Rio Linda 28-14. The winner of this game will face either No. 10 Lincoln or No. 7 Del Oro.
Justin will play a Moreau Catholic team that went 4-5 but garnered the No. 5 seed by virtue of winning the Mission Valley League, going 4-0 in the process. Neither team has a common opponent but both played very difficult nonleague slates. Moreau Catholic’s foes went a combined 42-5 with an average calpreps.com ranking of 25.62. Justin’s nonleague opponents went 25-12 with an average calpreps.com ranking of 15.74.
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