Calistoga High football facing a precarious position

Though A does not always lead to B, most of us use the past to predict the future.

Mike Ervin resigned as the Calistoga High football coach within the past month. The 1962
Calistoga High graduate had two coaching stints at the school, 2006-2010 and 2015-2017.
Details regarding his resignation were chronicled in a March 30 entry:

http://vincedadamo.blogspot.com/2018/03/ervin-should-be-remember-as-difference.html

In a nutshell, with Ervin being an off-campus coach, he must reapply for his job every year.
If an on-campus employee applies for the job, he is given higher priority in the pecking
order. In past years, no such person applied for the job, thus clearing the path for Ervin.
This year, however, the Calistoga Joint Unified School District opted to test the market.
That eventually perpetuated a feud between Ervin and Craig Wycoff (Calistoga High
principal) and Karen Yoder (Calistoga High athletic director).

The job remains posted on edjoin.org with a deadline of April 20 to apply. At the present
time, the weight-room remains unopened for players to have supervised workouts. That
angle is significant but little did I realize it at the time.

Rewind the clock to 2005-2006.

The Wildcats played just four games on the field that season which began with the
excitement of the return of Dan Conner as head coach. Conner replaced John Antonio
after just two seasons and had coached the Wildcats in two others stints (1974-1977;
1996-2000). Calistoga won the 1999 CIF North Coast Section Class B title in 1999.

The 2005 season was full of weeks like that in addition to academic ineligibility and even
when games were played on the field, it was not a good representation. The poor
on-the-field representation included things like post-possession penalties that revealed
lack of self-control.

Frustrated with the constant issues, Conner wanted to cancel the rest of the season. That
led to strife between Conner and the Calistoga administration (specifically principal Kevin
Eisenberg and to a lesser degree, athletic director Frank DiFede). The latter would make
the argument that Conner only had the authority to cancel individual games but not an
entire season. Conner resigned and Joe Russo took over as head coach the rest of the season.
The Wildcats would only play one game, which was a 27-20 win over Laytonville. The
remainder of the contests were forfeited. At 1-0, Russo is the only undefeated football head
coach in school history.

Throughout the entire offseason, there were questions as to whether or not Calistoga High
would have a football team in 2006. The other problem facing the future of the high school
football program was that the Calistoga Cubs, which is the youth football program, did not
have a season in 2004 and 2005. I remember asking DiFede throughout the offseason, “at
which point do you decide one way or the other whether or not Calistoga will field a football
program?”

In late June, it was like the cavalry arrived. First, Ervin in June 2006. Ervin had coached in
various locations both at the college and high school levels including but not limited to
Mendocino College, Sonoma State University, Cardinal Newman, Anderson Valley, Analy
and Reid High in Sparks, NV. Shortly thereafter, Laura Wilson, who graduated from CHS
in 1985, came aboard to become Cub football president. The Cubs generated enough interest
for a JV and varsity team.

If you would have told me, “Vince, make a parlay bet that both Calistoga High and the
Calistoga Cubs will have a season in 2006,” my response would have been, “There’s a better
chance I’m going to climb Mount Everest.”

When Ervin resigned after the 2010 season, Calistoga middled along to a 5-6 season. However,
at least there was a talented freshmen and sophomore class coming up with then JV and former
Cubs head coach Paul Harrell ready to step forward. By no means am I suggesting Harrell is
Vince Lombardi but at least at that time, the Cub program was going at full cycle with JV and
varsity football and Harrell was ready to step forward to lead the way. He did so for four
seasons. The Wildcats went 16-25 in that span but 14-7 in 2012-2013 combined including a
share of the North Central League II title.

Harrell resigned after the 2014 season. Ervin was hired about four months later. The Wildcats
have played nine-man football since that time. Without Ervin being willing to step forward to
coach, who knows what might have happened.

There are a couple of theories in play. In 2006, the bigger surprise in hindsight was Cub
football returning. There was no season in 2004 or 2005. Calistoga kids that continued playing
football either went to Santa Rosa or St. Helena. Wilson arriving to become president in June
2006 and later finding coaches for varsity and JV along with enough players for both teams.
I did not see that coming.

For the high school, it was generally assumed the program was dead but that was not entirely
the case. Assistant coach Shawn Garrity, who was a teacher at Calistoga High, oversaw the
offseason program between opening the weight-room and organizing team fundraisers that
included a car wash. Garrity even oversaw spring practice.

At present, the Calistoga Cubs still have a program but no one is overseeing the weight-room
for the high school program. That problem becomes significant because it becomes easier for
kids to lose interest.

The clock is ticking on Calistoga football. They have been down this road before in 1994 and
2006 most specifically. In the former scenario, there was Conner to save the day because he
was a teacher. In the latter scenario, Ervin was found when least expected. Conner has long
since retired from teaching. Jim Hunt and Frank Stagnaro are no longer with us, passing
away in 2004 and 2017 respectively. Marty Sherrin left Calistoga over a quarter-century ago.

I posted the possibility of Calistoga High football not having a season. Jonah Pelter, who
graduated in 2015, replied with, “Calistoga football will never die!” J.T. Blakeley, who
graduated in 2010 replied to the effect of, “I’m going to do all I can to create and keep the
love of the game in town.” I think highly of both young man and can appreciate them
fighting the good fight.

However, reality speaks that various high schools are dropping football because of
diminished interest. It nearly happened at Napa High, which for years was the No. 1 ticket
among Napa Valley High schools in terms of football following.

Can Calistoga muster this version of a fourth quarter comeback?