There are moments that you witness that take you aback. When you witness it in real time, it doesn’t matter if the process was pretty or clean. You simply remember it as a landmark moment for the program.
I have utmost respect and admiration for what St. Helena High football has achieved under current head coach Brandon Farrell from 2011-present, going 43-8 in that span. With a program on solid footing, there’s no reason to believe that success won’t continue. I’ll be sharing memories of those games in the coming years as more time passes.
The 2004 Saints are a team I will never forget, specifically their 21-18 win at Middletown on Oct. 29, 2004.
Setting the scene: St. Helena entered the game 6-1 with its only loss coming in Week 4 against Willits, 12-6. That Wolverines team was the eventual North Central League I champion and reached the CIF North Coast Section Class A title game before losing to Justin-Siena 28-0.
The Saints struggled in the previous four seasons before Ian MacMillan took over in 2004, going 12-29 from 2000-2003 under Kyle Schuh and Bryan Powell. The 2002-2003 teams had players that enjoyed enormous JV success, including a 9-1 season in 2000. Unfortunately, that success at the younger levels did not translate into varsity success.
In May 2004, Powell resigned and MacMillan took over two months later after going 38-12 in five years as Justin-Siena’s head coach including a 26-game winning streak. When MacMillan was hired, there was skepticism about his age (25 at the time) and coming from Justin. At that time, St. Helena and Justin still had elements of a rivalry because of their days in the now defunct Superior California Athletic League from 1986-2000.
MacMillan brought a young and dynamic coaching staff with him that included Mike McNamara and Chris Yepson. MacMillan also brought with him the Houston Split Back veer that Rich Cotruvo brought to Justin beginning in 1997 along with the 3-4 defense that he learned from Braves defensive coordinator Steve Vargus. In 2004, the Saints went 9-2 including a 21-18 win at Middletown.
That St. Helena team was very senior heavy and the next season the roster would turn over very heavily but was led by twins Luke and Eddie McMullen. I will always remember that duo because while they may not have been the most talented players they had great intangibles highlighted by their work ethic.
On paper, the 2004 Saints team might not have been as talented as the previous team but one had the feeling it would win more games because it had a coaching staff with a vision. Going into that season, most people felt St. Helena would go probably 6-4 but count me among several that did not see 9-1 coming.
The true test, however, would come against perennial powerhouse Middletown.
Thumbnail sketch of the game: Saints running back Robert Covey landed continued his record-setting setting by scoring his 20th touchdown with 3:47 left in the game to give St. Helena a 21-18 lead. That score capped off a 14-play, 72-yard drive. With that touchdown, Covey surpassed Tom Blanchfield’s single-season touchdown record, which stood since 1960.
After Covey’s go-ahead touchdown, Middletown drove to the St. Helena 32. On second and seven, Scott Dale and Alex Cortez combined to sack Mustangs’ quarterback Thomas Jackson, who subsequently threw two incomplete passes as Middletown turned the ball over on downs.
The Saints made their mark early in the contest as Carlo Trinchero’s 50-yard run on the team’s first offensive play set up Luke McMullen’s 13-yard touchdown run one play later. St. Helena’s offense, however, botched a couple scoring opportunities later in the contest, failing to score twice inside the Middletown 10.
St. Helena led 14-12 at halftime before the Mustangs took an 18-14 lead with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
Trinchero, who was moved from tight end to running back three games earlier, carried 22 times
for 113 yards.
What it meant: Going into the contest, very few, if any, gave the Saints a chance. Earlier in the season, Covey broke Blanchfield’s single-game record (266) for rushing yards and later broke the single season record. Both marks fell nine years later when Sebastian Segura surpassed both records.
Despite the landmark win, the Saints plateaued after the victory. St. Helena won its last two regular season games (18-14 at Fort Bragg; 20-13 at Kelseyville) but showed signs of vulnerability in both. St. Helena led 18-0 at Fort Bragg and 20-0 at Kelseyville, before holding on to win.
St. Helena entered the playoffs with a 9-1 record but lost 24-14 at John Swett to end the season. The Saints’ roster turned over drastically as 2004 was a senior dominated club. The Saints went 5-5 the following season and then went 7-4 to win the NCL I South title in 2006, the first league crown since the 1978 campaign. MacMillan resigned after 2006 and was replaced by Dave Collinsworth. The Saints went 2-8 in his lone season before landing current head coach Brandon Farrell. St. Helena has gone 57-22 in Farrell’s time as head coach, including 43-5 since 2011.
The two programs have also developed more chapters in this matchup since this game that will also be revisited on this blog.
As far as single moments go, the aforementioned 2004 game is hard to forget even more than a decade later.
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