American Canyon High might be the baby of athletic programs in the Napa Valley but when it comes to football resumes, the Wolves are grown up achievers.
In six years time, American Canyon football has gone 48-24 with five Solano Athletic County Conference titles, either sole possession or shared. That record is actually a little deflated based on going a combined 9-12 in 2011 and 2015. Both seasons are easily explainable. In 2011, the Wolves were a first year varsity program with no seniors. In 2015, American Canyon was enduring its third coaching change in as many years.
The Wolves will be moving from the CIF Sac Joaquin Section to the North Coast Section in the 2018-2019 school year. Fellow Napa Valley schools (Napa and Vintage) along with three SCAC foes (Vallejo, Bethel and Benicia) will join American Canyon in the move. The only question is which league will they join? That story is for another day.
Before they move to the NCS, the Wolves are preparing for another season that they hope ends with another SCAC banner and a deep run in the postseason. In 2016, the Wolves reached the semifinals of the SJS Div. III playoffs for the second time in six seasons.
I had a chance to catch up with Wolves head coach Larry Singer and assistant coach Chris Yepson this past Wednesday on my way hope from work. The conversation took a few off ramps but didn’t go too far off the rails.
All kidding aside, the vibe I got from both is they are genuinely excited about the 2017 season. Granted, every team is excited right now but having seen this team up close the past couple seasons, that optimism is not unfounded.
Though the Wolves lose a fair number of key players from last season’s 11-2 team, the cupboard is anything but bare with returnees Kama Aalona, Lavar Seay, Lucas Gramlick, and Brenden Johnson to name a few. The Wolves JV team went 8-2 last season. While I am usually the first one to say “pump the brakes” on JV success, I also think when you have an established culture like the Wolves possess, there’s reason to think that success will translate on the varsity.
Whether a team goes 2-8 or 11-2, the common denominator in the offseason is optimism. The narratives, however, are different. For the 2-8 team, the focus becomes something to the effect of “let’s bounce back,” “let’s get this program back on track,” etc. For the 11-2 team, like the Wolves, the narratives are to the effect of “last year was great but it’s time to turn the page,” “let’s sustain our success,” etc.
“The great thing is both of these classes, the current seniors that are graduating and the ones that will be seniors next year are great competitors,” Singer said. “These kids that will be seniors want to be as good if not better. They have bought into the weightroom program incredibly well. They hold each other accountable for being here. We have a couple of guys that are getting serious looks from colleges. It’ll be interesting to see what goes on.”
That type of culture is a great thing to have. While coaches are leaders by definition, at some point their message becomes redundant but when you have 17-18 year old kids uttering the same narrative, the coaches’ message carries even more credence.
The Wolves offseason program hit full throttle after the student-athletes returned from Christmas break. Singer gave them from the last postseason game, Nov. 25, until the end of the aforementioned break to allow their minds and bodies to decompress. Spring football practice will begin May 1. The summer program will consist of weight room work, practice and 7-on-7 with fellow Napa Valley high schools St. Helena, Justin-Siena, Vintage and Napa. St. Helena head coach Brandon Farrell organizes the matchups that take place at each of the aforementioned schools. Singer added the Wolves might do a couple of travelling 7-on-7 matchups like they did last year including one in Antioch.
The Wolves 2017 schedule has been released. The SCAC contests are Benicia, Vanden, Bethel, Vallejo and Fairfield. The nonleague foes are Woodland, Vintage (Napa), Wood (Vacaville), Inderkum (Sacramento), Mission (San Francisco). The Wolves played four of the five schools last season with Mission, which will replace Armijo (Fairfield), is the one exception. Mission competes in the San Francisco Section in the Academic League.
“We wanted to find teams that will give is the best look going into the playoffs,” Singer said. “The section bases your seeding on what your schedule is. If you play a lot of tough teams they will seed you higher. If you play a lot of cupcakes, they’re not going to seed you higher. Last year the Inderkum win (54-19) was huge for us as far as getting a high playoff seed. Hopefully we can build on that.”
Dropping Armijo from the schedule was a good move because the Indians are a perennial bottom feeder. I don’t say that to disparage Armijo but you get the concept. Everyone has their own idea of nonleague scheduling approaches. Some programs like to load it for bear with tough teams. Some programs will take template games across the board. Others will take a mixture of template games, coin flips and tough ones. I generally believe in the mixture approach but if you know you have a quality team at your disposal why not challenge your players to be better?
What exactly 2017 translates for the Wolves from a win-loss perspective, who knows? However, I have plenty of reason to think this program will add to the winning legacy it has established.
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