For a rare if not unprecedented time, every high school football team
in Napa Valley, CA, took the field for playoff action.
For added context, one must take into account that American Canyon
High did not open until 2010, Justin-Siena in 1966 and Vintage in
1972. However, given that Section playoffs, be it North Coast or Sac
Joaquin, did not start until the early 1970s. That time frame is not a
small sample size.
In NCS Div. II, the No. 2 seeded Vintage Crushers punched their ticket
to the semifinals with a 25-0 whitewash over the No. 7 Redwood
(Larkspur) Giants while the No. 8 Napa Grizzlies season ended with
a 35-9 defeat against the No. 1 Clayton Valley (Concord) Ugly Eagles.
In NCS Div. III, the No. 5 American Canyon Wolves season ended
with a 29-13 loss to the No. 4 Hayward Farmers. In NCS Div. VI, the
No. 4 Justin-Siena Braves advanced to the semifinals with a 55-14
shellacking over the No. 5 Lower Lake Trojans. In NCS Div. VII,
the No. 4 St. Helena Saints are on their way to the semifinals with a
44-22 doubling up over the No. 5 St. Vincent (Petaluma) Mustangs.
In NCS 8-man football, the No. 5 Calistoga Wildcats are en route to
the semifinals with a 20-14 overtime win over the No. 4 Tomales
Braves.
Here is a closer look:
North Coast Section Playoffs Div. II
VINTAGE
Looking back: Last season the Crushers won their first playoff game
in 32 years. In the last 12 months, Vintage has three postseason wins.
Suffice it to say, this program is in a very good place in head coach
Dylan Leach’s fourth season. The key sequences of the game were
the Giants reaching the red zone on two occasions only to get turned
back, one of which came on a fake field goal with Vintage leading
3-0 on Tate Salese’s 27-yard field goal.
Vintage put the game out of reach on two Dylan Smith touchdowns
and one more from quarterback Jacob Aaron. Pedja Zivkovic led
the Crushers ground attack with 13 carries for 122 yards. As a team,
the Crushers compiled 295 yards rushing. Defensively, the Crushers
flummoxed the Giants limiting them to 178 yards on 39 plays,
intercepting two passes in the process.
Looking ahead: Getting postseason win No. 4 in the aforementioned
12 month span will be a tall drink of water. The Crushers win sets up
a battle with a traditional powerhouse, the No. 3 seeded Campolindo
(Moraga) Cougars, which hammered No. 3 Livermore 41-6. That
contest will be at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. In the past
five seasons, the Cougars have two section titles and two state titles in
their resume. Acalanes (Lafayette) is their common opponent. Vintage
defeated the Dons 28-20. Campolindo lost to Acalanes 17-7.
The last time Campolindo came to Memorial Stadium, it was riding a
29-game winning streak in 2015. That evening, the Napa Indians
broke the spell with a 21-14 win. Leach and current Vintage assistants
Dennis Raines and Andrew Hall were members of that Napa staff.
This will also be the first semifinal playoff game hosted at Memorial
Stadium since 1989.
NAPA
Looking back: The Grizzlies came into this contest in a compromised
position being without starting quarterback Isaiah Newton, who strained
his ACL in the previous week’s loss to Vintage. Newton’s loss pressed
Hunter St. Clair into service. While Newton’s loss was probably not
the difference between winning and losing, it put Napa in a hole before
it even stepped on the field.
With 4:00 left in the third quarter, Grizzlies running back Benito Saldivar
scored on a 5-yard run to cut the Clayton Valley lead to 21-9 but Napa
got no closer. The Napa defense had no answer for Clayton Valley
running back Omari Taylor (18 carries, 142 yards, three touchdowns).
Looking ahead: After two seasons of going a combined 3-16 in 2017
and 2018, the Grizzlies enjoyed a bounceback season in going 7-4 under
first-year head coach Richie Wessman. The cynics would suggest that
turnaround was buoyed by a subpar non league schedule. That point
has its merit but in the interest of being fair and balanced, Napa had
three one possession losses. Two of those defeats against Vine Valley
Athletic League foes, American Canyon (14-7) and Vintage (26-20).
The former, like Napa, was in contention and the latter is the champion.
With a few breaks, Napa could have been VVAL champs but the game
is not decided on ifs and buts.
The winning season and return to the playoffs should create some
positive vibes. Last year, however, Napa was getting help from a JV team
that won a share of the VVAL. In 2019, Napa’s JV team went 1-7.
Granted JV success does not always translate to varsity but lack of an
accomplished JV season rarely equals varsity success. The good news
is that Brock Bowers, who is getting a bevy of NCAA Div. I offers, is
only a junior.
North Coast Section Div. III
AMERICAN CANYON
Looking back: No sooner did American Canyon even the score at 7-7
early in the second quarter on a 57-yard Vance Eschenburg to Justin
Del Rosario touchdown connection, Hayward’s Alzillion Hamilton put
the Wolves in deep trouble. He caught a 62-yard touchdown and return
an interception 40 yards to paydirt. Though American Canyon stayed
remotely in the game, thanks to its defense, the offense could not find
consistent footing for the third straight week.
The Wolves defense gave up just 247 yards of offense on 45 plays. On
offense, the American Canyon running game that has tormented teams
over the years managed just 47 yards on 32 plays. Hayward made
Eschenburg show that he can beat an opponent on his own, something
very few at any level, especially high school, can do.
Looking ahead: American Canyon will never be short on having good
athletes and the VVAL is a mid-level NCS league. To that point, expect
the Wolves to be a factor for the foreseeable future. This year, however,
most notably the last week, revealed that the narrative of the VVAL
comes down to Vintage and American Canyon may not be etched in
stone. Can Napa and Justin continue to be the threats they were this
season?
The end of the season will have the look of a team that ended with a
whimper with back-to-back losses, 17-10 to Justin and this defeat to
Hayward. This was a flawed team that got away with mistakes against
the teams they had the talent advantage. When they played quality
teams, those mistakes were more problematic.
North Coast Section Div. VI
JUSTIN-SIENA
Looking back: The Braves were like a shark that smelled blood in the
water. Lower Lake entered the game with five starters sidelined, three on
the offensive line. That reasoning is not to suggest those players erase
41 points of deficit but the Braves eliminated any hope with 21 points
in the first quarter, buoyed by a Miles Williams 31-yard interception for
a touchdown on the game’s second play.
Justin amassed 485 yards of total offense (254 rushing, 231 passing) on
57 plays. Noah Young accounted for 138 yards on 15 carries and four
touchdowns. Backfield-mate Matthew Heun added 89 yards on 10
carries with a touchdown. Quarterback Hudson Beers completed 17 of
28 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns, one to Blake Hoban and
another to Aidan Cushing. Seven different Braves caught at least one
pass. Beers also threw nary an interception. Defensively, Justin limited
Lower Lake to 266 yards of offense on 44 plays. The Braves sacked
Lower Lake quarterback Vann Wilkins six times and intercepted him
twice.
Looking ahead: The Braves get a trip to play the No. 1 seeded
Kennedy (Richmond) Eagles on Friday at 7 p.m. Neither team has a
common opponent. The Eagles blasted Arcata 35-6 on Friday. The
Eagles are 10-1 and champions of the Tri-County (Rock) League.
The Braves, however, have one thing going for them over Kennedy,
schedule and league strength. Calpreps.com rates Justin’s schedule at
minus-4.1 while the Eagles possess a rating of minus-12.4. The league
strength is comparable. Calpreps.com rated the VVAL No. 8 out of 17
NCS leagues while the Tri-County (Rock) is right behind them at
No. 9.
North Coast Section Div. VII
ST. HELENA
Looking back: St. Helena sophomore Ivan Robledo is not only a
high school football version of a deadly weapon, he can mask an
injury to the starting quarterback. Saints starting quarterback Daniel
Martinez did not play because of an ankle injury, giving way to JV
callup Spencer Printz.
The quarterback’s best friend in this case are Robledo and Cody
DiTomaso. The former ran for 323 yards with four touchdowns on
30 carries, and had consecutive touchdown runs of 93 and 67 yards
in the third quarter. DiTomaso added 67 yards on 12 carries and a
score. For good measure, Printz fired a 21-yard scoring pass to
George Cutting.
Looking ahead: We have seen this movie before, St. Helena taking
on Salesian (Richmond) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in West Contra Costa
County. The No. 1 seeded Pride defeated Stellar Prep (Oakland)
57-34. Though the two programs do now play each other every year,
they have had their battles the last couple of decades. In the 2010s,
there have been three playoff matchups, two of which were pretty
epic. The Saints won the 2012 version 29-25 in the NCS Div. IV
quarterfinals. The Pride won the NCS Div. V title game 14-7. The
2018 NCS Div. V quarterfinals were not remotely as dramatic with
Salesian winning 49-28.
The two teams have one common opponent, the St. Patrick’s (Vallejo)
Bruins. St. Helena defeated St. Pat’s 46-27 in its season opener on
Aug. 23. The Pride lost to St. Pat’s 39-21 on Oct. 18.
North Coast Section 8-man football
CALISTOGA
Looking back: The last time the Calistoga Wildcats won a playoff
game in football, the calendar was not yet at Y2K. That fact would be
1999 if you are scoring at home. That season the Wildcats were NCS
Class B champions. Granted, the Wildcats only moved to 8-man
football semi-permanently in 2015 but to snap a 20-year playoff win
drought is an achievement.
The same Braves team that poured rain on Calistoga’s homecoming
on Oct. 18 with a 46-28 defeat, Calistoga returned the favor. With
1:07 left in regulation Christian Caldera scored on an 8-yard run and
added the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14. The
Wildcats forced overtime. With the Wildcats getting the first possession
in overtime, Caldera connected with Isaac Garcia for a 17-yard score.
Tomales had its chance to tie or take the lead but ran out of downs.
Looking ahead: The Wildcats get a trip to Cornerstone Christian
(Antioch), which will be played at Heritage High (Brentwood). The
No. 1 seeded Cougars had a first round bye. Cornerstone Christian
is 10-0, has not scored fewer than 44 points in a single game.
The two teams have have Upper Lake and Branson as a common
opponent. Cornerstone defeated Upper Lake 40-7 and Branson 66-62.
Calistoga beat Upper Lake 64-29 and lost to Branson 48-44.
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