After a 1-8 season in 2017 and the prospects of going to 8-man football last year, St. Vincent de Paul-Petaluma made some changes and brought in Trent Herzog.
The 44-year old lifelong Petaluma resident and Casa Grande graduate brought tons of experience and success after a 21-year coaching career at his alma mater. From 2009-2016 he was the head coach with his best season coming in 2013 when his team went 13-1 before losing in the North Coast Section Division II title game.
With that kind of history and his knowledge of the game as National Preps Western Region Scout, Northern California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington, with responsibility for evaluating prospects for 260 colleges, the St. Vincent de Paul community was looking for Herzog to turn things around, and he did just that in his very first season after leading the Mustangs to a 6-5 record and their first playoff appearance since 2014.
With St. Vincent de Paul playing as an independent both last year and this year before joining the North Bay League – Redwood Division next season, we wanted to give Herzog and his boys a little attention for their showing last year and potential for this season since they are not included in any league previews.
Year two for Herzog and his boys looks even brighter than last year as he has a lot of returning size and speed on senior laden offensive and defensive lines that will pose problems for many of the Mustangs small school opponents. Plus, although he says there are around 20 core players, he has program that’s grown from 18 to 46 players, and that’s a huge number for a school with an enrollment of 225.
“Our offensive and defensive lines are definitely our strengths. They’re big and fast and as good a line as I’ve ever been part of as a coach,” Herzog remarked. “With the offensive line we have we’re going to run the heck out of the ball.”
The top returner is 6-3, 250-pound senior Gio Antonini. He will anchor the offensive line and the linebacking corps, and can play on the defensive line. Antonini had 92 tackles last season with 23.5 for loss with seven sacks, six forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Not surprisingly Antonini attributes a lot of his success last season to Herzog.
“Coach Herzog has changed the culture and brought a whole new aspect to my game,” Antonini said. “I was ready to quit before he came.”
Part of that whole new aspect is Antonini went from ready to quit to being named Cal-Hi Sports Small School All State Second Team, and without naming names he now has a lot of college interest, including some solid mid-major programs.
Another top returner is Andrew Kohler. The 5-8, 175-pound senior will be a fullback on offense and play multiple positions on defense, mostly helping Antonini anchor the linebackers. Last season he had around 300 yards combined rushing and receiving and three touchdowns, and on defense he recorded 38 tackles.
“Kohler will play wherever we need him on defense,” Herzog said. “He’s like our Swiss Army knife. He’s a super athlete that can play corner, safety, inside linebacker and outside linebacker.”
Asked what he thought Herzog brought to the program the three-year varsity starter had this to say.
“First of all we’ve gained numbers in our program ,” Kohler remarked. “The culture has changed and we went from winning one game to making the playoffs for th first time in a long time.”
Three other senior two-way lineman will line up in the trenches with Antonini. They are 5-11, 260-pound Morgan Morarity, 6-1, 275-pound Thomas Izard and 6-3, 250-pound Gio Vaca. The team’s best pass rusher, 6-7, 215-pound senior defensive end Rory Morgan (33 tackles with 7.5 for loss, two sacks, a fumble recovery and forced fumble) will play tight end where last season he had 12 catches for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
The quarterback that Herzog says “is going to be really good and will play at the next level” is Jacob Porteous. According to Herzog the 6-1, 175-pound sophomore “has a super strong arm, he’s very smart, has improved dramatically, and since last year he’s transferred his body mass to muscle.”
Besides Kohler, two other running backs will be running the heck out of the ball behind that big line. Kai Hall, a 5-8, 170-pound freshman that already runs a 4.6 forty will start the season until 5-7, 160-pound junior Devaneaux Sagaral returns for a collarbone injury.
“Hall is super talented,” Herzog said. “He’s as good as I’ve seen in this area for a freshman running back.”
Morgan will be the tight end but the two starting wide receivers will be 5-10, 160-pound junior Jeremy Bukolsky and the little brother of Gio Antonini, 5-11, 160-pound sophomore Dante Antonini.
Along with linebackers Gio Antonini and Kohler, Herzog will start 5-11, 180-pound freshman Nathan Rooks at outside linebacker.
The secondary will consist of Bukolsky at cornerback along with Dante Antonini, and 6-0, 160-pound junior Nate Berniklau at swtrong safety and 5-7, 140-pound sophomore Liam O’Hare as the free safety.
With the new realignment St. Vincent de Paul will be in Division 7 for the NCS playoffs and they look like a legitimate contender. Herzog says Salesian looks like the team to but after that the Mustangs are among five or six other teams with a chance to make some noise.
“It would be great if we could NCS championship and move on to state,” Antonini said.
Ehlers echoed the NCS and state goals and added he would like to see this year’s team “strengthen the program for years to come.”
St. Vincent de Paul has a scrimmage this Saturday with Analy-Sebastopol and then opens the season on the road in McKinleyville next Friday night.