NAPA, CA – Visiting Pleasant Valley-Chico overcame a somewhat slow start - including deficits at the end of each of the first two quarters - to take control in the final two quarters of a 30-14 victory over Napa.
Pleasant Valley was led by 6-5, 200-pound quarterback Kyle Lindquist. The senior that made the final seven quarterbacks in May at The Opening Bay Area Regional in Richmond was 17–for-25 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. His 62-yard slant completion to 6-4, 185-pound senior wide receiver Payton Williams (six receptions, 120 yards, one TD) that set up a 2-yard TD run on the next play by Ryan Busby, turned the tide for the Vikings as the score gave them a 19-14 lead they would not relinquish.
“That slant was a huge swing for us in a great road win,” Pleasant Valley Coach Mark Cooley said. “We started a little slow but we weathered the storm, the kids did a great job, and we finished strong.”
Pleasant Valley (3-2) struck first when they took the opening kickoff and marched 70-yards in 13-plays culminating in an 11-yard TD pass from Lindquist to Williams.
Napa (2-3) came right back with a 16-play 72-yard drive that led to a 2-yard keeper by quarterback Austin Spinelli that knotted things at 7-7. The drive was the best of the night for the Indians and included Coach Troy Mott having the team successfully execute a fake punt from near midfield.
From there Napa got the ball back after a 9-play Pleasant Valley drive stalled and they turned it over on downs at the Napa 45 yard line. On the eighth play Spinelli (86 yards passing, one TD and 36 yards rushing, one TD) found Jake Van Zandt on a 30-yard scoring pass that gave Napa a 14-7 lead.
Unfortunately for the large throng of Indians fans at the beautiful Memorial Stadium, that would be the last time Napa would score as the Pleasant Valley defense took control from there.
The 62-yard pass was huge but the turnaround began when Pleasant Valley got the ball back after the Napa score with just over two minutes left in the second quarter and Lindquist took them 75-yards in nine plays but on fourth-and-eight with just seconds left the Vikings faked a field goal and kicker Cameron Wellman hit Trevor Owens with a 9-yard TD pass. The 2-point conversion failed and at that point the Vikings had the one-point halftime deficit.
Ryan Busby (57 yards rushing, one TD, 52 yards receiving, one TD) ran for a 2-yard score in the second half and had a 30-yard TD reception from Lindquist, but the real story was a defense led by 6-6, 295-pound senior tackle Syrus Tuitele that limited Napa to 70 yards of total offense in the final two quarters.
“I’m feeling good about our team right now,” said Lindquist, who is getting mid-major interest but has no offers. “We’ve improved a lot and playing tough teams like we have makes us feel we can compete with top teams.
The defending CIF Northern Section Division II champions did not schedule tough non-league opponents last year and although they were 12-0 after beating Shasta-Redding in the CIFNS D2 title game, they then lost 29-7 to St. Francis-Mountain View in the CIF Northern Regional II-A Bowl Game.
This season they played Prep2Prep CIF Sac-Joaquin Section No. 2 Del Oro-Loomis and Prep2Prep CIF Central Coast Section No. 3 Valley Christian-San Jose in weeks two and three, and although they lost 29-9 at Del Oro they held their own two weeks ago in a 17-14 home loss to Valley Christian.
With three strong non-league games under their belts the CIFNS D2 favorites this year will likely be better prepared if they defend their section title and get placed fairly high up again for a NorCal Bowl Game.
“The whole goal of having the (non-league) schedule we had this year was to prepare these kids,” Cooley remarked. “Now we know we can compete with Valley Christian and Napa and even the Del Oro game wasn’t a bad one.”
Pleasant Valley now gets a bye before opening Eastern League play up the hill in Paradise. Last season the Vikings were 6-0 in league but not all the games were blowouts.
“We got this one and now we have to run the table. Lets rest up next week and go get the next one,” Cooley told the team right after the game.
For P2P CIFSJS No. 15 Napa the boys now get a bye and will need to put this game behind them and prepare for their Monticello Empire League opener with P2P SJS No. 25 Wood-Vacaville, a 44-0 winner over Fairfield.
