NAPA - It’s always nice to get revenge. It’s also nice to get in the win column in your first game of the season. The Vintage football team did both of those things in their 41-0 victory over Wood-Vacaville in the Crushers' season opener.
“It feels great, you know, ran the ball as hard as I could to my seniors (class of 2019),” Vintage senior running back Mauricio Castro said. "You know, this was to them, dedicated to them and we're just going to move forward and just focus on the next game.”
“I told these guys going in this is an opportunity for them as a new year, new team,” Vintage coach Dylan Leach said. “I absolutely love seeing my guys down here from last year. But this is a new opportunity to create a new legacy.”
“Yeah, it was definitely nice,” Vintage junior quarterback Jacob Aaron said of getting revenge on Wood. “That was the worst loss of my life last year. So, it definitely felt good to come out here and put up a donut on the board.”
The scoring began right away for Vintage (1-0) when Pedja Zivkovic found the end zone from a yard out with 8:32 left in the first quarter. The Crushers were then able to get their passing game going when Bill Chaidez found Billy Birdsall for a 30-yard connection with 8:38 remaining in the second quarter. Only 18 seconds later Vintage would strike again when Zivkovic returned fumble by Wood (0-1) quarterback Jance Magaoay from 17 yards out.
“Discipline and coaching,” Aaron said of the defense. “All of our guys played very disciplined tonight. Our backers were flying free, did a great job tonight, were just disciplined and sticking to their jobs.”
The Crushers went into the halftime break up 28-0 after Castro found the end zone from 10 yards out with only 1:25 remaining in the half.
Vintage scored twice more in the third quarter when Castro again found the end zone, this time from 15 yards out at the 6:48 mark. The final score of the game came when Zivkovic found the end zone on a 20-yard scamper with 4:09 left in the quarter.
The Crushers' top rusher on the night was Castro. He carried the ball eight times and had 77 yards with two touchdowns.
“You know, the linemen just fought through,” Castro added. “I'm proud of my linemen.”
Aaron echoed the statements of his teammate.
“I mean that's kind of the story here we can run the ball pretty well,” he explained. “So that's not really a surprise a line is doing a remarkable job of for how big they are and so much they can do it's just unbelievable.”
Zivkovic carried the ball four times for 59 yards, to go along with a touchdown.
Vintage will be back in action next Friday night at 7 p.m. when they visit El Cerrito. Wood will host Clovis East next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
St. Helena pulls away from St. Patrick-St. Vincent
The Saints ran for over 500 yards, despite sophomore standout Ivan Robledo only playing for one half due to cramps, as St. Helena pulled away from St. Patrick-St. Vincent for a big 46-27 win to open the season.
St. Pat's actually cut the Saints' lead to one point early in the third quarter, when quarterback Ja'vione Shepherd connected with Zion Booker for a 21-yard touchdown pass, making the score 22-21 in favor of the Saints. But St. Helena responded, as it did all night. Cody DiTomaso broke loose for a 67-yard scoring run, and the two-point conversion made it 30-21. Shepherd and Booker hooked up again after that, this time for 34 yards to cut the lead back to three, but George Cutting then dashed 54 yards for a 38-27 advantage and the Saints would march to victory from there.
"I'm very proud of our kids. We battled defensively and turned them away on four different fourth down conversions inside our territory, plus we had a couple of key interceptions in the red zone," said St. Helena coach Brandon Farrell. "We also ran the ball extremely well, even with Ivan really only playing one half. And George (Cutting) not only made big plays on offense, but was a monster on defense."
Robledo ran for 177 yards in the win, with DiTomaso adding 165 yards on the ground. DiTomaso's five-yard plunge in the fourth quarter put the final nail in the coffin.
"We are just very excited to beat a good team in St. Pat's," Farrell added.
American Canyon rolls past Deer Valley
Junior Ezekiel Anderson bracketed the Wolves' 40-8 win over Deer Valley, beginning the scoring with an interception return for a touchdown and capping his night with a 50-yard jaunt to the end zone, as American Canyon stormed past a Wolverines' team which had beaten it at home the previous year.
Napa dominates Middletown in return to win column
It didn't take the Grizzlies long to erase the losing streak carried over from last year's 0-10 season, as Napa scored early and often in a 33-13 win over Middletown.
Junior standout Brock Bowers returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown, and his scoring reception in the second quarter made it 20-0 in favor of the Grizzlies. Middletown temporarily cut into the lead midway through the third on a short Dillon Tingle touchdown run, but another Bowers touchdown reception made it 27-6 late in the third quarter.
Justin-Siena scores in all manners to down Piedmont
Justin-Siena scored on offense, defense and special teams as the Braves rolled past Piedmont in their opener, 35-9.
Nolan Dunkle returned a fumble for a touchdown late in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead, which was followed by a Miles Williams touchdown run midway through the second quarter to make it 14-0. Solomone Anitoni added to the lead with a long touchdown reception early in the third quarter, and Williams then scored on a blocked punt early in the fourth to put the game away.
Senior editor Nate Smith contributed to this roundup
