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Vintage running back Jeffery Page cuts through a hole that Domanic Mendoza (35), Elias Alvarez (19) and Matt Ackman (88) help open up as American Canyon's Sean Yumang (6) and Kapono Liu (34) look to tackle him at Wolf Den Stadium on Friday night.
Vintage running back Jeffery Page runs through the American Canyon defense on Friday night.
Vintage’s Lucas Henry (13) and Carson DeGarmo (40) tackle American Canyon running back Kapono Liu (34) on Friday night.
American Canyon's Kapono Liu (34) is swarmed by Vintage defenders while running the ball Friday night.
American Canyon quarterback Kaleb Anderson (15) runs for a short touchdown while tackled by Vintage's Matt Ackman (88) on Friday night.
American Canyon's James Aken (44) and Ryan Landaverde (54) come close to blocking Vintage's field goal as the Crushers' Aiden Riddleberger blocks Aken on Friday night.
Vintage High junior Jeffery Page has three impressive carries against American Canyon, two of which go for touchdowns Friday night,
AMERICAN CANYON — A week after Vintage was stunned by a much-improved Petaluma High football team, the Crushers washed the sweat and tears out of their uniforms and the useless memory of that loss from their minds and got back to practicing for a game they absolutely knew would be tough.
The result was a 31-15 win at American Canyon that dropped the Wolves into a three-way tie for second place with Vintage and Justin-Siena, which will be the Crushers’ homecoming opponent this Friday night.
Vintage got the sting of the previous Friday’s 28-26 loss to the first-place Trojans — their first loss to that program since probably the 1970s — by pounding away with the Wolves for 48 minutes.
“We had a great week of practice, really upbeat, really positive,” Vintage head coach Dylan Leach said. “This group is really difficult because I love them all so much and it’s like they’re really good kids and they’re so fun to hang out with and then they make bonehead mistakes like kids do, so it’s that fine line between getting frustrated and letting them be themselves.
“But in this game, you’ve got to have a short memory and I was able to bypass that loss by Sunday. It was a hard one to bypass, but by Sunday, I was ready to go. The game plans were in, and I thought we executed our game plan pretty well tonight.”
Jeffery Page led Vintage’s vaunted rushing attack with 121 yards on 17 carries, including both of the Crushers’ second-half touchdowns. They were huge after the Wolves had grabbed the halftime momentum with the first of quarterback Kaleb Anderson’s two touchdown runs.
Anderson had scampered 19 yards on fourth down, converting with the ease Vintage often does on fourth down and scored five plays later from 4 yards out. Xavier Lopez threaded the extra point to cut the Crushers’ lead to 17-7 just 31 seconds before the break.
But Vintage took the second-half kickoff and covered 69 yards in six running plays to grab a decisive 24-7 lead with 8:10 left in the third quarter. Page had two long runs during the march, a 31-yarder to the American Canyon 35, and a 28-yard scoring scamper.
The Crushers’ defense made a statement on the ensuing drive, stuffing the agile Anderson for no gain on second down and then forcing two straight incompletions to get the ball back.
But the Wolves were ready to give in yet.
Slowed by a 15-yard chop-block penalty, the Crushers went three-and-out and American Canyon took just 10 plays to drive 87 yards for its second touchdown. Anderson had gains of 9, 15 and 8 yards before hitting Abdul Kates Jr. with a 10-yard completion to the 23. Anderson took it in from there, darting left to score just inside the left goal-line marker.
Anderson ran in the two-point conversion to make it a two-possession game, 24-15, with 11:23 left in the fourth quarter. The Wolves had no choice but to go for two, actually, because kicker Xavier Lopez had been helped off the field after sustaining what looked like a significant knee injury earlier in the drive. The back-up kicker attempted an onside kick that Vintage recovered at the 50-yard line.
Vintage essentially sealed the win after that with a 13-play drive keyed by eight carries from Page, including a 1-yard scoring plunge with just 2:24 left.
Still two scores and two-point conversions away from tying the game, American Canyon got as far as its own 44 on a pair of Anderson keepers, but he threw incomplete four straight times. The Wolves weren’t ready to give in yet, as Sean Yumang recovered a snap fumbled by Vintage’s second offense.
Needing a couple of miracles with 1:28 left, Anderson and Co. got as far as the Vintage 49 before running out of downs again, and the Crushers ran out the clock.
A lot of the players who have piled up offensive or defensive stats for American Canyon this season, such as James Aken, Kapono Liu, Sean Yumang, Abdul Kates Jr. and Ojani Castillo, didn’t seem to come up as big this time.
“They showed up, but in different ways (than usual,” Wolves head coach John Montante said. “Kapono had some good runs, Ojani had some good runs, but that’s the nature of option football. You take away one thing, you have something else. James made some nice plays on the defensive line and made some really good blocks. Our offensive line played well.
“But you can never give away turnovers. Kids are trying to do a little bit too much to make something happen, pressing instead of letting things come to them. That’s what I chalk that up to. Ball security’s important. These guys know what’s at stake. I’m not worried.”
The first half was all Vintage in the early going. The Crushers forced American Canyon to punt and scored on their first play from scrimmage, a 71-yard keeper by quarterback Elias Alvarez. The Wolves coughed up the ball on the ensuing kickoff cashed in with a 29-yard field goal by Henry Drozdowicz.
American Canyon quarterback Kaleb Anderson weaves between and around Vintage defenders during a scoring drive that overlaps the last two quarters Friday night.
American Canyon fumbled away the ball again on its next drive into the hands of Vintage’s Matt Ackman, but stopped the Crushers inches short on fourth down. However, Vintage came back again and marched 67 yards, with the help of a 14-yard pickup by Riley Anderson, and got a 2-yard scoring run from Alvarez to make it 17-7 with 5:30 left in the half.
Ackman said the fumbles were the result of a directive to set the tone physically from the start.
“It was about coming in hard-nosed, playing violent, because AC hasn’t really played a team like us, a really smash-mouth team, and I think when that happens, fumbles are going to happen,” the senior co-captain said. “I think it definitely helped us playing top NorCal teams (in the preseason) — especially Heritage, which is a great program. It definitely helped us and prepared us for the playoffs.”
And for league title contenders such as American Canyon.
“We came in wanting to make sure they felt us tackling them, to play Crusher football,” Leach said. “We feel like we’ve been sharpened — we’ve been through the wringer with the schedule we’ve had and we felt like this was our opportunity to go out and try to be the hammer on somebody else. We challenged our players and they came to life and answered the bell, so we couldn’t be more excited.”
While Vintage’s four preseason opponents are now 16-9, American Canyon’s are 16-10.
“Our nonleague schedule was a really good one,” Montante said. “Livermore is still undefeated. We’re one play away from winning there, but we lose focus and blow a coverage and they win on the last play. Burlingame’s a good team and we miss a winning field goal. Those were our two losses. Rodriguez and Berkeley have talent all over the field and we beat them, so we’ve seen everything we need to see. Now we have to put it together."
American Canyon has its bye next week before hosting Casa Grande on Oct. 21.
“We have to do a better job of coming out, being focused, and doing our jobs without excuse. That’s what’s going to take this group to the next level," Montante added. "When this group is firing, nobody stops them. But they’re also capable of some pretty frustrating misfires. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade them for anybody. We just have to get better, and we will, and we control our destiny. We’ll grow from it. We always seem to grow from things like this. So we’ll be OK.”
One of Vintage’s more interesting performances was by the freshman kicker, Drozdowicz, who was also 4 for 4 on extra points — a week after not being used at all in the two-point loss at Petaluma. The Crushers ran their deceptive water-pick conversion play after all four touchdowns in that game, and came up short on three of them. Leach said it had nothing to do with him being a freshman.
“We just wanted to go out and put our water pick out there on film and make sure that people know that we can still run it,” Leach explained. “We didn’t execute it, so now we got behind the eight-ball, and once you get behind the eight-ball you’ve got to keep going for two to match up. That’s what it was.
“Henry, oh man, that little freshman is a great kid first of all. Great kid, great family. Second of all, he’s going to be an amazing kicker for four years. I almost kicked him on that last fourth down, but we wanted to set a tone. We felt that 36-yarder was well within his range. It wasn’t anything to do with him. It had everything to do with us being behind the eight-ball.”
Vintage looked like a team still wanting to vie for a North Coast Section playoff berth despite the loss, after going 5-1 in the VVAL last wasn’t enough to make the postseason.
“We need help, obviously,” Leach said. “We need American Canyon to go beat Petaluma (on Nov. 4) or for Casa Grande to beat Petaluma (on Oct. 28), and if that’s the case and we’re lucky enough to execute and win out, then we’re still in the hunt for the league title. I told these guys after last week’s loss that it was a hard pill to swallow, but everything on our goal board was still in front of us.
“We try to have growth mindsets in this program. We make sure they understand that there’s still an opportunity there and if you dwell on things in the past, you won’t reach the new opportunity.”
1943 — Bob Hoernschemeyer throws six touchdown passes, an NCAA record for a freshman, as Indiana beats Nebraska 54-13.
Bob Hoernschemeyer of Indiana was named Quarterback on the all star Big Ten Football team chosen for the Associated Press. November 25, 1943 photo. (AP Photo)
1965 — The United States wins the Ryder Cup 19½-12½ at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Arnold Palmer clinches the title, beating Peter Butler 2 up. It’s the 13th victory for the Americans in this event which began in 1927. Britain, winners of this event three times, last won in 1957.
Dave Thomas, right, of Great Britain, congratulates Arnold Palmer of Latrobe, Penn., on the 13th green at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, Oct. 8, 1965.
2004 — Texas loses to Oklahoma 12-0, getting shut out for the first time in 282 games and ending the longest streak in the country.
Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson (28) slips from the tackle by Texas defensive end Brian Robison (39) during the second quarter in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2004. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)
2005 — Chris Burke hits a home run in the bottom of the 18th inning and Roger Clemens pitches three scoreless innings of relief in Houston’s 7-6, series-ending victory over Atlanta in the NLDS. The longest postseason game in history takes 5 hours, 50 minutes to complete.
Houston Astros' Chris Burke leaps in the air as he is greeted by teammates after hitting the game-winning home run in the 18th inning in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
2010 — Derek Stepan becomes the fourth player to score three times in his NHL debut to lead the New York Rangers to a season-opening 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
New York Rangers center Derek Stepan, right, is congratulated by Rangers Sean Avery after his first goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y. on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)
2011 — Sebastian Janikowski kicks four field goals, including three from at least 50 yards (54, 55, 50), in Oakland’s 25-20 win over Houston. Houston’s Matt Schaub throws for 416 yards and two touchdowns.
Oakland Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski (11) and Shane Lechler (9) against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
2012 — Jerry Sandusky is sentenced to at least 30 years in prison in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno’s downfall.
In this Oct. 9, 2012, file photo, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, center, is taken from the Centre County Courthouse by Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau, left, and a deputy, after being sentenced in Bellefonte, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
2016 — Tom Brady looking razor-sharp at times and relatively rust-free after serving his four-game “Deflategate” suspension, passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns to Martellus Bennett as the New England Patriots thump the Cleveland Browns 33-13.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady celebrates a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
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Andy Wilcox is a sportswriter-photographer for the Napa Valley Register. He's had similar roles in Walnut Creek, Grass Valley, Auburn, Tracy and Patterson. He grew up in Ohio. His wife, Laura, is a pastry chef. He also enjoys playing guitar and piano.
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Justin-Siena's defense put a doughnut on the scoreboard for the fourth time this season and for the third straight shutout, the Braves were ju…
St. Helena High graduate Charles Bertoli, a 2012 alumnus who grew up as an only child but found sports an opportunity to form a brotherhood with his teammates, will be one of five inductees in this year’s St. Helena High Athletic Hall of Fame class, the ceremony for which is scheduled for Oct. 29 at the Native Sons Hall in St. Helena. Katie Decker (2001), Madelyn Densberger Levesque (2011), Jeff King (distinguished service), and Erik Zaidel (coach) will also be inducted.
A roundup of recent high school sports results involving Napa Valley teams.
A roundup of recent high school sports results involving Napa Valley teams.
A roundup of recent high school sports results involving Napa Valley teams.
The Vintage High football team came up short on three of four two-point conversions in a 28-26 Vine Valley Athletic League loss at Petaluma High on Friday night. Vintage had routed the Trojans in their previous six meetings by an average score of 49-8.
A roundup of recent high school sports results involving Napa Valley teams.
A roundup of recent high school sports results involving Napa Valley teams.
The Justin-Siena football team put together one of its best performances of the season Friday night as it won its homecoming game big over Sonoma Valley, 41-7, for its first Vine Valley Athletic League win of 2022.
Vintage running back Jeffery Page cuts through a hole that Domanic Mendoza (35), Elias Alvarez (19) and Matt Ackman (88) help open up as American Canyon's Sean Yumang (6) and Kapono Liu (34) look to tackle him at Wolf Den Stadium on Friday night.
Vintage running back Jeffery Page runs through the American Canyon defense on Friday night.
Vintage’s Lucas Henry (13) and Carson DeGarmo (40) tackle American Canyon running back Kapono Liu (34) on Friday night.
American Canyon's Kapono Liu (34) is swarmed by Vintage defenders while running the ball Friday night.
American Canyon quarterback Kaleb Anderson (15) runs for a short touchdown while tackled by Vintage's Matt Ackman (88) on Friday night.
American Canyon's James Aken (44) and Ryan Landaverde (54) come close to blocking Vintage's field goal as the Crushers' Aiden Riddleberger blocks Aken on Friday night.
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