Sonoma Valley pulls upset over Napa in Vine Valley Athletic League opener
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In a major upset to begin Vine Valley Athletic League play Sonoma Valley beat Napa 28-16.
Napa coach Tom Petithomme said afterwards that the fundamentals were what killed his team in this game.
“We went backward tonight,” a disappointed Petithomme said. “We talked about our goals coming into this week. We talked about getting better on offense; we talked about getting better on defense and special teams, protecting the football all the fundamental type things, and we just didn’t come out and do it. We just didn’t come out (to play). We fell flat on our faces tonight.”
The Grizzlies (0-5 overall, 0-1 VVAL) turned the ball over three times on the night, which is a recipe for disaster.
Sonoma (2-3, 1-0 VVAL) set the tone early in this game. With 1:37 left in the first quarter Tyler Winslow scored on a four-yard rush. Later, with 3:33 left till half Andrew Beatty scampered to the end zone from five yards out to give the Dragons an early 14-point edge.
Napa’s first score of the game came with 3:21 left till half when Diego Olvera brought a Sonoma kickoff back 75 yards to the end zone, but Napa missed the two-point conversion try afterwards. The Grizzlies scored again right before the half when Julio Alonso nailed a 29-yard field goal to send Napa into the half down only by a slim five-point margin.
Also early on in the first half Napa made a swap at the quarterback position when Isiah Newton replaced Gunner Schoeps.
Petithomme admitted it was just time to change things up.
“I just wanted to make a change,” he explained of the change at quarterback. “It’s just Isiah gives us a good chance to win, and I just needed to make a change.”
On the other hand, Newton wasn’t expecting to get in at quarterback on the evening.
“I was not,” Newton said of going in at quarterback. “It’s been four games and Gunner’s been in, so I was just expecting unless Gunner go hurt I wouldn’t be in there unless it was like a wildcat running (play), and especially coming off a concussion not really getting in at quarterback the momentum of that I was not expecting it.”
He ended up completing 10 of his 18 pass attempts for 120 yards with an interception, and a touchdown. The junior also carried the ball seven times for only 15 yards.
In the second half the Dragons came out spitting fire at Napa when Jake Baker returned the second half’s opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown at the 11:44 mark of the third.
Sonoma put the game out of reach on Trent Garrett’s two-yard touchdown rush with 11:33 left in the contest. However, only 33 second later Napa scored what would be the final score of the game when Newton connected with Brock Bowers for a 19-yard touchdown pass.
The Grizzlies had a hard time stopping Sonoma’s wing-T style rushing attack on the night. Winslow finished the night with 152 yards on 26 carries with a touchdown. Ryan Sherwood had an impressive 113 yards on only nine rushes. Sonoma gauged Napa for a total of 341 yards on the ground.
“I’m going to have to watch the film because I really don’t know,” Petithomme said of Napa’s struggles with the run. “It looked like they were making the adjustments, but Sonoma just kept finding a hole. I don’t know, we’ll have to see the film.”
VVAL play will continue next week when Sonoma hosts American Canyon while Napa enjoys their bye week. After the bye Napa will make the short 13 mile trek to face American Canyon.
Napa JV 41 Sonoma Valley 0
The Napa JV continued their winning ways on Friday night with a blowout win over Sonoma.
There was no score after a quarter of play, but after that the Grizzlies took control of the game.
Aiden McDonald had the highlight of the game when he found the end zone on a 50-yard touchdown rush in the second quarter.
Sonoma faces American Canyon next Friday night at 4:45 p.m. while Napa heads into their bye week before facing American Canyon on September 28th at 4:45 p.m.
