With Wessman leading the way, Napa looks poised for a bounce-back year
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Newness something the Napa High football program has become accustomed to over the last few years. When the season begins, Napa will the start season with yet another new coach at the helm.
In late January, Richie Wessman was named the newest coach at Napa High School. He moved to Napa in early February. Wessman is Napa’s fourth coach in the last four years.
“The weather’s been great, a lot of great people,” Wessman said of his short time in Napa thus far. “Outside of the weather and the people, I’ve been solely focused on football.”
Wessman comes to Napa with a wide variety of different experiences in his time around football. From 2000 to 2001 he was the backup quarterback to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, who both won the Heisman trophy at University of Southern California. From 2003-2004 he had various stops at Ole Miss and Clemson as a graduate assistant before eventually becoming an offensive assistant at USC. His other NCAA coaching experience includes a stop at the University of Minnesota, Crockstan. At the NCAA Division II school, he coached quarterbacks, wide receivers, and served as the recruiting coordinator.
He also has experience in the National Football League, where he was the offensive quality control assistant and administrative assistant with the Tennessee Titans. He also helped with the offensive line, running game, pass protection, and film work. Wessman spent 2009-2013 with the Titans.
“I’ve been blessed to be around some of the best coaches in the history of the game,” Wessman said of the variety of different experiences he has around football. “Others who I haven’t coached with I’ve been able to have as mentors. So, that’s been truly a significant thing for me. You know, and with that I’ve been through a lot of different scenarios.”
New year, new offensive scheme
Wessman will also bring a new offense with him to Napa High. It will be the second time in as many seasons that Napa has had to learn a new offensive scheme.
“Our offense is about putting our best players in position to do something that they’re good at,” Wessman said of the new offensive scheme. “So, that’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve had a lot of success in those 7-on-7s throwing the ball all over the field.”
In order to learn the new offensive scheme, Napa took part in the University of California, Davis 7-on-7 passing tournament on June 8th. They also faced fellow Napa County schools in local 7-on-7 matchups throughout the summer.
Unfortunately, last year was a year to forget for Napa. They had their first winless season since 1955. However, they were still involved in some classic games, but they found themselves on the wrong side of all of them.
Lots of quality talent returning for Grizzlies
But, the good news for the Grizzlies is that they have a good amount of returners. Some of the returners are from last season, while others return after a year or two away from the program. Brock Bowers, a multisport athlete and four-star tight end according to 24/7 sports returns after a nice sophomore campaign. Bowers is also one of the top recruits in the CIF North Coast Section according to Prep2Prep Sports.
Other key returners are Isiah Newton, Jack Guigure, Justin Barnes, Jesus Pimentel, Tyler Clark, Jesse Desa, Jose Santos, and Filberto Chavez.
“I feel like we’re going to be a lot better than last year,” Bowers said of the team having a good amount of returners. “Just because we have more experience I think.”
“I feel like we have more chemistry than last year,” Newton added. “Last year was a lot of individualism, people not wanting to practice, people not wanting to be there. This year, it’s people that want to be here and it’s a lot of comradery, especially with coach Wessman here bringing more fire to it than last year.”
Logan Van Zandt, Cole Rasmussen, Nick Raymond, Kyle Jezycki, and Azrael Hillyer are all back after taking a year or two away from the program.
“When it comes to returning, returning is significant when you’ve played in the offensive, defensive, and special teams scheme,” Wessman said. “And, that’s something that we don’t have, it’s new for everybody. It’s a growth process. There’s definitely some great young men, great athletes, guys who are great at football that we love and we love their football IQ. But, there’s a long way to go in terms of developing and being ready to go in what we’re doing.”
New year, new preseason opponents
Napa has a lot of new opponents to its non-league schedule this year. They’ll begin the season on August 23rd at Middletown. On August 30th they’ll host Nevada Union-Grass Valley, then visit Vallejo on September 6th before hosting Armijo-Fairfield on September 13th.
“I think it’s a good mixture,” Newton said of the non-league schedule. “I feel like years past it was a little bit stronger to fit the league, but I feel like it’s good. Me personally, I’m excited to play Vallejo because I’m from Vallejo, I live in Vallejo, so that’s like the team I really want to play.”
“With our preseason, it’s important to pick up a few early wins to start off the season, so that would be important too,” Bowers added.
In last year’s meeting, Napa lost 59-34 to Nevada Union. But, the teams have played each other close over the last few years. In the three years the teams have faced off Napa is 1-2 against the Miners.
The meeting with Vallejo will be the first one in six years. Napa and Vallejo had the third oldest rivalry in the state of California before the series came to an end after the 2013 season. Napa is 10-0 against Vallejo from 2004 to 2013.
The last time Napa and Armijo met was only two years ago when the teams were members of the Monticello Empire League. Napa won the last meeting 49-14 over Armijo in 2017.
For a more in-depth look at Napa’s preseason schedule go here.
Important league games
The Grizzlies will open Vine Valley Athletic League on September 20th at Arnold Field when they visit Sonoma Valley. Napa will host American Canyon on October 4th, which follows their bye week on September 27th. On October 11th they’ll host Justin-Siena in what will be the first-ever meeting at Memorial Stadium for the two local schools. Just like normal, Napa will end the season against Vintage in Big Game XLVII (48) on November 1st. Napa will be the visiting team for this year’s Big Game.
“I’m really looking forward to the Justin game,” Newton explained. “Losing to that blocked punt it was pretty heartbreaking because that was really going to be our first win and it was just taken from us in the snap of a moment not being able to get that game-winning drive back. So, that’s going to be the real game I look forward to. But, all the league games are important just trying to make it to playoffs.”
The CIF North Coast Section playoffs are scheduled to begin the following week on November 8th. If Napa were to qualify for the playoffs they’d be in the eight-team Division II bracket after the CIF NCS removed the Open Division, which bumped Napa from Division I. Here’s what the new landscape looks like for Napa should they make the playoffs.
Plenty of new members joining the coaching staff
Napa has plenty of new additions to it’s coaching staff this year. Askari Adams will be the defensive coordinator, and will be assisted by Tom Petihomme and Steve Hatton. Clay Jackson will coach the running backs. Keoni Piceno will coach the wide receivers. Randy Block and Rick Daneils will coach the offensive line with returning coach Warren Bowers. Matt Lauson will coach quarterbacks and special teams, and Kevin Lucky also joins the staff as a consultant.
“Yeah, I like what they’re talking about and everything,” Bowers said of all the newest coaches on the staff. “I really like the new defensive scheme, the new defensive coordinator, and coach Wessman. I feel like the offense can run fairly good.”
1985 Napa High graduate and NHS Athletic Hall of Famer Steve Hendrickson will also join the staff as a JV coach.
“Great, great group of guys,” Wessman explained of all the fresh faces on his staff. “We’re all getting on the same page football wise. They bring a lot of football IQ, just fun guys to be around. You know, we’re big on culture and character too, and these men that can help develop the character in our football team off the field as well and that’s really important to us. So, they’re a joy to be around.”
“I like the new coaching staff,” Newton said. “The IQ of every coach is a lot higher than what I’ve had. And like, especially coach Wessman, like I thought I had a pretty high football IQ. And then he came and made me feel like I was in kindergarten not knowing anything about football, so I like it. I enjoy it.”
