Crushers looking for more success after last year’s magical run

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Last year was a magical year for the Vintage High School football team.

They won their first league title since 2005, they also won their first playoff game in 32 years, and made it to the semifinals in the CIF North Coast Section Division I playoffs. They also finished the year with a 10-3 record and upset top-seeded Antioch in the quarterfinals of the CIF NCS playoffs. Vintage also had the first Thanksgiving Day practice at Memorial Stadium last year thanks to their deep playoff run and other things.  

New year, new faces set to step up

But, as the page turns to the 2019 season the Crushers are a young group. 

“No, it’s high school,” Vintage coach Dylan Leach explained of all the youthfulness on the team. “Every year it’s high school you’re gonna have turnover. So obviously you want to be you want to be experienced in the right spots.   And we’re not on the line, which is going to be a situation we got to work really hard at but I have the utmost confidence in coach (Dennis) Raines and coach (Andrew) Hall and (Chris) Yepson and myself to make sure that we put ourselves in the right positions.”

A few of the returning starters aren’t all that worried either. 

“I wouldn’t say that we’re young,” Vintage junior quarterback/safety Jacob Aaron said. “We’ve got a great senior class. Yeah, obviously we’ve got a lot more junior playing this year, but we’re fine.” 

“Yeah, I think we have a lot of geniuses here,” Vintage senior Mauricio Castro added. “But, it definitely helps us skills wise and lineman wise. You know, we have a lot of players it doesn’t really bug me at all.”

“I mean, I think we’re just going to be ready for the battle,” Vintage senior center Jack Odell explained. “We have coaches here that get us mentally and physically ready to get into a battle and do what we need to do at the end of the night.”

However, they do still return a good amount of key players. Their biggest returner will be Aaron who had a nice sophomore season. Aaron was also named one of the CIF North Coast Section quarterbacks to watch by Prep2Prep Sports last month.  

“His competitiveness is really fun to coach and be around,” Leach said of his junior quarterback. “And we’re getting to the point now where he him and I think a lot alike, and so he knows what I want, and I know what he wants, and we can work together. So, I’m excited about him, and I’m excited about him on defense. I think he’s one of the premier defenders in Northern California, and I think he doesn’t get enough credit for what he does on defense.” 

Other returners that saw time last season are Cutler Low, Mauricio Castro, Jack Odell, Kyle Dandini, Dominic Smith, Dylan Cook, and Pedja Zivkovic. Other senior returners are Logan Bartlett, Harrison Barrett, Billy Birdsall, Bryce Eade, Jose Alfaro, Konrad Fiske, Ernie Avina, and Avery Hall. Jeremy Bradley also returns to the program after a year away. 

Vintage will also have a nice junior class this year after they went 9-0-1 as JVs last season. 

Offseason was very busy for Vintage

It was a busy offseason for Vintage. Besides lifting, the Crushers got out in the community and volunteered. They also took part in the UC Davis 7-on-7 passing tournament on June 8th and a tournament hosted by Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland. They also faced Napa County schools in a few 7-on-7 matchups over the summer. 

“Good, I think our best showing in seven on was down at Bishop O’Dowd when we played against Antioch and Bishop O’Dowd,” Leach said of the summer. “I thought we played some high-level teams, and performed well. As far as the offseason goes, I don’t take a lot of credence in the seven on. So offseason, to me was great because we gelled, we worked hard together. We did a lot of community services, and we did a lot of things that made us be like one unit and have some pride about where we are.”

“Passing wise, we have gained a lot from last year,” Aaron explained. “We have so many skills (players) out here that just do different things for us, and it’s been great. You know, working on timing and all those kind of things and all also just different routes that we didn’t really run last year that we’ve added. So, it’s helped a lot with the seven on.” 

Crushers set to face the best of the best early on

Just like last year, the non-league schedule will be challenging for the Crushers. On August 23rd they’ll host former Monticello Empire League rival Wood of Vacaville. In the offseason, former Napa assistant coach Kirk Anderson was named the head coach. When Leach and a few other members of his staff were at Napa, Anderson was also on the varsity staff as the defensive coordinator, assistant special teams coach, and wide receiver coach. Anderson takes over for Carlos Meraz who was the coach for nine years at Wood. 

“We’ve had a great rivalry with Wood,” Leach said of the opener. “ But I mean, let’s be real, they whipped us. We have nothing to rest on, there’s no laurels there. (I’m) excited anytime you get to play a high level team that has traditionally gone to the playoffs. Carlos has obviously gone.  But I know Kirk very well. He’s a great guy, he’s a great coach. He’ll have those guys bought in. He’ll have them following him and they’ll be good. So, looking forward to that test.”

Then, on August 30th Vintage will visit El Cerrito who made it all the way to the semifinals in the CIF NCS Division III playoffs. Following that, Vintage will host Acalanes-Lafayette on September 6th. Last year, Vintage lost a nail-biter to Acalanes 28-27. The Crushers will conclude non-league when they visit Bellarmine-San Jose on September 13th. Last season, Vintage beat Bellarmine 26-14. 

“It’s pretty tough, but it’s going to make us tougher,” Vintage senior defensive lineman Konrad Fiske explained. 

“I mean, that’s why we’re here is to play those types of teams,” Leach said of the tough preseason schedule. “It wouldn’t do us any service to go in and schedule teams that we feel like we can just beat.” 

“I love it,” Aaron said of the non-league schedule. “ It’s good competition. We get to play with some of the best around. So, I’m excited. There’s a couple revenge games that we have, which will be nice.” 

“It’s going to be great because we are going to face some of the best,” Odell pointed out. “At the end of the day, to be the best you kind of have to beat the best. I mean, if we’re there with them, and we’re able to play with them, and that’s going to get us ready to go through and try to compete in our league to try to end up at the top again, to win a championship.”

For a team-by-team look at Vintage’s non-league schedule go here.

League play is always key

Following their bye week on September 20th, Vintage will host Casa Grande-Petaluma in their Vine Valley Athletic League opener. Vintage beat Casa Grande 44-0 in their VVAL opener last season. Other league highlights include a key meeting at American Canyon on October 11th. The annual VVAL title was decided last year when Vintage beat American Canyon 27-14. The following week Vintage will host Justin-Siena in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools at Memorial Stadium. Vintage won the inaugural meeting 48-6 last season. As usual, Vintage will end the regular season against crosstown rival Napa in Big Game XLVIII (48) on November 1st. This year, Vintage is the home team for Big Game.    

Should Vintage qualify for the playoffs, they’d play down a division compared to last year. The NCS decided to remove the Open division in the offseason, which will bump the Crushers down to division II in the playoffs. Only eight teams qualify for the playoffs. To get a look at the new landscape of the division go here.

“Yeah, nothing that I can control,” Leach said of the new playoff division. “I could care less about things I can’t control. Eventually you play a game, and you’ve got to beat a team. And, whoever comes across this, we’re going to try to beat and they’re going to try to beat us. And, that’s the beauty of this game.”

New coaches join the staff

New to the coaching staff this season is Chris Yepson. He comes to Vintage from American Canyon to lead the strength and conditioning program and to help coach the defensive line. 

“Chris brings a lot of knowledge and energy to the weight room to go along with Dave Bryant, who we’ve already had in there, and does a great job,” Leach said of Yepson. “And we just added a new dynamic, so excited about him, then obviously, the X’s and O’s in the game. He’s been around a long time, he’s been at a high level has been a coordinators at both both sides of the ball. So, I’m really excited about having Chris around. And just a good guy too. It’s fun to be around.”

“Coach Yepson’s been something else,” Odell said. “He’s more of our strength and conditioning coach. He’s in there every single day. When he coaches the d-line he’s upbeat. It’s all about tempo, moving, being physical, being tough. He’s really been a key part of our program this year.”

That’s a wrap on off season lifting. 4 days a week since January they grinded. So excited to see what they do under the lights pic.twitter.com/liBE1MRDK1

— Coach Yepson (@coachyep) August 9, 2019

“Personally, I think we’re stronger than last year,” Aaron explained of the addition of Yepson. 

“Strength wise we were strong last year, but we’re stronger this year,” Castro said. “You know, you’ve just got to improve every year.” 

David Hunt, a 2013 Napa High graduate, also joins the Vintage coaching staff to coach the running backs and linebackers. 

“Hunt has been helping a lot with the running backs,” Aaron said of the newest running backs coach. “Having one guy with the running backs helps a lot, and has coach Leach help us with the quarterbacks.”  

“David’s a first-year coach,” Leach said of Hunt. “I really wanted Dave to come with me one, he knows our system, he played for me down the street at Napa High, he’s a tough kid. He was an All-League type of kid and I want these kids to be around guys have the passion that he has.  And, I wanted to be able to kind of have my hands and teach him the way I want him to coach.” 

“Having coach Hunt really helps me out as a running back,” Castro said of his coach.