Napa stifles Justin-Siena in second half, picks up first win of season
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Momentum can change so fast in sports, which is why it’s so important to take advantage of it.
That’s what the Napa high football team did in their 27-14 victory over crosstown rival Justin-Siena on Friday night at Dodd Stadium.
Everything changed in the Grizzlies (1-1 overall, 1-1 Vine Valley Athletic League) favor when Rudy Hernandez intercepted a Hudson Beers pass from the back of the end zone and then proceeded to score from ten yards out with 6:03 left in the first half. Part of the reason Beers was under so much heat was due to the fact that the snap was over his head.
“All night we’ve been getting pressure on the quarterback and on that play, we had three or four guys in his face and he just threw it up,” Napa High head coach Askari Adams explained. “We tried to thrive off mistakes and that’s what we did. We knew we had to get the offense the ball and luckily we scored ourselves.”
Beers faced heavy pressure from the Napa defense all night. He got sacked a total of six times on the night.
“They did a good job,” Justin-Siena head coach Brandon LaRocco said of the Napa defense. “They brought pressure from different spots. I think they were aggressive. They’re big up front and physical. So I thought in spots we did well picking it up in other spots, not so much.”
Despite the score, it was an adequate effort from the Braves defensively since they were never out of the game.
“We were making mistakes on simple things,” LaRocco explained. “We were giving up plays that we shouldn’t have been giving up.”
Before the pick-six, the game was a back-and-forth affair. The first score of the game was by Justin-Siena (2-1, 2-1 VVAL) when Beers found Seth Morrison from 14 yards away with 4:50 left in the first quarter.
After a solid kickoff return, Napa tied it up on a Benito Saldivar two-yard touchdown run at the 2:16 mark of the first quarter.
The Braves reassumed the lead with 9:26 left in the first half when Beers again found Morrison for a touchdown – this time from 24 yards out.
With 3:25 left in the half, Mal Turner connected with Issac Rojas from 25 yards out to tie it up once more.
The second half saw Napa kicker Oscar Sotelo convert on a pair of field goals. His first one was from 31 yards out with 6:10 left in the third quarter. Then, with just 3:20 left in the contest, he knocked one in from 22 yards out.
The Grizzlies got nice efforts from their top two runnings backs. Saldivar logged 27 carries and 163 yards, with a touchdown. Manuel Infante also rushed 12 times for 69 yards.
“They’re small, but they’ll come with a punch,” Adams said of his pair of running backs. “They’re tough kids. I’ll take those two over anybody.”
It was also a better game from Mal Turner. Through the air, he was 5 of 12 for 49 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
“Mal’s growing. He just came over to us a month ago, so it’s a lot for him to learn,” Adams said of Turner. “Some of these guys have been with coach Cheek (offensive coordinator) since October. He’s learning on-the-fly, but he’ll get it.”
They also used sophomore Anthony Tubridy who was 5-for-8 with 31 yards.
“We had a plan to play both quarterbacks,” Adams added. “You know, to see what we’ve got because it’s a five-game season. He’s going to be back next year, so we want to see what we’ve got. I thought he came in and did a really good job.”
Both teams will be in action again next week. Napa will play their third straight road game when they visit Petaluma on Friday night at 7 pm. Meanwhile, Justin-Siena will play a very rare non-league contest on Saturday at 2 pm when they host St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma.
In other VVAL games Friday night, Vintage throttled American Canyon 55-0 and Casa Grande beat Sonoma Valley 34-24. Petaluma had the league bye week.
