Big plays on defense lead Justin-Siena to thrilling victory over St. Vincent de Paul
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
There are times when a game gets so weird you can’t even explain it.
In many cases, that’s been the deal in the spring season. Sure enough, the first-ever meeting between Justin-Siena and St. Vincent de Paul-Petaluma had plenty of odd moments. In the end, the Braves were able to prevail with a 42-19 victory.
After the Mustangs (2-1) came racing back to get within two points, a Robbie Sangiacomo 70-yard pick-six with just 9:16 left in the game gave Justin-Siena (3-1) all the momentum in the final quarter.
“In that play, we have been bringing a lot of heat against these guys,” Justin-Siena head coach Brandon LaRocco explained. “That play we showed heat and dropped everyone off into coverage and trying to bait the quarterback into throwing it. It worked out.”
“We were playing a lot of spy screen and draw screens all night, so he kind of rolled out, and I kind of saw his eyes,” Justin-Siena junior linebacker Robbie Sangiacomo said of his key pick-six. “The next thing I know I had the ball and the next thing I know I was running in slow motion running to the end zone.”
In the third quarter, St. Vincent de Paul put up 17 points with safety at the end of the first half, which made the game close. Something else that aided the Mustang comeback was the gusting wind, which squashed the Justin-Siena spread passing attack and made it hard to flip the field when punting.
The Braves forced three turnovers and scored on two of them. The other defensive score came from Noah Young who picked up a fumble by St. Vincent de Paul quarterback Caleb Furia and scored a touchdown.
“I was very proud of the way those guys responded,” LaRocco said of the fourth quarter resilience. “We were in a tough spot in the third quarter, all the credit to St. Vincent coming out swinging.”
The first score of the game came at the 10:52 mark of the first quarter when Roman Topate broke a 71-yard touchdown run. He also scored from four yards out with just 1:30 left in the first quarter. His last score of the game came with 5:48 left in the contest and was from 11 yards out. On the day, he rushed for 174 yards on 17 carries.
“Roman has been a nice little addition to our team,” LaRocco said of his sophomore running back. “His ability to run and vision and make guys miss is really good. He’s a special young player.”
“It just shows the depth that we have,” Sangiacomo said. “Roman is great. We picked him up from Napa this year, which was awesome. He’s a great player. He runs hard. He showed that he’s ready.”
The only other score for the Braves came when Hudson Beers connected with Seth Morrison for a 46-yard score with 6:18 left in the first half.
This game was played during both teams’ bye weeks and both will return to league play next Friday night. St. Vincent de Paul will visit El Molino. Meanwhile, Justin-Siena will host their final game of the spring season when they take on crosstown rival Vintage at 7 pm.
