With a good amount players returning, Justin-Siena looks for season filled with success
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
After playing football in the spring of this year, it’s nice to have everything getting going again in its normal time frame.
Last spring, the Braves went 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the Vine Valley Athletic League. That was good enough to finish in a tie for fourth in the VVAL.
Like every team, they did lose some key players to graduation. But they do have some players returning who played a major role last spring. They are led by Robby Sangiacomo, Miles Martin, Jackson Smith, Caden Parlett, Nick Andrews, Zach Zurowski, Eric Gutierrez, David Larsen, Cole Chatagnier, Giancarlo Guerrrero, Kaden Galyen, and Jack Faust.
Zurowski will also take over as the signal-caller as a senior this season. He will bring a duel-threat look to the quarterback spot.
One of the biggest challenges programs will have to overcome is the swift turnaround from the spring season to the normally-timed fall season.
For Justin-Siena, the turnaround has been a bit challenging due to some supply issues. On the other hand, it’s treated the Braves well since they didn’t have to reteach as much off of a spring season.
“They’ve responded very well – probably better than we have,” Justin-Siena head coach Brandon LaRocco said of how well his kids responded to the fast turnaround. “As coaches, we’re always trying to plan, plan, plan, but the planning period is a lot shorter than it normally is. So yeah, they’ve responded pretty well. The thing I noticed is how much they remember because we just got done. Usually, it’s like reteach a lot of stuff have to kind of start the basics, but this group, we kind of hit the ground running a little bit which is nice.”
The summer has been a busy one for the Braves. Once summer practices started, they played 7-on-7s with local competition as well as competing in the De La Salle 7-on-7 tournament in June.
Another thing that will be back to the way it was the return of normal crowds at games. It’s something that wasn’t the case in spring when sparse crowds of parents were in the stands without the energy of student rooters.
“I think our student body really supports our program,” LaRocco pointed out. “I think they have a lot of fun at the games and I missed that. It’s like Friday night football and that’s as Americana as it gets. So having the kids in stands, and the parents and all that stuff – I’m looking forward to it.”
Return of non-league competition
Last spring, there was little to no non-league competition in most sports. As things have returned to normal, the preseason schedule returns this season as well. It just so happened that Justin-Siena played one non-league game last spring.
This season, there will be a plethora of traveling before the league schedule starts. The Braves play three of their four non-league contests on the road.
“It’s definitely different,” Sangiacomo said of the three road games in four weeks to begin the season. “It is weird, but it’s just football. Football is football. Wherever you play, it’s still the same game.”
They will begin the season on August 27th with a trip to Humboldt County to meet Fortuna.
“We have a long history of going up North and facing those programs,” LaRocco explained. “Ferndale, Fortuna, Del Norte, St. Bernards, so it’ll be a good opportunity for us. It’ll be a good opportunity for us to play that tougher style ball they do up there. It’s a good way to start the season against a hard-nosed running game.”
After that, they will head to San Francisco on September 4th to face Archbishop Riordan. The last time the teams met was in the fall of 2019. In that game, Justin-Siena won a thriller 43-31.
“I expect a big, physical, hard-nosed running team. They were two years ago,” LaRocco said of the challenge that Archbishop Riordan poses. “I expect the same coaching staff as far as I know, so I expect more of the same.”
The Braves will have their home-opener the next week when they host Saint Mary’s of Albany on September 10th.
“We played them a lot over the years,” LaRocco said of St. Mary’s. “They have a new coach this year, so I don’t know a ton about what they have across the board this year.”
Justin-Siena’s last non-league game will involve some more long traveling when they head to Grass Valley to face Bear River on September 17th. Originally, they were supposed to host Healdsburg before they dropped the game in July.
“We lost our Healdsburg game in July, which is kind of a tough time to lose a game,” LaRocco said. “So we got to see what was out there and this was the best opportunity for us to play a competitive team. I know Bear River is a good program, but we’re about the same size school. So I like the matchup, it’ll be a good challenge for us.”
Full VVAL schedule returns
In the spring, Justin-Siena was one of six teams that didn’t play a full league schedule. However, everything is back to normal now.
The Braves will begin the league slate on September 24th when they host Petaluma. This will be a rematch of the season-opener from March when Justin-Siena won 7-0.
On October 1st, the Braves will play their first game on Sonoma Valley’s new field. In the spring, the game was played at Arnold Field. Justin-Siena came away with a 38-14 victory last year in Sonoma.
The next few weeks will be the final two home games of the year for Justin-Siena. First, on October 8th they’ll host Napa. That will be followed by Senior Night when they host Vintage on October 15th.
After the two games against the Napa schools, they’ll have a nicely timed bye week on October 22nd. The late bye week could provide them a chance to get healthy before two tough games and a playoff run.
“It’s good. It gives us a chance to recover and reassess ourselves,” LaRocco said of the late bye week and how it’ll help his team. “I think two years ago, in 2019, we lost a tough game with Vintage and we did do some self-assessment during that bye week.
Justin-Siena will then visit American Canyon on October 30th. Last spring, they lost 50-42 in a thriller.
Finally, they will end the season on November 5th when they head to Petaluma to visit Casa Grande. This game will mark the first time the teams have met in two years. When they last met in the fall of 2019, Casa Grande won 41-34. This was the lone league game each team had cut from its league-only slate in the spring.
“I have a lot of respect for the Casa program,” LaRocco said of the long-awaited rematch with the Gauchos. “I think they’re growing. They’re going in the right direction. Coach Antonio’s got those guys going the right way, so it’ll be good to play them again. We lost two really close games to those guys playing them the first two years, so it’s a game like that.”
Coaching staff changes
As is the case every season, there are some changes to the coaching staff. This season is no different.
The Braves have one new coach on their varsity staff. P.J. Green joins the staff to coach the DBs and RBs, 2019 Justin-Siena graduate Tyler Brazil joins the coaching staff to help with the wide receivers and defensive backs, and Rick Graber joins to coach the wide receivers and linebackers.
“It’s been awesome,” Sangiacomo said of the new coaches. “We have a new DB and receivers coach and they’re great. They blend in, they’re the same as every other coach. They’re good coaches, they know what they’re talking about.”
“I think anytime you bring in a new coach it’s always going to be a bit tentative early on,” LaRocco said of his newest additions to the staff. “But as they kind of establish themselves and kind of the kids learn how they work and how they what their knowledge base on what they bring to the table, it’s worked really well so far. I’m happy with everyone that we’ve had (join).”
At the JV level, there is a brand new coaching staff.
