Vintage cruises past Justin-Siena behind strong game from backfield trio
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
A full backfield with a plethora of options can mean trouble for opponents of Vintage High School.
That was the case on Friday night when Vintage rolled past Justin-Siena 40-7 to continue their quest to make the playoffs.
Vintage (4-3 overall, 3-1 Vine Valley Athletic League) was held scoreless through most of the first quarter.
“Two personal fouls. I mean, that’s it – plain and simple,” Vintage head coach Dylan Leach explained of what took so long for the Crushers to get on the board. “We drove down. I don’t think they stopped us really, we stopped ourselves with the two personal fouls.”
However, with just 2:09 left in the first quarter, Dylan Smith was able to find the end zone from a yard out.
Smith also found the end zone twice more in the game. His second score came from five yards away with 1:04 left in the third quarter. Lastly, he found the end zone from 48 yards out with 9:20 left in the game. Thanks to all that he finished with 170 yards rushing on just 13 carries.
Diego Davis also scored twice in the contest – both in the second quarter. With 9:43 left in the half, he found the end zone from nine yards away before a long 33-yard run with 1:45 left till half. Davis ended the night with 93 yards on nine carries.
The last of the three-headed monster for the Crushers was Mo Schaumkel who ran four times for 19 yards.
“It’s a really dynamic backfield that we’ve built and when everyone’s healthy, I feel like we’re a force to be reckoned with,” Smith said of the potent backfield attack.
Performing well in his first varsity start was Elias Alvarez. He ran nine times for 69 yards and also scored a touchdown in the game.
“His thing is all about confidence,” Leach said of the junior signal-caller. “He’s a big, strong kid. He made a great play in the 14 GT to score. He’s gaining more experience every time so it’s very important obviously being a junior, and him being kind of the guy that we need to count on next year. So excited about his progress and he’s a leader. He’s a consummate leader. He works harder than anyone on the team, so we’re very excited about him moving forward.”
Justin-Siena (4-4, 2-2 VVAL) got their lone score of the game when Robby Sangiacomo picked up a fumble and rumbled to the end zone from 52 yards out with 11:48 left in the game.
“I’m gonna put that on me,” Leach said of the fumble, which led to a Justin-Siena scoop and score. “We tried to run and Szish play like a naked bootleg and I looked up saw the outside backer. I probably should’ve called timeout or called it off. Obviously, the player needs to execute and not fumble. But at the same time, I’ll put that on me. I told the team that was on me. That was a bad call.”
“I just called a good stunt to the play they had called,” Justin-Siena head coach Brandon LaRocco said of the call that led to the Braves lone score. “I think they were doing a play-action pass throwing out to the strong side. I brought some pressure on the strong side on the edge. So we got there before the quarterback saw us, caused the fumble, and then Robby just scooped and scored like we practice all the time, so it’s good to see that pay off.”
Next week, Justin-Siena will have their bye week before ending the season with back-to-back road contests at American Canyon and Casa Grande. Meanwhile, Vintage will return to Napa Memorial Stadium to face Sonoma Valley next Friday night at 7 pm.
Other VVAL scores on Friday night saw Casa Grande beat Napa 70-34 and Petaluma beat Sonoma Valley 37-13.
