Return of Little Big Game shows all that missed during absense
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
At long last, Little Big Game is back and the Napa community is better.
When the schools were in the Monticello Empire League, it would take place the week before Big Game. In a new twist, it is now the third week of the season.
But the one constant remains – the rivalry that brings people from the community out to watch rivals since 1972 square off.
Both teams have one thing in common this season – a new coach leading the charge.
Daniel Alvarez leads Vintage this season. He assisted Billy Smith for years and is now leading the Crushers’ freshman effort. Smith stepped away from coaching football to lead the Vintage baseball program.
“There’s a lot of great people helping,” Alvarez said of his first year to this point. “I’ve got great coaches around me that make it super easy. It’s been a pretty smooth transition because I think the guys that we brought into this program to coach are just exceptional coaches. So when you got good staff around you, it’s easy to be a good coach.”
Napa is led by KaVelle Jenkins who also coaches the running backs at the varsity level as well.
The game went dark after 2018 when Napa High didn’t have enough players in their football program to field a freshman team.
However, this season the young Grizzlies are back and it’s a way to help build football back at the school.
“Patience just has a whole new meaning,” Jenkins said of coaching the freshman. “We’ve got five guys that have ever played football out of 36 guys. So it’s been a challenge because we all as coaches know, the formations, the names inside and out. But with these guys, we kind of have to come up with mnemonics and different ways of conveying the same message to them.”
With it being the revamp of freshman football, a rough year was to be expected. But Napa has also faced top-notch programs in Antioch and Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park.
Napa also has many players who have never played football before on their roster, meaning there will be plenty to teach.
The addition of freshman football has also given many coaches on Napa’s staff a chance to learn at the lower level and continue to build the program for the future.
“It’s huge,” Jenkins said as to how big it is to have freshman football back. “I was the JV coach the last two years and you really see what those younger guys are missing out on when they don’t get the basics – the steps, the stances, the formations. So I think this is huge, just in a way that lets them really get to dip their toe in the giant pool that is Napa football.”
On the Vintage side, they have a very talented freshmen group that could be part of the next Crusher team that makes a deep playoff run.
“They’re a committed group and it shows on the field,” Alvarez said of his group. “They all push each other to get better. Every game they come to, they bring it. They want to win and they want to win badly. They hate coming out of the game, and I love coaching kids like that because you want kids who want it.”
After all, the Crushers are off to a 3-0 start so far this season. They’ve registered wins over marquee programs San Ramon Valley and Antioch, both of which came on the road.
This is all just part of development. After all, Vintage has been the team on the short end of the stick since they had freshman football during the span there was no local rivalry.
In Thursday’s Little Big Game return, Vintage won 56-0 over Napa. Both teams will play on Thursday nights throughout the season at Napa Memorial Stadium. Big Game LI (51) between Napa and Vintage will occur on October 28th at 7 pm. The future of Big Game is in jeopardy after the passing of football-only leagues that would split Napa and Vintage up to where it would need to be a non-league game. This is the class that would lose Big Game when they are juniors.
