Vintage edges Sonoma Valley thanks to big games from Page, Porter, and Henry Drozdowicz’s game-winning field goal
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
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There are times throughout a season when getting a win is all that matters. While one would like for it to be pretty, the goal is to just come away with the win.
Boy, was this never more true on Friday night at Memorial Stadium when Sonoma Valley and Vintage played their closest game in VVAL history that saw the Crushers squeak out a narrow 38-35 win.
With the game tied at 35, Vintage (3-5 overall, 2-2 VVAL) went on a drive that ended up being the difference. It ended with Henry Drozdowicz nailing a 41-yard field goal with 44.6 left in the game.
“It gave me the luxury to call some plays I wouldn’t normally call, but just knowing that we had a certain distance in mind,” Vintage head coach Dylan Leach said of Drozdowicz’s abilities and how it changed his play calling late in the game. “Obviously, the two penalties killed us down there. The delay of game and the false start. But we had a number in mind, and it was actually a yard back from where we kicked it. So it was a little close for comfort.”
In the game-winning drive that set up the field goal, sophomore quarterback Blake Porter knew the goal was just to get points in some form.
“Be as quick as possible, try and get out of bounds, and just mainly just get yardage,” Porter said of the final drive. “But it’s about it. We had a few penalties that kind of screwed us right there, but it’s all good.”
Throughout the contest, the Crushers also had leads of 14 and 15, only to have the Dragons (3-5, 1-3 VVAL) come back each time. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that they had crucial penalties all night long that happened at the wrong time. These mistakes aren’t as glaring after a win, however.
“We’ll take a win,” Leach explained. “So anytime you have a win the mistakes are a lot less hurtful. So we’re going to enjoy the win and enjoy the night and get back to work.”
It also helped that Porter and Jefferey Page had big games to lead the Vintage offense. Porter rushed 3 times for 61 yards with a pair of touchdowns. His first came with 1:53 left in the first quarter and gave Vintage a 15-6 lead. Then, he took an option play to the house from 57 yards away with just 7:37 left to play. This put the Crushers up by two scores.
“So I was reading outside guy, and I saw him push up,” Porter said of his long scoring rush. “ So I pulled it, and I was just checking behind me the whole time because I’m not very fast.”
As for Page, he finished with three scores in the game. First, he scored Vintage’s first touchdown of the game and then followed it up by adding a two-point conversion to go up 8-6. He also rumbled in from 4 yards out with 3:57 left in the first half. But his biggest score of the game came with the contest tied at 21 when he ripped off a long 34-yard scoring play with 11:51 left in the game. He rushed the ball 28 times for 160 yards in the game.
One of the main reasons Sonoma Valley was able to hang around in the contest was due to their high-powered offense filled with playmakers all over the field. Leading the charge for them was Hudson Giarritta. The junior wide receiver was a problem on the outside all night long as he brought in 8 catches for 154 yards and two scores. This was no surprise to Leach as Giarritta is the best player in the league.
“I told the crew going in I said ‘21 is the best player in the league’,” Leach said of Giarritta. “I knew that and he destroyed us last year. I think we won 48-14 and he had both touchdowns as a sophomore. So it’s not like we didn’t know who he was and what was happening and we knew what was coming.”
The first score of the game came when Trent Ohman found Giarritta for an 18-yard score with 11:10 left in the first quarter. Then, with 2:21 left to play, the pair again connected for a 10-yard score to tie the game up at 35.
Another thing that kept the Dragons in the game was their ability to match physicality.
“If you haven’t noticed like every team in our league seems to be physical now,” Leach added. “I think obviously, we had set the bar for a while and I think everyone is reached in trying to reach that bar and reached it and I like it. I think that that’s how the game should be played.”
Both teams will continue their seasons next Friday night. Sonoma Valley will host Justin-Siena. Meanwhile, Vintage will be the visitors for Big Game LII (52).
In other VVAL games on Friday night, Petaluma beat Napa 64-38 and Casa Grande beat American Canyon 51-30.
