Justin-Siena tightens up defense late, gets big games from Malloy, Gray to beat St. Patrick-St. Vincent
By Kyle Foster
Follow on X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
One of the best ways to win a game is to take away what a team is doing effectively. I mean Bill Belichick has made a living and created his own identity by doing this.
However, something as easy as an adjustment here or there can be the difference to effectively stop the flow of a team. On Saturday night at Dodd Stadium, Just-Siena made an adjustment to stop the run which led them past St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo, 39-21, in a late-season non-league contest.
To begin the second half, the Bruins (5-3) stormed back to take the lead. One of the reasons for this was their freshman running back Moise Henderson who accounted for two total touchdowns in the game to begin the third quarter and give St. Patrick-St. Vincent a 21-19 lead. The first came when Trevor Moelk found Henderson for an 11-yard connection with 10:29 left in the third quarter, which was also his lone reception of the game. Then, just a few minutes later Henderson scored again on a 3-yard score with 8:32 left. He carried the ball 27 times for 114 yards in the game.
Slowing Henderson down was another reason Justin-Siena was able to regain control over the last quarter and a half of the game.
“He’s a good running back there,” Justin-Siena head coach Tyler Streblow pointed out. “Really good stretching the ball to the perimeter. They run a lot of those RPOs so if you jump up to kind of get him on the outside zone or fly sweep, whatever you want to call it, they’re going to run the double slants right behind it.”
On the other hand, the Justin-Siena offense was led by Tommy Malloy who carried the ball 18 times for 80 yards while scoring from 5 and 9 yards out in the game. He also had one reception for 6 yards as well in the game.
“His vision is what kind of sets him apart,” Streblow explained. “He’s doing an amazing job putting his foot in the ground and getting vertical. So it’s nice to have two guys back there that I trust and to guys that can get first downs when we need them.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the game felt as if it was going to be a low-scoring, slug-it-out type of game. However, that’s when the Braves (4-4) put together their first scoring drive that was capped by Malloy’s 5-yard score with 11:51 left in the second quarter.
“It was just a toss to me,” Malloy said of his early score that opened up the scoring and shifted momentum to the Braves sideline. “I just kind of took it slow, let the play develop, and got in.”
His other score came with 2:07 left in the half on a 9-yard score. He’s also become a lot more comfortable in the offense as the season has gone on. Because of this, his snaps have also gone up.
“Well, I feel like any time I get the ball I’m not going to get tackled in the backfield,” Malloy said of his comfort in the offense. “I have a lot of confidence. I feel like I see the field well. I see the openings and just like over the years getting more opportunities, getting more comfortable at the varsity level.”
Yet another reason Justin-Siena was able to come out with the win in this one was the field-stretching ability of Jason Gray. The senior wide receiver hauled in a pair of touchdown catches from Drew Sangiacomo from 34 and 17 yards away. The 34-yard touchdown was significant because it gave the Braves a 19-7 lead right before the half. He finished with 117 yards receiving on just 6 catches.
It also helps that Gray will get the ball a lot by virtue of being the only true wide receiver on the team.
“He started the season a little slow,” Streblow admitted. “We kind of were keeping him out for personal reasons. So he’s done an amazing job ever since he’s got back in there. He’s really taken that job over and kind of owned it. He’s just a guy who’s a playmaker. That’s what I can say about Jason. He’s stretching the field vertically for us, which is really important right now, especially with some of our other receivers banged up. Sometimes, he’s the only true wide receiver out there.”
Others scoring touchdowns for Justin-Siena in the game were Logwood who scored from 2 yards out with 4:28 left in the third to give the Braves a 27-21 lead. He finished with 63 yards on the ground on 10 carries.
Sangiacomo also found Ruben Jones on a 20-yard score to put the game out of reach with 2:15 left to play.
The only other Bruin score came when Moelk scored on a 2-yard run to knot things at 7 with 4:02 left in the first half.
This week, the Braves were the only team to not play a league game. However, this sets the stage for a very important Division 5 game at Sonoma Valley next week. Sonoma Valley (3-5, 1-3 VVAL) has already beaten Napa and just played Vintage to a 38-35 battle on Friday night. This game is a must-win for both teams as they look to secure their playoff berths. It’s also a rivalry game as Justin-Siena has a lot of players from Sonoma. That game will be a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday night.
