With a solid group of returners back and off of first full offseason, Napa looks to take another step forward in 2024
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In year two, growth can come in many different ways. They aren’t always measured in wins and losses like most people think. After all, a lot goes on in a football program that can be growth that is all done behind the scenes.
Last year they went 4-6 overall with a 0-6 record in the league, they will take another step forward in 2024.
On top of that, there has been more comfort with the terminality and what the coaches are trying to teach. This made teaching things a lot better for the coaches. It also meant many things didn’t have to be taught over again.
“When you’re in your first year of a program, you have to learn everything new,” Harris added. “So having had a year under your belt to kind of what we do, and really a year in the off-season weight room program, which has been, you know, a big help. I could just tell a big part of is like, our size. We’re, we’re bigger than we were last year, and we’re stronger, and we’re faster than we were last year. So those are the kind of things that are just those tangibles that you can’t teach, it’s just acquired over time.”
One of the main reasons they are looking for more success is to bring back some of what has made the program successful in the past, which is to run the ball.
“I just think that’s us building an identity of who we are,” Napa High second-year head coach Chris Harris said of returning to the roots that made the program successful. “ We’re not the Napa High of old. We are the new Napa High team. So the tradition of running the football and being gritty and Smash Mouth, like you said, is always a good thing to have. I mean, that’s the way all good programs need to be.”
This also allows the lineman to be physical by creating running lanes.
The Grizzlies also have a fair amount of returning players who have been working hard in the offseason to prepare for the season. Those back this season for Napa are Natan Chowell, Junior Nogales, Matthew Lair, Erik Cigarroa, and Kyle Blackwood.
To go along with that, they have had a very healthy battle for the starting quarterback job to begin the season. Going into the season, Diego Reyes and Rocco Capponi will be battling to be the team’s signal caller.
“They’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, and they’ve been trying to fight for the spot the whole time, and it’s just a lot of competition going there,” Blackwood said of the quarterback battle. “They each have their different specialties and stuff, and they’re both great quarterbacks, and we’ll just see who gets the starting spot.”
Napa gets competitive reps during the summer
The summer has always been where a team finds its identity. They get to see some competition before the pads go on.
During the summer, the Grizzlies did a lot to see where they stood before the season officially started.
They were first able to see how they matched up with opponents when they went over to Petaluma to compete in the 7-on-7 tournament at St. Vincent De Paul’s D1 Bound tournament.
They also did a local 7-on-7 matchup with Justin-Siena in St. Helena.
But maybe the best way they got to see where they stood was when they did joint practices with Vallejo.
It also gave them a look to see how they matched up with speed.
“Speed kills,” Harris added. “So it’s like when you get to go against teams that are faster than you, and it’s just great reps to have to make sure that your coverages are sound, and know how to turn out of your breaks better, and just getting that experience.”
No matter how you slice it, seeing different competition during the grind of the summer is a welcome sight for both players and coaches.
“It really helped, like, seeing a different view, like a different defense and a different offense,” Blackwood said of the summer competition that they saw and how it helped. “It was just nice going against other people, because during summer, you just hit the same people every day, you know, so nice to like, change it up and hit someone different.”
Revamped non-league schedule in 2024
Almost every year you shake up the schedule. This will be the same for Napa in 2024 as they stay close to home in the non-league portion.
The Grizzlies will begin the season with a trip to Vallejo to face St. Patrick-St. Vincent on August 30th. Then, they’ll come home on September 6th and host Analy-Sebastopol. After a thrilling game last season, Napa will head to Santa Rosa to face off with Montgomery on September 13th. After the game against Montgomery, they’ll have their bye week.
Last season, the Grizzlies beat Montgomery 28-27 in a thriller. The two will meet again in the non-league on the heels of that barnburner.
To end their non-league portion of the schedule, they’ll play Vintage on October 4th in the first Big Game to ever be played where the teams aren’t in the same league. It will be Big Game LIII (53) on October 4th.
Last year, Vintage beat Napa 54-19 in Big Game. This year’s Big Game will be a Vintage home game.
New league, with plenty of familiar teams
Though the league name changed, many of the opponents Napa will face in the Redwood Empire Conference-Valley Division are mostly the same as who they’ve played in years past.
They’ll be coming off their bye week before visiting Casa Grande-Petaluma on September 27th. Following Big Game, they’ll host Petaluma on October 11th. On October 18th, they’ll host Redwood-Larkspur, which will be followed by a pair of local road games back-to-back weeks with trips to American Canyon on October 25th and Justin-Siena on November 1st. Napa’s first 9 games are all at 7 pm on Friday.
In a close game last season, Justin-Siena beat Napa 32-28 last season.
Finally, they’ll end the season with a rare Saturday afternoon contest in Mill Valley when they face Tamalpias at 2 pm.
The Valley Division consists of 5 teams from the old Vine Valley Athletic League. Those joining to replace the ones that left are Redwood and Tamalpais.
“It’s nice to see someone different,” Blackwood pointed out of the new teams coming into the league. “
Some coaching staff changes but with the same end goal in mind
It wouldn’t be a new season without some changes to the staff.
This season is no different for Napa as there will be a few new coaches this season.
Joining the staff this season is Johnny Pelfini who will coach the the wide receivers and defensive backs.
Pelfini is a 2005 Napa High graduate as well. He comes over after spending the last two seasons at Justin-Siena.
Also moving up to the varsity level is Adam Croney who will coach the outside linebackers and running backs.
“It’s just a lot of help. It’s a lot more one-on-one,” Blackwood said of the new additions to the staff and how they’ve helped. “There’s a lot more coaches. So here to help and get everyone better.”
The program still has the mentality to build from the bottom up in its second season despite not having a freshman team. While that’s a negative, there are plenty of coaches at the lower levels to help those players develop.
“The forefront hasn’t changed on what we’re doing,” Harris said of the development focus even though they lack numbers compared to last season. “It’s just when you have 11 kids come out for a freshman team, you can’t have a freshman team. So that’s kind of the way that went. Having those kids come up, and then our JV staff just got doubled. So we got a lot of great freshman coaches that are now coaching on JV, and they’re all there, and they’re here every day, and we’re just just building the program.”
