Behind three key returners of Sangiacomo, Malloy, and Logwood, Justin-Siena looks for continued success
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Going up a division can oftentimes be a challenge for a team.
But last season was an up-and-down one that culminated in the playoff berth.
Speaking of last season, Justin-Siena went 5-6 with a 2-4 record in league play.
As the Braves enter 2024, they have plenty of guys with experience returning to the roster.
The main returning players are their trio of quarterback Drew Sangiacomo and running backs Dallas Logwood and Tommy Malloy.
Over the summer, Sangiacomo was able to command the offense even more effectively and show growth as he goes into his third season under center for the Braves. “
“I’m extremely comfortable in the offense,” Sangiacomo said. “This whole offseason was making sure you get better with your reads. Just make sure you’re getting better every day, just working out the little things. I think that’s the thing I’m focused on right now.”
As for Malloy, he has shown that he can be used in multiple positions all over the offense and is the Swiss Army knife type of player. Not only can he run both in between the tackles and on the edges, but he can also be deployed as a wide receiver if needed.
Then you have Logwood who is set to once again be the bruising running back to help keep the clock rolling and lengthen drives.
Besides those three, Justin-Siena also returns a good group of guys who have taken control of the team from a leadership standpoint more so than in years past. These guys returning are Luke Ficeli, Clint Wilsey, Reuben Jones, Dominik Monterrosa, and Alex Ruiz.
“After last season losing the first round of the playoffs, we definitely want to come out here and just try to make our senior season the best it can be,” Malloy said of the seniors and how they’ve gotten to work over the offseason. “ We have to be vocal in order to have a good team.”
Another part where this leadership has been noticed was in the weight room in the offseason.
To go along with all of that, there should be more comfort in the defense given that this is the second season Steve Vargus has been leading the defense for the Braves.
“Part of learning a new scheme was trying to find guys that fit the right positions, so it took us a little bit to kind of get guys in the right spots,” Justin-Siena head coach Tyler Streblow said. “But yeah, the terminology is not new for these guys this year, it’s something they’re comfortable with.”
Braves stay busy over the summer with some competition
It wasn’t the busiest summer for Justin-Siena as they only went against some competition a few times over the summer.
The big ticket item they did was a 9-on-9 tournament at Marin Catholic that featured some of the top teams in the area like Vacaville and the hosts.
“I think the great thing about the 9-on-9 thing is there’s a pass rush, and it does two things,” Streblow pointed out. “One, it gets the lineman involved. So they’re just kind of not standing around watching. It gets the lineman involved and the quarterback has to get used to an actual pocket. He’s not just standing back there free and clear, not worried about someone coming to sack him.”
Lastly, they were a part of the local 7-on-7 with Napa High at St. Helena. Here they got to face some local competition to see where they were.
The non-league schedule features plenty of familiar local rivals to bookmark the season’s start and finish
Before the league season kicks off, the Braves will face plenty of teams that aren’t all that far away.
The season will begin for the third straight season with the Vine Bowl as they will travel to St. Helena on August 30th. The Saints have won both games in the last two seasons.
On September 6th, Justin-Siena will be on the road for the second straight week when they travel to Vallejo to face St. Patrick-St.Vincent.
“Those are three big non-league games,” Sangiacomo said of the new teams on the non-league portion of the schedule. “Obviously, St. Helena, they beat us twice the last two years.”
After that on September 13th, they’ll play their first home game of the year against old league foe Sonoma Valley. The two teams have played some classics over the past few years and it should be no different again in 2024.
“I think it’s kind of a natural rival for us,” Streblow said of facing Sonoma again. “You know, we have a lot of kids from Sonoma. It’s been a fun and heated kind of rivalry just across all sports. So I think it was really important that we have that or we continue to play that game, even though they’re not in our league anymore.”
Finally, they will end the season against Novato on November 8th. This will be the week of their league bye week.
Move to Valley Division features plenty of familiar opponents both new and old
The new Redwood Empire Conference – Valley Division features plenty of familiar opponents from the two most recent leagues they’ve been in.
Justin-Siena will begin league play on September 28th with a 2 pm game at Tamalpais in Mill Valley.
Then, they will host Petaluma on October 4th and then American Canyon on October 11th.
On October 18th, they’ll visit Casa Grande in Petaluma, and then they will have a long week as they will again be on the road on October 26th at Redwood in Larkspur at 2 pm.
They will end league play against Napa High on November 1st in what will be a 7 pm start. Last year, Justin-Siena beat Napa 32-28.
With the move to the Valley Division, it will be a mix of the most recent Vine Valley Athletic League teams mixed in with two former teams from the Marin County Athletic League.
“We know what to expect,” Streblow said of facing opponents from both the VVAL and MCAL in the new league. “We’ve been to all those places. We’ve played games there. We know the facilities, we know the fields, we know all that stuff, so especially the coaches who’ve been around for a while now. So I think it’s familiar. You know, we’re not going to be kind of worrying about all that little stuff. We’re going to be focusing on the game.”
Minor changes to the coaching staff
Most of the staff is back in 2024. This means plenty of the same voices will be providing steady guidance once again.
The one minor difference is Brenden Shanks will be taking over to coach the defensive line this season.
