After slow start, Napa opens up offense to beat Justin-Siena, get first league win in four seasons

By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

When a game is on Halloween, things can get odd, and you may not have a clue what you’ll see. For the winner, it’s a treat, while the loser was tricked. 

On Friday night at Memorial Stadium, Napa High found its stride to beat Justin-Siena 42-10 in a Redwood Empire – Valley game. 

The Grizzlies (3-6 overall, 1-4 REC-Valley) started the game slowly and found themselves down 10-0 after the first quarter. But from the moment the second quarter started, Napa took over. 

“Well, the first drive, we did well, and then we just got behind in the penalties, and we cleaned up the penalties,” Napa head coach Chris Harris said as to what changed after the first quarter for his team. “Defensively, we just took a minute to settle in. Once we settled down and did our jobs, it took care of itself.”

They got on the board with a 31-yard touchdown run by Eryck Gualberto with 8:30 left in the first half. 

Napa took the lead with 3:12 to go in the second quarter on a 4-yard run up the middle by Josue Victorino. The senior finished the game with 104 yards on the ground on 13 carries to pace the rushing attack.

They extended the lead on another score by Gualberto, this time from 3 yards out to go up 21-10. Gualberto ended the night with 99 yards on 7 rushes. 

“The offensive line did a really good job, but the running backs are out there, definitely a yin and yang,” Harris explained of how the running backs complement each other. “One’s a little bit shift here and speedy, and the other one’s more of a power back. So it was good to get them both out there, and they ran hard today.” 

With just 59.1 left in the first half, Rocco Capponi found Jeter Ruiz-Chavez for a 21-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-10. 

In the second half, Napa put the game out of reach with a pair of scores. The first of those came when Alan Alfaro rumbled up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown with 6:15 to go in the third quarter. 

The final score came when Ruiz-Chavez found Capponi for a 29-yard touchdown play. In the game, both of the Grizzlies’ signal callers caught a touchdown as a receiver and also threw for one.

“We’re developing the guys, and they’re getting better each week,” Harris pointed out. “A lot of stuff builds off confidence, and when you lose some games that we’ve lost, it’s hard for them to have that confidence. So it was good to see them get out there and throw the ball around.”

This was also the first league win in Harris’s three years in charge. It also snapped what had been a 4-year losing skid against their local rivals. 

“It feels good, for sure,” Harris explained of getting his first league win in his time as the head coach. “It has been a long time coming. But yeah, we’re happy with the effort they put in tonight. They played good.” 

As for Justin-Siena (0-9, 0-5 REC-Valley), they began the game with arguably their best quarter of the season. 

“We were still running the Veer, which we’ve run in the last couple of weeks, but we ran out of a couple different formations, and we had a couple counter plays with the motion, and then coming back the other way, something that they hadn’t seen before,” Justin-Siena head coach Tyler Streblow said of the first quarter. “They weren’t prepared for it early, and we busted a few. We got off the ball great.”  

In their first drive from scrimmage, they took the opening run from the veer 46 yards on a run by Augustine Heun. That drive ended where John Gilley took a pitch and found a wide-open Matteo Bettinelli for a 24-yard touchdown with 5:58 left in the first quarter. 

Heun led the rushing attack as he carried the ball just 7 times for 73 yards. The junior has only seen his role on offense expand with his ability to make big plays and change the field. 

“He just runs really hard; he tries really hard,” Streblow added. “He cares a lot, and he’s been doing a really, really good job. We’ve gone back to kind of the Veer offense, back from our old days when I played and when I first started coaching here, because I think it gave us the best chance this year, just with the guys we have and and one of the main reasons is because of him, he’s such a good dive back.” 

The Braves scored again with 27.6 left in the first quarter when Gilley converted a 27-yard field goal, which put Justin-Siena up 10-0. 

“I don’t really know what else to say about the kid,” Streblow explained of Gilley’s impact. “He’s a freshman, and he does everything. He returns kicks, he returns punts. He kicks PATs. He runs with the ball, he plays defense. There were so many times tonight where they got to the third level, and he made the tackle to save a touchdown.”

Both teams will end the season next week. Napa will have Homecoming and Senior Night on Friday night when they host Tamalpais of Mill Valley. As for Justin-Siena, they’ll end the season with a road non-league tilt at Novato on Saturday at 2 pm.