Vintage opens up offense to beat San Leandro, pick up first playoff victory in seven seasons

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

In the playoffs, every detail matters when it comes to winning. But sometimes, it’s just nice to have something come back that’s been gone for a few weeks. 

In Friday’s CIF North Coast Section Division 3 quarterfinal, No. 1 seed Vintage beat No. 8 San Leandro, 25-15. 

The Crushers (7-4) were able to snap their four-game losing streak they had coming into the game by opening up the offense, which had been a long time coming. 

“It felt good to be able to run the ball again,” Vintage head coach Dylan Leach said. “Obviously, we threw a couple of times early just to back them off.” 

Vintage scored first when Blake Porter rolled out of the pocket and found a wide-open Riley Marek for a 30-yard score with 2:13 to go in the first quarter. 

The second quarter saw Vintage was in the end zone again when Ruben Sanchez carried the ball for an 11-yard run with 7:13 left in the first half. Sanchez carried the ball two times for 15 yards in the game. On the two-point conversion, Porter found Keegan Murphy to give Vintage a 15-0 lead. 

But maybe the key moment of the game came right before the break when the Crushers used the final 42 seconds to get points on the board. They flipped the field with a 34-yard run by Sean Butler and then were able to get the ball all the way down to the San Leandro 18-yard line, where Henry Drozdowicz nailed a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

“Obviously, getting those three points it just puts you up 10 and gives you a little bit of comfort zone,” Leach added. “Obviously, the second half didn’t start out how we wanted it to. We planned on getting a stop and going down to score. Getting those three points is always a good thing.  We trust in Dizzle. Henry’s been great for us for four years.” 

The lone score of the second half for the Crushers came with 6:19 to go when Bo Lode rumbled into the end zone for a 7-yard score to give them a 25-15 lead. Lode ended the night with 48 yards on 12 carries. 

“I just got to thank my lineman, though, opening up those holes for me (on) third and short,” Lode said.  “We’re getting the first down every time, a good two yards every time makes a good football game.” 

San Leandro (6-5) got on the board with 42.2 left in the first half on a 4-yard rush by Deyar Crayton. Crayton ended the night with 95 yards on 13 carries. 

The Pirates’ only other score came on a long 72-yard run down the sideline by Giovani De Anda with 10:43 left in the third quarter. He also had 95 yards rushing in the contest, but he did it on just 6 carries. 

At the start of the game, San Leandro was also able to move the ball but would get stopped before scoring. Their old school wing-T offense took a while to get used to for Vintage. 

“It’s very deceptive, and the counters off of it and the jet bellies are very it’s a good offense, man,” Leach said of the challenges the wing-T offense poses. “I miss it. I miss the old Vacaville days. But it’s really hard to teach how to defend within a one-week period. So they’re going to get theirs, and they made a couple of great little runs there. But in all, we did what we needed to do to get out of here with the win.” 

With the win, Vintage has made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2019. They’ll now host Ukiah next Friday at 7 PM. No. 5 Ukiah beat No. 4 Antioch 26-15 on Friday. You can view the updated bracket. 
“I think it means great things to come,” Lode explained. “We haven’t won one since pre-COVID. We’re more of a playoff team since pre-COVID.”