CIF North Coast Section Playoffs: All 3 schools clinch berths, as rematches is theme of the opening round

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By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

For the first time in a while, all three Napa schools are headed to the CIF North Coast Section playoffs.

All the quarterfinal games will take place either Friday or Saturday. There is also no JV, which means games will kick off at 7 pm. Rematches are a theme of the playoffs as well.

Vintage earned the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Antioch on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. This is in the CIF North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs. These two programs have a history of meeting in the postseason. The last time they did so in 2018 when the Crushers won in dramatic fashion.

The last time Vintage and Antioch played in the regular season was four years ago, when the Crushers won 28-22 on the road. Vintage was 9-1 in the regular season this year, and they finished 5-1 in the Redwood Empire Conference – Valley division.

As for Napa, they’ll be at home on Saturday night to host Analy-Sebastopol. These two teams just met two weeks ago, when Napa won 40-31 on the road. The Grizzlies are the No. 6 seed in the Division 4 bracket, and Analy is the No. 3 seed. The Grizzlies get the home game because they are the REC-Bay champions. Napa was 8-2 and 5-0 in REC-Bay play. American Canyon also made the playoffs and is the No. 5 seed in this division.

This will also be Napa’s first home playoff game in a decade. In 2019, when they last made the postseason, they had to travel.

Finally, Justin-Siena earned the No. 7 seed in Division 7 and will travel to Martinez to take on No. 2 Alhambra. This is a rematch of a September 4th game that the Bulldogs won 28-15. This is the Braves’ first playoff appearance since 2024.  They finsihed they season 6-4, with a 3-3 mark in REC-Mountain play. It’s also the first under new head coach Jimmy Cerf. Of note, St. Helena grabbed the No. 5 seed in this division.

You can view all the brackets here. To get a Napa Sports News subscription, go here.