Justin-Siena football preview: With Cerf now in charge Braves have numbers and are ready to win again

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

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Sometimes a fresh slate can do everyone some good. It can be a chance to get some fresh eyes on players and see what they can do. 

In 2026, this is the case for Justin-Siena as they look to improve from last season. 

Speaking of last season, the Braves went 0-10 with a 0-6 record in Redwood Empire Conference Valley play. 

However, in March, Jimmy Cerf was hired as the program’s new head coach. Since then, there has been a great turnout for the program. 

“It’s great to have them,” Justin-Siena head coach Jimmy Cerf said of the added numbers. “You need it. It’s tough to play four quarters of football for 10 straight weeks, so it’s great to have some depth.” 

The added numbers should help them to get through the season.

“It’s awesome. I mean, I want to put that all on Coach Cerf,” Justin-Siena senior Bryden Landry said. “He’s been out here at lunch during the last school year, telling guys to come out to play football, freshman orientation, telling guys to come out and play football. He’s made this a big thing around the program. I mean, we’ve been good for a lot of years, and it’s kind of slipped off. And I think coming into the future, we’re back where we used to be.” 

It also helps that Justin-Siena has some key players who are returning after seasons on varsity last year. 

Those returning players are led by Landry and John Gilley, who are deep in a battle for the starting quarterback position. 

“I love John,” Landry said of the friendly battle to be under center on Friday nights. “He’s one of my really close friends. It’s actually been really fun. It gets competitive this time of year. Did last time of year, but honestly, it’s been really fun working with him all summer. He’s a great guy, and I have all good things to say about him.” 

Both quarterbacks have grown a bunch over the summer, making the decision on who to start even tougher. 

“One will make a big step, and then the next day the other one will make another step, and it’s really been a true battle,” Cerf said. “There was days in June and July where I thought one was stepping up over the other, and then they just keep battling back, so we’ll see. The one thing, I mean, they’re both going to play. They’re both incredible athletes. They’re both good leaders. They’re both great kids. We’re going to find spots for them at quarterback. You know, we’ll definitely play two. Who is the true starter? Who will get the new reps? You know, that’ll be wait to see. But they will both play quarterback this year for us and help us be successful.” 

Another returner is running back Augustine Heun. He burst onto the scene last season and took control of the backfield. 

“I mean, Augy’s my guy, and we have a long history,” Justin-Siena senior lineman Charlie Rohrs said. “I’m really excited to have him in the backfield. He can run the ball really hard. He’s fast. He can hit hard. He’s a good playmaker.”

Others returning for Justin-Siena are Matteo Barbosa, Rohrs, Aaron Curiel, Blaine Fletcher, Leon Griffin, Evan Lewis, Colin McMahon, Boden Powell, Jordan Sagehorn, Bobby Servertnick, Jonathan Swain, Chase Teresi, and Henry Webb.                 

Summer full of activity 

It was a busy summer for the Braves. They were not only practicing, but they even got in some healthy competition against other schools.

One of those came at the beginning of the summer when they participated in the Casa Grande 7-on-7 passing tournament. This was a great chance to see where they stood against teams from the North Bay. 

“I feel as a team we’ve made great progress,” Rohrs said. “We’ve done a lot of seven-on-seven opportunities, and it’s shown us that we can compete with other schools. Previously, I don’t feel like that we had hope or belief that we could, and I’m really excited for the first game and the scrimmage because I truly believe that we could be a great team, and I just think we need that first opportunity to show that we’re great and to give people belief in themselves.” 

They also faced local teams in some 7-on-7 competition. 

Finally, they participated in the St. Vincent de Paul 7-on-7 passing tournament. All of this was a great way to break up the grind of the summer. 

This is also where they grew a lot by seeing some different opponents. But maybe most of all, they learned they can play with people. 

“I learned that we can compete with people, and they just got to start to believe in themselves, right?” Cerf added. “We came out, and both times at Casa and at St. Vincent’s for the two passing tournaments we went to, we got wins in both of those, and our kids, ‘Oh, we can do it.’ o it was just it was it was great because we started to believe. That’s what I learned: that we can do it, and we can believe in ourselves. So it’s great.” 

A fresh take on the 10-game slate 

This season, the schedule looks vastly different from what it has been in recent seasons. 

It all begins the opening week of the season when Justin-Siena hosts Kelseyville on August 28th.

The Braves then have a pair of road games in the Bay Area. The first of those is a short jaunt to Martinez to face Alhambra on September 4th at 7 pm. 

After that, they play their first Saturday afternoon game of the season with a trip to Albany to face Saint Mary’s on September 12th.

The second non-league home game is the second part of a home-and-home with Sonoma Valley on September 18th. This is their final contest before league games start. 

“I feel like Sonoma is definitely the most important sports game of the entire school year,” Rohrs said of keeping the local rivalry alive in 2026. “Sonoma is going to really matter.”  

Starting this season, Justin-Siena will play in the Redwood Empire Conference – Mountain division. They dropped down two leagues in the new realignment. It’s nice for them to play schools that are more on their level. 

“I think just school sizes; it matches us right now,” Cerf explained of playing in the REC Mountain. “You know, it’s not so much about football or talent. It’s just about that they’re picking from a smaller pool of student athletes, just like we are. So that’s what I’m most excited about. Is just that besides Montgomery, who’s got a bigger school population than we do, but most of those schools are the same every day as we are. So that’s what I’m most excited about.” 

To begin the Redwood Empire Mountain slate, they visit Montgomery in Santa Rosa on September 25th. 

To begin October, they’ll host Piner-Santa Rosa. Then, it will be a trip to Healdsburg the next week, on October 9th. 

A late bye should also help Justin-Siena get through the season. They will have to make it to that point, but they also had an early bye last season that made it harder to get through the season. 

“I think that it’ll be great,” Rohrs said. “Last year, we had our scrimmage and then the bye week, week one, so we had zero breaks throughout the entire of last season, and so I feel like this year will be great. We’ll get some rest, guys. We’ll get proper treatment for their injuries, and we’ll be able to compete the next week.” 

After that, it will be the final two home games of the campaign. It begins with a home matchup against Novato on October 23rd. Then, Archie Williams is next week on Senior Night on October 30th. 

The Braves play their final Saturday game on November 7th when they visit Terra Linda. This game will start at 2:30 pm. 

Lots of new faces on coaching staff 

With a new-look staff, you’d come to expect a lot of new faces around the program. While this is true, there are some staff members who are back from the last few years too. 

At the varsity level, Spencer Joske is back to coach the wide receivers. Also back after a few years away is PJ Green. He will coach the offensive line. Others new to the staff are Kevin Newby (DL), Kyle Smith (linebackers), and Jim Cerf, who is the defensive coordinator.    

“Yeah, it’s been good. None of us knew we were going to be coaching Justin-Siena football six months ago,” Cerf said. “So it’s been good balancing schedules, and then, like you said, trying to learn our scheme and what we’re trying to accomplish. But they’ve bought into what we’re trying to do culturally and philosophically, and we’re just going to keep rolling from there. But they’ve been great. They’ve been nothing but awesome and energetic, and exactly what we’re looking for.” 

So far, the team is adjusting to the new defensive scheme well. 

“It’s been really great to work under Jim Cerf,” Rohrs explained about learning the defense. “He has taught us a great defense, and the defense that he’s taught us is really easy to read. Makes it super simple on the linebackers and the safeties. Super simple coverage. Everybody’s able to understand it. Super simple.” 

The new staff has also instilled confidence in the team that they can win in 2026. 

“It’s been a pretty big change. Getting used to a lot of new plays. He’s coming in. He’s shown us we can have a lot of confidence in ourselves, and he’s helped us out a lot,” Landry said of adjusting to Cerf and his staff. “He’s brought a lot of new kids in. A lot of kids played freshman year and are thinking about coming back, and he brought a lot of them in. And overall, it’s been really good so far.”