Vintage eyes postseason return on heels of newfound team comradery

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By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

The yearly standard for the Vintage football program is to make the postseason. The Crushers were noticeably absent from the playoffs last year for the first time in three seasons. 

This year, it’s one of their main goals to get back to that point where they have seen so much success in previous seasons. Last season, they finished with a 6-3 mark overall and a 5-1 record in the Vine Valley Athletic League. The lone league loss came to Casa Grande last season. 

One of the reasons they feel like they can get back there is a renewed sense of comradery among the team. 

“I love this group,” Vintage head coach Dylan Leach explained. “They work hard, they’re fun to be around, they’re coachable. I don’t see a lot of me, me, situations. I don’t see a lot of ‘well if I don’t have the ball, I won’t block hard.’ Things of that nature. So really excited about this group, I just think that it makes coming to work fun. I think their football IQ gets better every day.” 

It also helps that they’ll have a few guys returning who got a significant amount of reps last year and are ready to lead the team this season. Elias Alvarez will return under center along with other returnees of Matt Ackman, Jack Davidson, and Owen Tretheway. 

However, they have numerous players who also saw a lot of time last season that didn’t start returning.

“It’s been great,” Vintage senior receiver Nick Sims said of all the returners and how the team has started to come together. “We’ve got a lot of better leadership roles and a lot of veteran kids that want to follow it and want to be great.”

Over the summer, Vintage stayed busy. A few weeks ago they took part in a lineman camp, where they went head-to-head with host Hayward High School. It was a pace for them to see how they match up with some different competition. 

A stacked non-league schedule awaits 

As is always the case, the Crushers have a gauntlet of non-league games before league play begins. 

To begin the season, they’ll host San Ramon Valley of Danville on August 27th. The last time the two teams met was in 2018 when SRV beat Vintage 14-3 in the semifinals of the CIF North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs. The teams were slated to play in Danville last season before the smoke from a fire ultimately forced the contest’s cancellation. 

On September 2nd, Vintage will visit Antioch. This will be the teams first meeting since the Crushers went to Antioch and beat the Panthers 24-21 in overtime in 2018 in the quarterfinals of the CIF NCS playoffs. 

The Crushers will return home on September 9th for a North Bay showdown with Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa. 

To end the non-league portion of the schedule, Vintage will visit Brentwood to face Heritage on September 16th. 

To begin Vine Valley Athletic League play, the Crushers will host Casa Grande-Petaluma on September 23rd. The Gauchos are the only team to hand Vintage a VVAL loss in four years, which they did last season by a score of 46-44.

Vintage will have consecutive road games the next few weeks, the first of which is when they head to Petaluma on September 30th. 

Then, they’ll visit American Canyon on October 6th. 

Local rival Justin-Siena will head to Memorial Stadium on October 13th. 

Their last road game of the year is a trip to Sonoma to face the Dragons on October 21st. 

Finally, the regular season will end on October 28th when Vintage hosts Napa in Big Game LI (51). This will be the first time Vintage is the home team for an odd-numbered Big Game in series history. 

Great American Rivalry Series will once again visit Napa for Big Game in 2022. 

Crushers return to familiar playoff division 

After missing the playoffs last season, Vintage was returned down to division 2 for the CIF North Coast Section playoffs. 

Making the playoffs is something the Crushers have their eyes on the season as well. 

“I just know that my class, the senior class, we’re not happy about it at all,” Vintage senior lineman Jack Davidson explained. “We just want to be able to get back to where we were the last few years and just bring back how everyone knows Vintage football.”

Another goal is to win a league title that will ensure a trip to the playoffs. 

“It’s huge for us, not just for my senior year, but setting the tone for a program as a whole,” Vintage senior lineman Owen Tretheway said. “Like being able to see the incoming freshmen now and knowing where I was when I was a freshman, and seeing the seniors that I had, it’s a real reality check.  I think going into my senior year and being like, ‘we need to set the tone for the next coming year.’ So what happened last year doesn’t happen again.” 

The move doesn’t necessarily mean the competition is easy. Campolindo of Moraga, San Ramon Valley, and Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park is the other heavy hitters in the division. You can see the entire division here. 

Plenty of coaching changes 

Each year, there are changes in the coaching staff. This year is no different. 

After serving as the associate head coach for four seasons, Dennis Raines has now shifted into the super-utility role in the program. This means he can help wherever is needed in the program. 

“The new coaching staff has been really dope,” Vintage senior receiver Ali Johnson said. “They’re really supportive. I really like it.  Most of them, they come out here, they teach you everything. A lot of younger coaches out here, they get out on the field and they start showing you like visually they’ll show you so since I’m more of a visual learner, it’s really nice to have them.”  

The new additions to the varsity staff include Steve Porter, Barry Forsythe, and Marick Benett. 

At the freshman level, there are also plenty of changes. Daniel Alvarez takes over as the head coach. Joining him this season is Chris Yepson who will lead the freshman offense and also assist in the booth on Friday nights. Back again is Chris Cortese, who served as the freshman head coach previously.