Indians scalp Vallejo

That was a headline from my senior year when we beat Vallejo in basketball. It most definitely applies here. Napa ruined Vallejo's homecoming with a 49-28 win. Some of you may have read the Napa Register on Saturday morning and may have been confused by the opening quote from Coach Herlocker. That is because that wasn't what he said. His words were, "we made their homecoming queen cry." Makes a little more sense huh?
At any rate, it was a fun game to watch and we saw a lot of kids get some PT (playing time) so that was cool.
Coach Mott had a couple of key things to say about Vallejo. The exciting part for him was seeing some new players really step up, namely Kevin Ruestle, Stephen Oja, Kyle Green, and Stuart Chester.
He was very impressed with the second team O-Line played and he even went so far as to say that they played as well, if not better, than the starters. (Nothing like a little competition, eh boys?) Robert Butler graded out as an A for the game as did Scott Johnson. (For those of you unfamiliar with how a lineman is graded, it's based on blocking percentage after watching the film.)
Once again, Napa's special teams made an impact with a 2-point conversion, a successful onside kick and 5-6 PAT outing. One downfall was a kick return we gave up but the Indians turned right around and returned Vallejo's kickoff for a touchdown. Napa also aired it out a bit and had some key plays with their passing game.

Friday's opponent, Woodcreek, is from Roseville. They are in the same league as Granite Bay and they are very quick on offense and defense. They are 2-1, with wins over Davis and
Bear River from Grass Valley and they fell to Casa Robles in Week 1.

Napa is looking forward to a tough game and will most likely be without Linden Fowler, Gabe Guastucci, Carlton Garza, and Jeremiah Luke. However, that will just mean more opportunities for others to shine including Justin Ruffino, who the Indians brought up from the JVs and played well vs Vallejo.

Kick off is at 7:30 for the Varsity and 5:15 for the JVs at Memorial Stadium.


Here are some photos from Vallejo High...

Directions for this week

Here are directions to both the Frosh game at Heritage High School in Brentwood, as well sa to Vallejo for th JV and Varsity on Friday night. (**Side note: all directions are from Napa so double check them if you happen to be coming from out of town)

Heritage High School
101 American Ave, Brentwood, CA 94513-4604

Merge onto CA-29 S (13.2 miles)
Merge onto CA-37 E toward I-80 / SACRAMENTO / SAN FRANCISCO. (1.9 miles)
Merge onto I-80 W toward SAN FRANCISCO. (3.4 miles)
Take the I-780 exit toward I-680 / BENICIA / MARTINEZ. (0.1 miles)
Take the I-80 W exit on the LEFT toward BENICIA / MARTINEZ. (0.1 miles)
Merge onto I-780 E toward I-680 / BENICIA / MARTINEZ. (6.2 miles)
Merge onto I-680 S via EXIT 7B on the LEFT toward MARTINEZ / SAN JOSE. (5.2 miles)
Merge onto CA-4 E via EXIT 53 toward ANTIOCH / PITTSBURG. (15.6 miles)
Take the LONE TREE WAY exit toward A STREET. (0.1 miles)
Merge onto LONE TREE WAY. (3.0 miles)
Turn RIGHT onto DEER VALLEY RD. (3.0 miles)
Turn LEFT onto BALFOUR RD. (1.4 miles)

End at 101 American Ave, Brentwood, CA 94513-4604, US

Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 4 minutes Total Est. Distance: 54.57 miles

Directions to Vallejo's Corbus Field:
840 Nebraska St, Vallejo, CA

Merge onto CA-29 S toward VALLEJO / SAN RAFAEL. (15.0 miles)
Turn LEFT onto NEBRASKA ST. (0.5 miles)
Total Est. Time: 23 minutes Total Est. Distance: 16.31 miles

**As a side note to visiting Corbus, I'm pretty sure they make you go through metal detectors there so leave all your pocket knives and other such items in the car.

See you on the road!

Recap of Granite Bay

Well, a few days have gone by and I guess we should look at the Granite Bay game once more then look forward to next week.



While no one likes losing, there were a few high points Coach Mott wanted to cover:

There were some solid individual efforts from David Gladieaux and Brett Fraiser who were getting in the mix.

After the Del Campo game, the kids knew they needed some extra conditioning. They realized their physical weaknesses and accepted their conditioning regiment all week and took it with open arms, but what's more is that they improved.

It was also nice to have Gabe Guastucci back, even if in a limited role. In his first game back, he made an impact and contributed to the game. Napa's kick return team also played well and put the Indians in great field position. Once again, Napa was also perfect in PATs...5-5 this year!



On the flip side, there were some things to work on and the Indians will be busy at practice this week.
Napa did not play fundamentally sound on defense and will need to keep the penalties down. They had 95 yards in penalties against Granite Bay. There were also some key injuries to some of the seniors that have been instrumental in Napa's play.
As long as the Indians believe in their ability all game long, they should be golden all season. They started to see it at the end of the Granite Bay, but they need to carry it out for all four quarters.

Napa has Vallejo on Friday night at Corbus. The Indians are looking forward to continuing the long standing rivalry with Vallejo, something that is very important to the alumni at NHS. Napa wants to make some big plays on special teams, improve their fundamentals on defense and work on getting 11 hats to the ball. Napa should have Hayden Campo back and are looking for Guastucci to take on a bigger role. Coach Mott would like to see some more of the juniors step up and make plays.



So, that being said, let's all look forward to Vallejo because it really is a fun rivalry that has been going on for some time. Kick off is 5:15 for JV and 7:30 for Varsity...don't be late! And to tide everyone over for a couple days, here are some photos from Friday night.




After looking at what I took this past week, I think now would be an appropriate time to mention that I am totally open to photos if anyone has them.


Directions to the Freshmen game and to Corbus for Friday's contest will be up tomorrow. Check back...

Photos from Del Campo

The photos are finally up! It took a little time to sort through the 175 images that I took (for those of you that know me, I'm sure you're not surprised at that number) but there are some good ones in there. Here's what I got:

Gotta give it up for the JVs showing the Varsity players some love in the second half!

That's all for now...more to come with Granite Bay tomorrow night!

Napa at Del Campo

According the win-loss column, Saturday was a great day for the Indians, since they beat Del Campo 30-29. But if you were one of the people sitting in that Sacramento heat on Saturday, you know that there is more to the story.

Obviously, Napa put 30 points on the board, so that is definitely a positive. Here's how the Indians came about posting those 30 points:

Linden Fowler got the Indians on the board first with a rushing TD and the two point conversion gave Napa the 8-0 lead in the first quarter. While on defense, John Boyett knocked the ball loose and Jeremiah Luke recovered the fumble for the second Napa score. A PAT kick from Steven Oja put Napa ahead 15-0. At the start of the third quarter, Napa drove the field and Boyett took the ball in the end zone for the third Napa TD. He finished the series by carrying the ball in for the 2 point conversion. Almost seconds later, Napa's Stuart Chester recovered a fumble on the kickoff and got Napa the ball again. Ted LeMasters found Boyett for a long touchdown pass. Oja's kick was good and Napa led 30-0.

So, 30-0 and we're all feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, so was Del Campo, who did their damage to the scoreboard in the second half. 29 unanswered points later, the Indians hung on to win.

Since it was the first game of the season, there were some good things and some things that could use a little work. But that's what film and another week of practice is for. Here are some of the positives and negatives, according to Coach Mott:

Positives:

-The offensive line played well and dominated up front and allowed us to take big chunks in the running game

-Scott Johnson, David Smith, Robert Butler, Carlton Garza, Miguel Figueroa and Jason Westerberg allowed us to control the clock and helped us pick up big first downs in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

-Our defense had a big goal line stand capped by a big play on fourth down by John Boyett.

-Our special teams had several big plays on the day including a fumble recovery on the kick off team, a blocked PAT by Ryan Kostecka, and we were 100% successful in PAT attempts (2-2 kicking, 2-2 on the waterpick).

-Offensively, Jake Croxdale ran the ball well and Boyett made several big plays including a TD receiving and a TD running.

So let's review: 1st half? Good. 2nd half? Could use a little work. Here are some more thoughts from Coach Mott:

-The Indians need to get in shape and condition so that when they physically get tired, they don't break down mentally. Tackling will improve when we get in shape and can play four quarters of black shirt football.

Obviously there are things to work on, but it is only Week 1. It would be a safe bet to say they will be having extra hard workouts this week before taking on Granite Bay at home on Friday. Granite Bay beat Pitman (Turlock, CA) 17-8 on Thursday and Napa will have to play four solid quaters of football in order to seal a victory over the Grizzlies.

Side note- stats will be posted shortly, as soon as I get the info from the team statistician and I will throw a few photos online as well. MaxPreps.com was at the Del Campo game and has a photo gallery up, and the Napa Register was also there (I know, I was impressed too. Not only an away game, but a Saturday away game!) so they probably have a few online to browse through.

Haven't you always wanted to see your name in lights?...

...So to speak.

Ladies and gentleman, we have celebrities among us!

As you drive around Napa this football season and if you happen to come up on a Napa Vine city bus, check out the back banner...you may see some of our local football players staring back at you. Specifically, Linden Fowler, John Boyett, Scott Johnson and Tommy Wilcoxson.

Scott Rachfal of R. Scott Photography took the following picture for the Vine artwork. Now tell me this photo doesn't rock?

Directions to Del Campo

Here are the directions to Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, from Napa.

Take 29 South to 12 East through Jameson Canyon
Merge onto I-80 E. (56.5 miles)
Take the MADISON AVE exit- EXIT 96. (0.4 miles)
Keep RIGHT at the fork to go on MADISON AVE. (2.7 miles)
Turn RIGHT onto DEWEY DR. (0.6 miles)
End at 4925 Dewey DrFair Oaks, CA 95628-4402, US

Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 19 minutes Total Est. Distance: 74.37 miles

4 way scrimmage photo recap

Here are some action shots to get all of us fans through until our first game on Saturday at Del Campo. (Yes, I know they are a little blurry, but in my haste to get to the stadium in time for the freshmen scrimmage, I forgot my good camera lense. I promise there will be better ones on Saturday. In the mean time, feel free to write a letter to the school district about how poor the lights are in the stadium. Trust me, it will help immensely.)

Directions to Del Campo will be posted this week, prior to the freshmen game on Thursday.