Andy Wilcox- Napa Register

The Vacaville High football team scored on 10 of 12 possessions in a variety of ways with its deeper, quicker squad in a 76-21 rout of the Vintage Crushers at Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

The Monticello Empire League-leading Bulldogs set the tone on the opening kickoff, which Curtis Goins returned 97 yards for a score. After Vintage (1-8 overall, 1-3 MEL) went three-and-out, the Bulldogs (8-1 overall, 4-0 MEL) made it 13-0 on a 64-yard touchdown run by Melvin Mason on their first play from scrimmage.

The Crushers got their passing game going on their second drive, as Dylan Duprez (13 for 26, 165 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) completed a 12-yard pass to Jeff Carruth (seven catches, 86 yards, two TDs). But it came after an illegal-procedure penalty and forced another three-and-out.

A big second-down tackle by Brad Baldwin helped force the Bulldogs three-and-out, but a Goins interception two plays later got the ball back for Vacaville.

The Bulldogs then withstood two holding penalties to score again, on a perfectly thrown, 43-yard pass from Tyler Irwin to Goins. Reed White (10 of 10) added the PAT for a 20-0 lead after one quarter.

A.J. Claudio ran for Vintage’s initial first down, but another punt led to a Vacaville scoring drive that Quincy Forte capped with a juking, 5-yard run for a 27-0 lead.

Vintage finally got on the board with 5:41 left in the half with a 12-play, 79-yard scoring march keyed by Carruth’s one-handed catch for a 24-yard gain to midfield, and a 15-yard penalty when Brandon Gant gained 17 yards on a reverse and was hit out of bounds. Duprez found Carruth on a perfect, 17-yard pass on a fade pattern and Gant added the PAT.

But any hopes of a momentum swing seemed doomed when the Bulldogs recovered a pooch kickoff at their 38 and put the ball in Mason’s hands. He carried the ball on five of six plays, including a 1-yard TD burst that made it 34-7.

Claudio’s second catch of the season, for 18 yards, got Vintage going on its ensuing drive, but two incomplete bombs led to another punt. Vacaville then used a couple of pass completions to set up burly Hudson Buck’s 28-yard, tackle-breaking TD run, grabbing a 41-7 halftime lead.

Vintage, held scoreless in the second half of a 47-22 loss at Fairfield the week before, put together an impressive 17-play, 74-yard scoring drive to open the third quarter.

Catches of 15 and 17 yards in Bulldogs territory by Blake Zuniga helped set up Carruth’s 5-yard TD catch. He was hit hard but held onto the ball, making the score 41-14.

The Bulldogs, however, kept scoring on big plays — a 43-yard run by Mason (nine carries, 154 yards), Johnny Schupp’s 30-yard return of a fumble, a 51-yard run by Goins, a 59-yard run by Jessie Kassis, and finally, with 5:08 left, a 10-yard run by Marwin Wilson.

Vintage closed its scoring spectacularly with 8:11 remaining, on a 63-yard run by Zach Zuniga (11 carries, 87 yards). Preceding that play was a 13-yard gain by Carruth on a fake punt.