No. 1 Vacaville's stomps San Jose powerhouse, leaving struggling Napa to save MEL race
Posted by Troy Carrington on Sunday, September 25, 2011
By Ted Sillanpaa
Bay Valley Sports
The Monticello Empire League football race appears to be over without even having started yet.
No. 1-ranked Vacaville High traveled to San Jose and staggered powerful Valley Christian, 40-27, Friday to highlight the Bay Valley Sports football weekend. The Bulldogs improved to 3-1 with one more game left in the toughest imaginable nonleague schedule.
Valley Christian fell to 1-2 after losing to the North Coast Section's No. 1-rated Division III team Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 35-28 on Sept. 16. Vacaville's only loss came on the road against the NCS's second-rated team Marin Catholic, 33-29.
Regardless, the only team with any hope of derailing Vacaville is No. 2-rated Napa. The Indians, however, lost an intersectional battle of Division I teams at Antioch, 40-35. Antioch is rated No. 17 in the North Coast Section DI rankings by Maxpreps.com.
Napa entered the weekend ranked 45th by Maxpreps in the Sac-Joaquin Section D-I poll. Vacaville was ranked No. 12 in SJS D-I before pounding Valley Christian.
Think Napa and Vacaville are two teams headed in opposite directions as they prepare for their Oct. 7 MEL encounter in Vacaville?
The Napa Valley Register's executive sports editor Marty James wrote that dropped passes hurt the Indians.
“It’s about confidence in yourselves and we’ve got to begin to start making some plays when it counts,” Napa coach Troy Mott told James in the Napa newspaper.
Napa fans posted criticism of Antioch players calling them, "ghetto thugs" on the Napa Valley Register website. Thugs who, fans insist, played "dirty" and got help from officials.
Indians' head coach Troy Mott didn't see things like the Napa fans.
“They (Antioch) were stronger than we were and more physical, tougher than we were, which is disappointing, because that’s what we hang our hat on. When a team comes up and smashes us in the mouth and we don’t have an answer for it, then it’s a recipe for a long night for us,” Mott told James in the Register.
Don't count on any other team in a horrendous MEL field to challenge Vacaville. Wood, Fairfield, Armijo and Vintage are a combined 3-13. Vintage hasn't won a game yet.
An argument can be made that Wood could provide Napa a severe test in Vacaville on Oct. 21. Wood lost tough games to Solano County Athletic Conference challengers Vanden and Benicia. The Wildcats' 3 losses have come by an average of just 7.3 points.
It's a stretch to imagine Wood stopping Napa's offense, but ... it's possible.
Bay Valley Sports
The Monticello Empire League football race appears to be over without even having started yet.
No. 1-ranked Vacaville High traveled to San Jose and staggered powerful Valley Christian, 40-27, Friday to highlight the Bay Valley Sports football weekend. The Bulldogs improved to 3-1 with one more game left in the toughest imaginable nonleague schedule.
Valley Christian fell to 1-2 after losing to the North Coast Section's No. 1-rated Division III team Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 35-28 on Sept. 16. Vacaville's only loss came on the road against the NCS's second-rated team Marin Catholic, 33-29.
Regardless, the only team with any hope of derailing Vacaville is No. 2-rated Napa. The Indians, however, lost an intersectional battle of Division I teams at Antioch, 40-35. Antioch is rated No. 17 in the North Coast Section DI rankings by Maxpreps.com.
Napa entered the weekend ranked 45th by Maxpreps in the Sac-Joaquin Section D-I poll. Vacaville was ranked No. 12 in SJS D-I before pounding Valley Christian.
Think Napa and Vacaville are two teams headed in opposite directions as they prepare for their Oct. 7 MEL encounter in Vacaville?
The Napa Valley Register's executive sports editor Marty James wrote that dropped passes hurt the Indians.
“It’s about confidence in yourselves and we’ve got to begin to start making some plays when it counts,” Napa coach Troy Mott told James in the Napa newspaper.
Napa fans posted criticism of Antioch players calling them, "ghetto thugs" on the Napa Valley Register website. Thugs who, fans insist, played "dirty" and got help from officials.
Indians' head coach Troy Mott didn't see things like the Napa fans.
“They (Antioch) were stronger than we were and more physical, tougher than we were, which is disappointing, because that’s what we hang our hat on. When a team comes up and smashes us in the mouth and we don’t have an answer for it, then it’s a recipe for a long night for us,” Mott told James in the Register.
Don't count on any other team in a horrendous MEL field to challenge Vacaville. Wood, Fairfield, Armijo and Vintage are a combined 3-13. Vintage hasn't won a game yet.
An argument can be made that Wood could provide Napa a severe test in Vacaville on Oct. 21. Wood lost tough games to Solano County Athletic Conference challengers Vanden and Benicia. The Wildcats' 3 losses have come by an average of just 7.3 points.
It's a stretch to imagine Wood stopping Napa's offense, but ... it's possible.