Vallejo snaps playoff drought
Benicia, St. Pat’s also start postseason on road
The year 2003 will be remembered for a number of events.
The Space Shuttle disaster occurred. California voters recalled Gray Davis as governor and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him. The Buccaneers (behind head coach Jon Gruden) crushed the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.
And locally, the Vallejo High School football team made the playoffs.
At the time, that wasn’t a 70-point headline as the then-Apaches were semi-regular participants in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Who would have known that it would take 18 years for the now-Redhawks to make another postseason appearance?
No. 6-seeded Vallejo (5-5) starts the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs on Friday with a game at No. 3 Tennyson of Hayward (9-0).
To put that in perspective, most of the players on the 2021 team weren’t born yet when Vallejo last made the postseason.
It won’t be an easy test for Vallejo. The Lancers are averaging 44.8 points per game, led by quarterback Jordan Hernandez, who has thrown for 1,181 yards and 19 touchdowns. Running back Salesi Moala has rushed for 1,185 yards and 19 scores and wide receiver Taeshawn Lyons has 858 yards receiving and 15 touchdowns.
The Redhawks lost their Week 10 battle to Bethel last week, 4228. Despite the loss, Vallejo played much better in the second half behind a hurry-up offense as freshman quarterback Sir’Darius Alexander threw for 204 yards and four touchdowns.
Alexander was named first-team, all-Tri-County Athletic League this week as was wide receiver Davion Williams, who has 384 yards receiving and four touchdowns.
Vallejo’s defense, led by first-team linebacker Kendall Knight and firstteam defensive back Janias Lewis will try to help pull off the upset.
Benicia (7-3) at Casa Grande (7-3)
This Division III matchup in Petaluma has the potential to be one of the most high scoring — not only in the division but in the whole section.
The No. 6-seeded Gauchos, co-champs in the Vine Valley Athletic League, are averaging 41.5 points per game. The No. 3 Panthers, co-champs in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division, are averaging 38.6 points per contest.
Casa Grande quarterback Jacob Porteous’ numbers are off the charts. The 6-foot-4 signal caller has thrown for 3,409 yards and 43 touchdowns. He is No. 3 in California in passing yards and No. 2 in touchdown passes, according to maxpreps.com.
Even though the task may seem daunting, American Canyon pulled it off in Week 8, grabbing a 48-30 road win despite not having star running back Kapono Liu.
Benicia quarterback Tyson Wallace has thrown for 1,780 yards and 24 touchdowns. Wallace had a rare off game last week against Las Lomas, getting picked off four times in a 35-21 defeat. Wallace’s top receiver Simeon Harris missed the game with a separated shoulder.
Speaking of Las Lomas, the Knights are the No. 2 seed in the division. If Las Lomas wins its matchup against Montgomery and Benicia pulls off the road win, the Panthers and Knights will meet next week in Walnut Creek.
St. Pat’s (4-7) at St. Vincent (8-1)
The Bruins have their work cut out during a Saturday matchup in Petaluma in the first round of the D-7 bracket.
The top-seeded Mustangs are led by running back Kai Hall, who has rushed for 1,176 yards and 15 touchdowns.
No. 8 seed St. Pat’s has been led by offensive lineman Jonathan Smith, who was first-team, all-TCAL Rock Division.