NAPA, Calif - The old saying defense wins championships doesn’t lie and it sure showed on Friday night. That was the case for the Vintage football team as the Crushers shutout Redwood-Larkspur 25-0 to begin the North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs.
It’s something that Vintage head coach Dylan Leach was very pleased about afterward.
“Those guys are tough. They play a tough brand of football,” he explained. “A lot of people think they're like a finesse pass type, but they came out and they executed their outside zone great. Anytime you get a shout out, especially in the playoffs is a great thing, especially to a team that probably I think they put out like 62 and 77 (points) the last time they came out. But hats off to them. They never gave up they play hard nose, and I give those guys a lot of credit to that coaching staff.”
However, it wasn’t all that easy for the Vintage defense. The Giants (8-3) moved the ball into the Crusher red zone twice on the night, but the Crushers held both times.
“We know we're really strong on defense,” said Vintage sophomore running back Dylan Smith. “We know that we’re a defensive team for sure. “It gives us hope for these next few teams to stop them on defense.”
Smith also had his coming out party of the season by scoring two touchdowns and rushing for 63 yards on only four carries. The other key to the Vintage (10-1) rushing onslaught was senior Pedja Zivkovic who rushed for 122 yards on 13 carries.
“Pedja is the one that moved us in between the 20s and got us the movement,” Leach said. “And then Dylan obviously those nice touchdown runs. He’s a sophomore, so we’re really excited about that. But he just runs hard and he plays with such passion and I appreciate him every day. He comes and learns and he has an open mind and he's good at football, but he wants to be great and so that's what we appreciate about Dylan Smith.”
Smith’s first score came right before the half with 2:59 remaining in the second quarter from 12 yards out, which put the Crushers up 11-0 heading into the break. On their first drive of the game, Vintage pushed the ball all the way down to the Redwood 10 yard line before the drive fizzled out and Tate Salese nailed a 27-yard field goal attempt.
“I just thought the beginning game we were way too emotional like we were so pumped up to play a game,” Leach said. “We felt like we left a lot on the field last time we got on this field. And I think these kids just wanted it so much that we were just a little bit too emotional. So, I really enjoyed the way they come down in the second half, and really played our type of football.”
After a scoreless third quarter, Smith again reached the end zone this time from 32 yards away on a scamper up the Crusher sideline with 11:15 left in the game.
“(Running) backs do their thing for sure, but it all goes to our line 100%,” Smith explained.
Vintage put the game away when Jacob Aaron punched it in from five yards out to give the Crushers a 25-0 lead with only 8:01 remaining.
With the win, the Crushers move onto the semifinals for the second consecutive season. They’ll be back in action next Saturday at 7 p.m. when they host Campolindo-Moraga, the No. 3 seed who beat Livermore 41-16 on Friday night.
“Listen, you get to this point, I want to put my name and our coaching staffs name in our programs name in the hat with guys like (Campolindo head coach Kevin) Macy. So he's been doing it for years. That program’s been doing it for years. So, we're just excited (at) the opportunity to come back home and get a chance to play against great programs.”
The last time Campolindo played at Napa Memorial Stadium was 2015 when they came in riding a 29-game win streak.
This will also be the first time since 1989 that Memorial Stadium has hosted a semifinal playoff game.
