Napa Valley High School Football: Huge 2nd quarter propels Vintage past Bethel, 44-14

When you have a game-changer on special teams, the game can change rather quickly.

That is exactly what happened for the Vintage High football team when it rolled to its third straight win, 44-14 over Bethel of Vallejo, on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

The game was close until midway through the second quarter, when junior Kayen West's 59-yard kick return gave the Crushers' offense a short field.

"That was a great return," Vintage head coach Dylan Leach said. "(He) hit the wedge and ran hard. That was a good catalyst for what we had going on."

Following that play, the Crushers (3-1) were finally able to finish a drive and set the tone for the rest of the night. The drive was capped off when Blake Porter found the end zone on a 1-yard run. He ended the half with another scoring run from 5 yards out when there were just 31 ticks left till the break. Porter carried the rock five times for 14 yards on the night.

The momentum only stayed when Riley Marek jumped the route on a screen pass on the outside and took it to the house for a 15-yard pick-six with 8:17 to go in the first half.

Vintage kept its foot on the gas as, less than a minute later, Mason Howell took the ball down the sideline and into the end zone for a 50-yard score.

To open the scoring, Porter found Ruben Sanchez for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 2:44 left in the first quarter. Sanchez finished with four catches for 36 yards and one score.

"He's just everything to us," Leach explained to the team on the importance of Sanchez. "He's a leader. He works his butt off. He just does everything right. Like I said last week, I cannot say enough about the kid. Absolutely love his integrity, his character, and what he puts forth for our program. He's exactly who I want in my program."

The Crushers' final score of the game came when Porter found Travis Larsen for a 12-yard connection with 6:11 left in the third quarter. It was also another good game for Porter, who showed off his arm by completing 10 of 16 passes for 177 yards and the two scores.

"In practice, I trust them," Porter said of his solid group of receivers. "Then when it comes to the game, I trust them even more. I just know that they can back me up and I just want to thank my big guys out in front of me that are protecting me and keeping me safe, so I have the time to hit my receivers so they can make some plays."

Part of the reason the Crushers were able to get their signal caller to be so efficient in the game was the use of run-pass option, which puts the offense in Porter's hands.

"I mean, it's good," Leach said of his team executing the RPOs with success. "We ran them a lot last year, toward the end of the season, and I just think that we've been getting better and better. I think Blake's getting better and better with his reads, and the more people have to adjust their defense to what we do is a good thing for us."

Bethel (0-4) got its first score of the game with 10:03 left in the second quarter when quarterback Kylan McNeal took a sneak straight up the middle and into the end zone to make it an 8-6 game.

The Jaguars didn't reach the end zone again until, with 7:51 left in the game, McNeal found Melvin Miller for an 88-yard score.

Vintage now heads into its bye week, when it will get ready for arguably the oddest nonleague game in the history of the town — against Napa High in Big Game LIII on Oct. 4. It will be the first nonleague meeting of the crosstown rivals in series history. Napa leads the all-time series 29-21-2. However, Vintage has won the last seven meetings.

Both schools are selling tickets to the game and for the annual car raffle, the winner of which is to be announced during halftime.

Vintage JV 22, Bethel 6

The Crushers (3-1) led only 7-6 at halftime, but opened their offense up in the second half and pulled away. Vintage will next host Napa High in the Little Big Game at 4:45 p.m. Oct. 4.

PHOTOS: Vintage High football team defeats Bethel

The Vintage High football team responded to Bethel's first touchdown with a 29-point surge in the second quarter and rolled past the Jaguars 44-14 Friday night.