Napa Valley High School Football: Petaluma rallies past Justin-Siena in overtime, 18-12
With so many athletes who have won section championships in other sports, the Justin-Siena football team can never be counted out.
Since exploding for seven touchdowns against St. Patrick-St. Vincent in Week 2, however, the Braves have struggled offensively. Coming off a shutout loss at Tamalpais, they made sure Petaluma struggled Friday night, too — for three quarters.
The Trojans tied the game in the fourth to force overtime and prevailed 18-12 in the Redwood Empire Conference-Valley league game, making things exciting if not festive for Justin-Siena fans on homecoming night.
"It was a really even, hard-fought game. They just made a couple more plays than us," Justin-Siena head coach Tyler Streblow said. "We made a lot of the mental mistakes that have been killing us. We've been working really hard on it in practice, and it bit us again tonight.
"All the credit goes to Petaluma (2-4, 1-1 REC-Valley). They found their legs in the fourth quarter. They did an amazing job shutting down our run game and running the ball themselves. We couldn't get our running game going when it counted. That was the difference in the game.
Justin-Siena's quarterback, baseball section champion Drew Sangiacomo, was 14 of 25 passing for 164 yards with one interception and a scoring strike to lacrosse section champion Luke Ficeli for the Braves (2-3, 0-2 REC-Valley).
Ficeli had his best all-around game, with three catches for 65 yards on offense, and four solo tackles, six assists, a forced fumble and an interception on defense.
Dallas Logwood and Tommy Malloy, basketball and baseball section champs, respectively, went hard on both sides of the ball as usual. Logwood led the rushers with 53 yards on 13 carries and the tacklers with seven solos and five assists. He also had two catches for 19 yards.
Malloy had 10 carries for 52 yards and six receptions for 31 yards on offense, and five solo tackles, four assists and a force fumble on defense.
Alex Ruiz added three receptions for 49 yards, five solo tackles, four assists, and a fumble recovery.
"We emphasized the downhill run game this week," Streblow said. "I thought we did a really nice job with it. We just didn't finish. It's still a little bit new to us. We're a smaller team, so we're trying to spread the field in different ways, out on the perimeter. But we've got to be able to run the ball when it counts and I thought we did a really good job until the end. We ran out of steam and we couldn't execute.
"Drew did a really good job standing back there. It's really hard when he steps back there because everyone knows he's going to throw, so (defenders) are just firing upfield and they're coming. We're starting two sophomores up front and they're starting to do a really, really good job. We're just fighting and I told the guys we have a lot of season left. We've just got to keep improving. We made some mistakes. It happens. We've got to get back at practice on Monday and fix those and then keep going."
On defense, Reuben Jones contributed a solo tackle, five assists and a sack, Gio Elshout-Welch two tackles for losses and four assists, Grant Dion two solos and four assists, and Boden Powell two solos and three assists.
"I was really happy with how we stopped the run the whole game — until we wore down at the end, but that's what happens when you've got 23 guys on your roster," said Streblow. "Guys who normally make plays didn't tonight. That's just football. We have to execute better. But I was super proud of the effort. They fought all game. We're smaller than everyone in this league, so we're just going to have to fight as hard as we can."
Petaluma, in its 15th season under head coach Rick Krist, started 4-0 in the Vine Valley Athletic League last year, clobbering both Justin-Siena and American Canyon, before losing to Vintage and Casa Grande. Despite losing two of the best defensive players in the VVAL, the Trojans beat the Braves for the fourth straight year.
"They're a really good program and they do a really good job with their flex-bone veer offense," Streblow said. "They run it to perfection and their defense is bend-but-don't-break and that's what they did. They made the plays and we didn't.
"Their quarterback is a good passer. It's tough in that run-heavy offense if you have a quarterback who can play-action and throw some good balls, and he did. We knew if they beat us with the pass, they beat us with the pass, and they did. We're willing to live with that. The fact we're in this game is a positive sign for us.
"That last drive on offense we got a couple of penalties and then I think the air went out of the balloon and we couldn't quite get it back in. But I'm really proud of the defense. They shut down the run the majority of the game. It just wears on you and with our numbers, it's hard. We'll work on it and try to develop a couple more players so we can get some subs in.
The Braves host American Canyon (5-0, 1-0 REC-Valley) next Friday. The Wolves notched a 38-25 win Friday over a visiting Tamalpais squad that defeated Justin-Siena 47-0 in Mill Valley the previous Saturday. Then they're on the road against Casa Grande and Redwood.
"We've got a tough schedule coming up, but we're going to try to get better and do the best we can and give it our best shot," Streblow said. "If we keep getting better, I think we have a good chance in a couple of these games."
Dean Ruggiero contributed to this report.
