2 weeks Ago By Thomas Gase
NAPA — The American Canyon High School football team didn’t complete a single pass on offense Saturday night. But the Wolves certainly passed the test against Redwood at Napa Memorial Stadium. American Canyon stuck to the ground, rushing for more than 300 yards to the tune of a 35-28 victory and a North Coast Section Division IV title — the first section championship in the program’s history.
“The NCS tried and the NCS failed,” American Canyon head coach Trevor Hudson told his huddled team in front of the stands moments after the win. “But you are the champions of everyone. When we were down early it would have been easy to lay down, but that’s not how we roll at AC.
” The running game was led by quarterback Mason Harris, who for the second straight game showed he was doing just fine in his return from a concussion. This time Harris rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns, while teammate Andre Lopez ran 17 times for 99 yards and two scores. “Mason Harris is a hell of an athlete and I’m trying to re-class him to be class of 2026,” Hudson said of his senior, set to graduate in 2025.
“Heck of an athlete, hell of a player. But it’s not about one person. I have a pack of Wolves — from the guy that scores the touchdown to the guy who never gets off the sideline and supports his team.
Every person here matters.” Hudson said he didn’t plan on necessarily running the ball as much as the Wolves did, but he was taking what Redwood was giving them. “The plan is to win the game,” Hudson said with a laugh.
“If we need to pass to win the game, we pass. But if we need to run and we don’t have to pass, then my receivers already know you better learn how to block. Redwood did a good job of taking everything on the strong side, so we knew we could counter them back on the weak side.
” Harris agreed with his coach. “From the start we didn’t plan on running the ball like that, but it just kept working and working and working,” Harris said. “It was 5 yards after 5 yards and it helped throughout the game.
” Harris gave credit to the offensive line, which created more holes than a sponge. “Those guys were dawgs all game. They never gave up and they kept fighting and fighting and fighting,” Harris said.
“From the first snap to the last, they kept fighting.” American Canyon offensive lineman Sam Montoya realized the running game was working early on, and continued to ask Wolves’ coaches to keep the ball on the ground. Montoya added that pass blocking and run blocking are about the same level of difficulty for him at this point.
“It’s about the same,” Montoya said. “I have faith in our running backs and our receivers. Blocking is like second nature to me now.
Whenever we pull on anything we have great communication. Whenever we ran the ball, we would yell (run play) is there all night.” After American Canyon and Redwood traded three-and-outs to begin the game, the Wolves got on the scoreboard first with a 12-play drive that resulted in a 2-yard Lopez touchdown with 3:35 left in the first quarter.
Redwood tied the game when Sean Cunneen scored on a 9-yard rush. American Canyon got sloppy in the second quarter. A fumble on a snap was recovered by the Giants, who then scored two plays later when Kody Vasquez found Dylan Mcgrath in the end zone for a 14-7 lead on a 3-yard completion.
The duo hooked up again with three minutes remaining in the half, this time for 23 yards and a score that made it 21-7. But before Redwood could enjoy the momentum, American Canyon took it back. Webster Burks fumbled a kickoff near the end zone before busting up the middle and down the left side nearly untouched for a 99-yard score to make it 21-14 with just 48 seconds left in the half.
“At that point I felt we needed a play. They had us against the ropes,” Hudson said. “And Webster Burks, he’s lightning in a bottle.
Give him a crease and he can make it happen, and they messed around and gave him a crease.” American Canyon stormed out of the locker room with the same momentum, scoring on a 21-yard run by Harris. The extra point was blocked and the Wolves trailed 21-20.
Undaunted, American Canyon’s defense came up with a big play, intercepting a Vasquez pass and returning it to midfield. Six plays later Harris was in the end zone again, this time with a 1-yard rush, capping a drive that saw him compile runs of 17, 15 and 9 yards. “The key — 100 percent — to our comeback was our confidence,” Harris said.
“We’re never out of a game. No matter how much we’re down by we know we can come back and win.” With that, American Canyon could feel a win within its grasp.
“I told the boys at the half that we worked too hard to get here and lay down,” Hudson said. “We are built for this and we know what to do here. This is a team that came to play and we need to come and fight harder and we need to get out after it.
And guess what? They responded. Champions. You have to write it down and you can’t take it from us.
It’s always going to be in the book.” American Canyon stopped a long Redwood drive and forced a turnover on downs when Evan Paras knocked down a pass by Vasquez. The Wolves took over and kept it on the ground.
A 10-play drive took over five minutes off the clock, ending with a Lopez touchdown to make it 35-21 with just 2:17 left in regulation. Redwood scored to cut the lead to 35-28, but when Burks recovered an onside kick with just 1:07 left, the Wolves were able to take a knee and win. “This is the greatest feeling of all time,” Harris said.
“Now I can finally say I won a section championship with my brothers.” Hudson said the Wolves made a statement. “What this means to the community as a whole is this: There is a change coming.
American Canyon is becoming a football school,” Hudson said. “Understand me — if you want to play great football, it’s at AC. What it means to the community, we’ve had more sponsors than we’ve had in years .
.. I’m grateful for this community, grateful for everything.
“But make no mistake about it — that is a tough football team,” Hudson said, pointing to the Redwood sideline. “I’m upset because most of the times you win a championship against someone you don’t have to see them for a while. But those guys are in my league.
I have to see them again next year.”.
