Vallejo High’s football resurgence is top local sports story of the year – Times Herald Online

Coming into the 2023 season it had been — well, let’s face it — a tough century so far for the Vallejo High School football program.

They made the playoffs in 2021 — ending a two-decade drought — but the team hadn’t won a playoff game since the new century began.

And then came 2023, and with it, quarterback Jasier Smith and  wideouts Sedrick Vaughn, David Bernstine III and Darrell Hurd.

In a wild season that featured everything from on-field fights to off-the-field, mid-game gunshots — Vallejo put together a season for the ages.

There is no doubt. What the Vallejo High football program accomplished is the biggest local sports story for the Times-Herald in 2023.

Without further delay here is that story and the the top five local sports stories of the year …

1. Vallejo High football wins league title, home playoff game for first time in at least two decades – behind unusual circumstances.

Only time will tell, but when people look back at the history of Vallejo High School football, they may see 2023 as the season the program turned around.

The Redhawks made it all the way to the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs, losing to 56-20 to Acalanes High 56-20 on a cold rainy night in November. It was the second time during the season that Vallejo had lost to Acalanes.

However, most fans of the program will remember the two months before the season-ending loss even more.

On Sept. 8 Vallejo lost its second straight game — this one to Pioneer on the road. The Redhawks would then win seven of their next eight games — each filled with as much drama as the last.

Some of them had too much excitement.

After beating rival Jesse Bethel in the Mayor’s Cup, Vallejo lost to Acalanes 50-0 on Sept. 29. The Redhawks would not lose again for almost two months.

Vallejo defeated St. Mary’s 24-13 and then beat Kennedy at home 22-8. Hardly anyone remembers the score of that game but they remember how it ended.

With just under 10 minutes to play in the third quarter, Vallejo High sophomore wide receiver David Bernstine was tackled on a running play in the third quarter. The official whistle to stop play came possibly a few seconds too late and seconds later, both teams were throwing punches.

With officials working on settling down those skirmishes, still more violence erupted near the Vallejo High sideline. Vallejo sophomore Julius Compos had to be restrained by both coaches and players after being involved in one of a series of individual fights. Fans from both schools came out onto the field, with one fan waving a cane at players.

The game was then called by officials with Vallejo winning 22-8.

“The refs told me that they tried to see if the game could continue but it was confirmed that it was deemed unsafe to continue for both sides,” Vallejo Athletic Director Josh Ramos said moments after the game was called.

Ramos and Wilson guided all the Vallejo players to the locker room underneath the stands at Corbus Field and wouldn’t let anyone leave until the Kennedy bus left the premises. Once the bus from the Richmond school left, Vallejo players were allowed to head from the Corbus Field locker room to the locker room at Bottari Gym.

Once in his office at the Bottari Gym, Vallejo head coach Mike Wilson III looked tired and drained from a drama having nothing to do with football.

“I was trying to calm everyone down on my team and make sure they got off the field, onto the sideline and settled down,” Wilson said that night. “The refs were deciding who they were going to eject and they were also talking to the administrators about safety. I think they might have decided to continue the game, but then the second incident took place and it was all over.”

The next week Vallejo played a crucial game at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High and the Redhawks decided to “air” some things out.

After taking a week of practice to focus on walking away from incidents that might lead to a fight, Vallejo played like a new team with a new focus — all centered on winning a Tri-County Athletic League title. In a game for the ages, Vallejo’s Jasier Smith threw for a school-record eight touchdowns in a 56-54 win.

“That’s the best game of the year. Without a doubt, the best game of the year,” Ramos said following the win.

Smith was also thrilled with how the team turned things around.

“It was hard last week because our school, you know, we rep the city name,” Smith said after the win over St. Pat’s. “Our name — Vallejo — has been associated with bad stuff lately. We wanted to flip that around and make Vallejo stand for something good.”

Over the next two weeks more “good” was to come. Vallejo blanked Richmond 49-0 on the road to secure a playoff spot and a league title outright.

The next week Vallejo played its first home playoff game in two decades and came away with a 28-22 double overtime win when Smith found Hurd alone in the end zone for a walkoff win at Corbus Field.

The game set off a celebration for Vallejo — but possibly its most unusual one of all time.

While the teams were shaking hands at midfield, gunshots — sounding like firecrackers to much of the crowd — rang out in the night.

Moments later, as school officials realized that the sound was, in fact, gunshots, the Vallejo players were rushed to the locker room underneath the stands at Corbus Field. Officials then tried their best to find out if there was an active-shooter situation, while fans either stood in the stands or tried to meet the players underneath them. Multiple police cars soon came to the scene on Nebraska Street and in the parking lot near Bottari Gym.

Ramos said a young man he did not recognize as a student ran into Corbus Field after being shot at a nearby gas station. According to Ramos, the young man was seeking help and safety inside Corbus Field once the gates of the venue were opened seconds after the game had ended.

Moments later this Times-Herald reporter was threatened by fans on how to write the game story and Times-Herald photographer Chris Riley was assaulted while fans attempted to take his camera to prevent him from taking photos.

Wilson and Vallejo players were also visibly shaken after the game.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we’re trying to build something here,” Wilson said, his voice rising. “We’re moving forward and then we take a step back. We move forward again and then take another step back. It’s very frustrating as a coach. We need to stop this violence. Tonight I’ll think of both the win and the violence. We need to address the violence in the city of Vallejo.”

2. Minor league baseball comes back to Vallejo

After a long hiatus, minor league baseball finally came back to Vallejo and Wilson Park in 2023 with the Vallejo Seaweed.

The Seaweed — competing in the Pecos League — brought minor league baseball back to the city for the first time since 2019. Formally introduced in November of 2022, the team was previously in Santa Cruz before owner Andrew Dunn — citing scheduling conflicts and other problems — decided in October of 2022 to relocate the team to Vallejo.

The team is not affiliated with the Vallejo Admirals, who previously played at Wilson Park in a few leagues, including the Pacific Association of Baseball Clubs. After Kevin Reilly sold the Admirals to Dave Phinney in early 2020, the team has not played a game, largely due to the pandemic.

Things did not go smoothly for the Seaweed all year starting from the first home game. The scoreboard didn’t work in the first few innings of its first home game. The public address system couldn’t turn on. The chalk for the baselines was slightly off. The liquor license wasn’t finalized on time. And there were no concessions open inside the ballpark all year long.

With everything going wrong, Vallejo native and Seaweed starting pitcher Sean Jackson did all he could to remind fans why they were there at Wilson Park in the first place.

While the team’s baseball operations couldn’t catch a break, Jackson’s pitches — all 158 of them — were moving just fine, to the tune of 14 strikeouts. Although Jackson ran out of gas in the ninth inning and the Seaweed lost to the San Rafael Pacifics 7-5, the few hundred fans that showed up for the franchise home opener were thrilled.

The team struggled for much of the year, but many fans were glad to see baseball back. Vallejoans Karen Tougas and Kathleen Hudgins sat right behind home plate with Sue Smith from Vacaville at the first Seaweed home game. All three of them said they were ready to cheer on the Seaweed as well as give the umpires some vocal abuse if called for.

“I mean it’s baseball and it’s the closest team locally next to the A’s,” Tougas said. “I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with the new team and going to games on Tuesday nights and screaming obscenities.”

3. Matt Borchert picks up career win No. 400 at Solano

The Solano College women’s basketball’s 67-61 victory over Merritt College wasn’t just a win in January.

It was his 400th career victory with the program.

“Well, it means I’m getting up there in age,” Borchert said, with a laugh in January. “That part crosses my mind a little bit.

“However, my immediate reaction was to reflect on my past teams and players I’ve had,” the coach continued. “I had a few of those players at the game on Saturday, which was really nice. I started to reflect and think of all the great assistant coaches and staff members and all the great help I’ve had. We’re all family and this is a collaborative effort between all of us.”

Borchert — who is starting his 23rd season at Solano this fall — has guided the Falcons to 10 BVC titles.

“We have achieved a real strong tradition here of excellence and winning a lot of games,” Borchert said. “That’s not the most important thing, but it is up there. I am proud that I’ve never had a losing season at Solano. We’ve been a little close a few times and because of that I would have liked to have picked up No. 400 a little earlier. But the fact that we’ve won a lot, especially in conference play means a lot.”

4. Solano College women’s volleyball wins 58 straight conference matches, advances to third round of playoffs.

With a four-game win over Hartnell in the second round of the playoffs in November, the Solano College women’s volleyball advanced to the third round — a first in at least 21 years for the program according to head coach Darla Williams.

“Our first time (in my 21 years at Solano) to win in the second round to move onto the third round. I am so proud of these young ladies,” Williams said in November. “We did it with tough defense and tenacious offense.”

Solano finished 25-7 on the year — one which featured the Falcons winning a 58th consecutive Bay Valley Conference match.

5. Vallejo native Chance McMillian competes in March Madness for Grand Canyon

In 2023, Chance MacMillan gave Vallejo residents another reason to follow their March Madness bracket.

After clinching a win over Southern Utah in early March, you couldn’t get mad at watching Chance McMillian celebrate. In fact, you could say he was celebrating because he was going somewhere were “madness” was encouraged and promoted.

With the win, McMillian and Grand Canyon punched a ticket to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament — otherwise known as March Madness. Seeded No. 14, Grand Canyon would lose in the first round to No. 3 seed Gonzaga.

“Sorry, I still haven’t gotten my voice back from screaming so much on Saturday,” McMillian said in March. “But when I was dribbling the ball out in the win against Southern Utah I reflected back to the start of the tournament. We had a team meeting where all of us sat down and talked about locking in the next few weeks. Our backs were basically against the wall. We needed to win four games in five days in order to make the NCAA tournament.

“And we had gotten the job done.”

McMillian is a 2019 Jesse Bethel High School graduate who also played at St. Patrick-St. Vincent.

It’s rare for a Vallejo native to compete in March Madness. According to former Vallejo High and current Elite High head coach Duke Brown, McMillian became the first men’s player from Vallejo to compete in the men’s tournament since DeMarcus Nelson played in games for Duke from 2005 through 2008. Nelson played for Vallejo before transferring to Sheldon of Sacramento.