St. Helena's Chris Schuh, bottom, father of Vintage High junior varsity head coach Kyle Schuh and grandfather of Crushers varsity player Braden Schuh, tackles a Cloverdale ball carrier during a rainy game in 1963.
Every dynastic run of success involves a new group carving out its niche, and the 1963 St. Helena High School football team was a prime example of that.
It was one of five Saints squads that combined to go 45-0 from 1960-1964 under head coach George Davis and will be inducted into the SHHS Athletic Hall of Fame in the Greatest Teams category on Nov. 1 at Native Sons Hall.
The 1963 team's identity was an extension of the 1962 version, which had to replace 18 starters. In 1963, the Saints had just seven returning players with varsity experience.
"When we turned over in the '63 season, we're looking at each other going, 'Are we as good as those (1962) guys?'" said Andy Vanderschoot, a sophomore tight end and defensive tackle on the team. "We were thinking we weren't, but as it turned out, we had some wonderful athletes. They were not always in the skill positions. What often goes unnoticed about our team is how good the linemen and defense were. They allowed all of these outstanding athletes to shine."
To Vanderschoot's point, defense was the backbone of the Saints, allowing a mere 27 points, including five shutouts. They also had a read-between-the-lines shutout in a 42-7 win over Calistoga, whose lone tally that night was a defensive score -- on a 65-yard interception return by Frank Vavaro.
One of the season's influential moments came in a 13-6 win over Sonoma. The Dragons scored on the first play from scrimmage when running back David North, one of the fastest track athletes in Northern California, raced 81 yards to paydirt to put Sonoma ahead 6-0. North had other big runs during the game, but none remotely as explosive as the touchdown.
"It was a shock to us initially, but we hunkered down as a defense," recalled Roger Trinchero, a senior offensive tackle and linebacker that season. "Our offense picked it back up. We always felt like, no matter who we were playing, we could score more points and stop their offense. We never felt like we were out of a game."
Sophomore jack-of-all-trades Jeffery Warren -- who played a mixture of split end, tight end, quarterback, long snapper on punts, kicker, punt returner, kickoff returner, linebacker, designated punt blocker, and safety -- recalled North cutting inside of Mike Milat.
"That never happened and really caught us off guard," he said. "Our defensive ends used to crash. We just kept plugging away. We weren't as explosive offensively as we were in the past, but always seemed to be in control."
Gary Rodrigues had two rushing touchdowns, one set up by a Vanderschoot interception, as the Saints managed to score enough points to extend the winning streak to 31.
While the Saints' offense scored 221 points that season, the numbers are skewed because 73 came in the first two games, 33-0 over Esparto and 40-0 over San Rafael Military Academy, and 83 more in wins over Clear Lake (42-7) and Calistoga (41-7). In the other five games, the Saints scored only 65 points, with one game involving a single-digit score (7-0 over Kelseyville).
"I think our offensive struggles were more attributable to us facing better teams in that stretch," Trinchero said. "You also can't lose sight of the fact that to every team that played us, we were the targets. Everyone wanted to bring their 'A' game and wanted to be the team to knock us off, and we had to counter that."
The Kelseyville game involved a muddy field, as did a 13-7 win at Cloverdale and the wins over Clear Lake and Calistoga. The Cloverdale game was memorable because the Saints faced a rare deficit and the Eagles' ground crew had lined the field with lye, which contains alkaline and corrosive substances that can cause burns to skin and surfaces.
"It burned the hell out of everyone," Vanderschoot said. "It got under your pads, into your pants, and underneath your shirt."
Trinchero added that he still has scars from that game.
"Most of the mud games were fun, but the one that wasn't fun was when we played Cloverdale," Trinchero said. "You're trying to play and you feel like your pads are on fire because you have this lye up against your skin. Back then, we had that spray-on antiseptic. I thought I was going to scream."
Warren played a role that was pivotal to the win on a night when the Santa Rosa Press Democrat favored the Eagles to end St. Helena's streak.
Mike Norman and Joe Beitler alternated at quarterback. Norman scored on a 1-yard run, and Rodrigues threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Warren on a play known as "Glance Deep." Warren was frequently matched up against Cloverdale star Chris Bilbro, who went on to play at the University of Hawaii.
"The Glance Deep was our bread-and-butter pass," Warren explained. "The split end would glance over the middle and the quarterback would throw a jump pass. I glanced inside. Norman fakes the pass, pitches to Rodrigues running a sweep; he had the option to either run or throw. Norman takes a snap and fumbles it to the ground. I planted my foot and did the V back to the flag. Bilbro saw the fumble and bit to come up. Norman was still able to pitch to Rodrigues, and I'm all alone. Rodrigues gently throws it to me, and no one is within 15 yards."
Another hallmark of the Saints' winning streak under Davis was that the team played to a standard as opposed to an outcome.
"I specifically remember a time when I went to take the SAT in Santa Rosa," Vanderschoot said. "There were guys from all over, and one of them said, 'You guys are from St. Helena. How did you guys do last night?' I said, 'Oh, we didn't play very well. We only won 20-0.' They said, 'What. 20-0? That's a great score.' It was interesting having that comment from the outside. We felt like we were as good as anyone we played, both because we had a dynamic offense and a shutdown defense."
Trinchero added that a good example was the team's 19-0 win over Tomales. Though the score may suggest a Saints domination, the team clung to a 7-0 lead against a subpar Tomales team.
"We should have hammered them," Trinchero said. "They were at the bottom of the league, and we were at the top. We came out flat. Even though we were slightly ahead at halftime, I will never forget when Coach Davis walked in and looked startled and said, 'Oh, excuse me, I thought I was in the St. Helena locker room' and walked out. He left it up to us to get down on ourselves. There were a few of us who got up and spoke, myself included. We were overconfident coming in, but we were determined in the second half."
On the first play of the second half, Barry Hoyt ripped off an 85-yard touchdown run on a fake reverse, and Steve Reed later added the second of his two rushing touchdowns.
One would think that because the Saints were deep into their streak, there would have been a lot of buzz about it. But St. Helena players maintain that the streak was never mentioned, which would seem crazy in today's social media climate.
"It makes me a little jealous," Vanderschoot quipped. "We were good and didn't get the recognition that we wanted. St. Helena knew about us. There were a few in Napa that knew. We got a little bit of coverage in the Press Democrat. We were just playing for the town of St. Helena. Everyone came to the games. There was nobody on Main Street on Friday nights. Everyone traveled to the away games. The whole town just got in their cars and went to the games. I don't even know if the cops were there."
Warren added that the Saints' ability to stay focused on the task at hand stemmed from Davis' preparation and even-keeled personality, which might seem ironic in an emotion-driven sport like football.
"We never took the field until the other team was there because he wanted to psyche them out with our phalanx," Warren said of walking in formation. "We were so serious. We would not talk the day of the game, even in school. That upset a lot of the teachers, but they had to go along with it. I just felt like we were ready and no one was going to beat us."
Because recognition outside local boundaries was hard to find, Trinchero added that it was always a special perk to get recognized by major news outlets.
"There was no social media and everyone got their news from the newspaper," Trinchero said. "I recall a few times being mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle. I was pretty proud of the fact that they had me as Lineman of the Week. They talked about the streak in the papers toward the end of our season, but not much was made of it. Nowadays, it would be in a team meeting."
Tickets on sale
The 12th annual St. Helena High School Athletic Hall of fame induction ceremony is on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Native Sons Hall in St. Helena. There will be a cocktail hour beginning at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by speeches from some of the inductees.
Cost is $80 per person. Checks should be made payable to SHHS Hall of Fame and sent to P.O. Box 670, St. Helena, CA 94574. Included should be the ticket buyer's name, telephone number and email address, and the names of everyone attending in their reservation. They should also note which team they would like to sit with.
For more information about reserving tickets, contact Lisa Whitham at [email protected] or (707) 968-5860. For all other questions, contact Jim Gamble at [email protected] or (707) 696-7141, or Tom Hoppe at [email protected] or (707) 815-5535.