Vintage High School may have found the stride it’s been looking for all year.

In a tune-up game for the Monticello Empire League season, the Crushers scored five touchdowns and swarmed to the football on defense in a 35-6 non-league Homecoming win over Hogan-Vallejo Friday night at Napa Memorial Stadium.

The victory was the second in a row for Vintage (2-3 overall), which overcame two turnovers and had scoring drives covering 41, 76, 60, 94 and 53 yards to keep Hogan (0-3-1) winless on the year.

Josh Metoxen ran for 192 yards on 24 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the Vintage offense, which was effective both running and passing the ball. Metoxen scored his first TD from five yards out and also powered his way into the end zone from one yard out. He also had a pair of two-point conversion runs.

A.J. Eisiminger caught two touchdown passes from James Buccellato, who completed 8-of-11 passes for 117 yards. Buccellato threw scoring strikes of 8 and 24 yards, respectively, to Eisiminger.

“This is a great way to get ready for league,” said Vintage coach Les Franco. “We’re ready for league. We’ll be a contender. I’m excited about them and I think they’re excited about themselves.”

Emilio Lopez scored on a four-yard run for Vintage, which used a ball-control run offense to produce 333 yards rushing. For the second straight week the offensive line also looked good.

Just as impressive for Vintage was its defense, and in particular its defensive line and linebackers. The Crushers held Hogan, a Division II-Solano County Athletic Conference school, to just 64 yards in the first half while forcing four punts. Lopez and James Bordelon each recovered fumbles as Vintage held Hogan to one touchdown. The Spartans’ only score was set up when Vintage turned the ball over on a fumble.

Hogan came into the game with a run-oriented offense and a reputation for gaining lots of yards and scoring lots of points. But Vintage shut down Hogan — which was averaging 35.3 points per game —  and only allowed Earl Joseph’s 9-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper in the fourth quarter.

Joseph was a workhorse for Hogan, carrying 32 times for 185 yards.

Metoxen, who can play both the tailback and fullback positions, had his second straight 100-yard rushing game.

“Metoxen was a force again,” said Franco. “He melted some guys down tonight.”

The Crushers got fine work from their return specialists, Thomas Williams and Dadrian Neal, who ran well in the open field.

Neal ran for 59 yards on seven carries and Lopez carried three times for 34 yards.

Eisiminger caught four passes for 81 yards.

 

• Vintage JV 46, Hogan 0

Trevor McLaughlin scored on runs of 13 and 25 yards, respectively, and had a two-point conversion run Friday night at Napa Memorial Stadium to lead Vintage (5-0).

Sean Ryan had a 13-yard TD run and scored on a two-point run. Dom Pappas caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Ryan. Jake Roscoe had a two-point run, Chris Munk ran 51 yards for a TD, and Jordan Jakusz caught a 20-yard TD pass from Lonnie Handy to lead the Crushers.