It’s a long way until next year’s football season, but Travis Steen is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to the job as Vintage High School’s starting quarterback.

If it means lifting weights and working on speed training, he’ll do it.

If it means watching lots of film and getting lots of throwing in, he’ll do it.

“You’ve just got to come out, try your hardest and compete for your job,” said Steen, a junior. “Nothing’s given to you. I’m looking forward to next year.”

Steen was under constant pressure and sacked eight times in Vintage’s 45-20 Monticello Empire League loss to Napa in Big Game XXXV Thursday night. But he also threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Derek Long and his 62-yard completion to A.J. Eisiminger set up a 5-yard scoring run by Josh Metoxen to spark the offense for Vintage (4-6 overall, 2-3 MEL).

The Crushers’ 2006 season ended on a clear, cold night in front of a capacity crowd of 6,900 fans at Napa Memorial Stadium.

Napa leads the all-time series 18-15-2.

“With Travis coming in during the seventh game of the year and getting some things done and playing pretty well, it’s a good sign for us,” said coach Les Franco. “If you give him time we’re going to make some plays. We had guys open. But that’s the way (Napa) plays defense. We didn’t prevent them from getting our quarterback. Their game plan worked and we didn’t block it well enough.”

Metoxen had touchdown runs of 5 and 46 yards and gained 153 yards on 18 carries to finish the year with 1,065 yards — a milestone for a running back at any level of football.

“The line was trying their hardest, but I guess there were some gaps,” said Steen, who was also intercepted twice by Ted LeMasters. “They were blitzing a lot and the blitzes were getting through. We were running deep pass routes and there wasn’t enough time. A lot of the time we were just a half a second off from having a big play and I would get pounded from the back side. I really don’t know what was happening. I was just running around back there, trying to make things happen. I guess I didn’t roll with it tonight.”

With Armijo’s 42-27 win over Fairfield earlier Thursday, Vintage needed to win in order to force a three-way tie for second place and let tie-breaking formulas determine the MEL’s second playoff team. An Armijo loss and Vintage win would gave given the Crushers a playoff berth because of the head-to-head win over Napa.

Steen made only three starts following an ankle injury to James Buccellato. But he was able to grasp and take charge of the offense, throwing seven TD passes, as Vintage stayed in the hunt for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Divison I playoff berth until the 10th and final week of the regular season.

“They gave me a chance,” said Steen. “I did the best I could and things happened.”

Steen directed Vintage on a 7-play, 70-yard scoring drive that culminated in a scoring pass to a wide open Long, a wide receiver. The Crushers drove 70 yards in five plays for their second score and marched 76 yards in five plays for their final touchdown.

“I like him a lot,” Napa coach Troy Mott said of Steen. “Watching him on film, he’s scary. From what I hear, he’s a great kid and easy to coach.”

The Crushers hurt themselves with four turnovers and gave Napa (8-2 overall, 4-1 MEL), the league’s second-place team which will advance to the playoffs, prime field position to work with. Three of the turnovers gave Napa a short field to work with and led directly to touchdowns.

“We really thought that we couldn’t blitz a lot, but that there were places we could get some guys in,” said Tim Mulligan, Napa’s defensive coordinator. “We practiced a real small package of blitzes, changed them up about three or four different sets, and brought them in certain places. We were fortunate — some of it worked. We were able to get to (Steen).

“It was just a team effort. You plan things sometimes and they work real well. Other times you plan and things don’t go so good. Tonight they went good.”

Steen completed 3-of-8 passes for 105 yards, but was on the run from a ball swarming defense led by Jeremiah Luke, John Boyett, Ryan Barragan, Justin Ruffino, Scott Johnson and Robert Butler.

“There were one or two passes that if I had a quicker release it would have been a lot better of a play,” said Steen. “I could have done some things better tonight and wish I could have produced more.”

Steen can expect competition for the starting job next year from Buccellato, a two-year starter, and Sean Ryan, the quarterback for Vintage’s 10-0 junior varsity team.

“Travis Steen has really kind of ignited us,” said Franco. “We’ll do a lot of work in the offseason to see what happens. They’ll compete for the position, just like everybody else will compete for their positions. At least the quarterback position looks pretty solid for next year.”

Napa got three rushing touchdowns from John Boyett (125 yards on 17 attempts) and Jake Croxdale (93 yards on 15 carries). LeMasters (97 yards on 10 carries) also scored on a run.

“They’re a good football team and they’ll do well in the playoffs,” said Franco.

“They out-quicked us.

“They were more athletic than us tonight.

“A lot of these kids put everything they had into this game, and I’m proud of most of them. We’re proud of what these kids did during the year. They worked hard to get here. We’re just sorry we didn’t have a better performance tonight.”

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