VACAVILLE — When Zach Scheinholz returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown Friday night, it didn’t look like the Napa High football team would have any trouble with Wood.

But the Wildcats waged a defensive battle with the Indians the rest of the first half and stayed in the game until the fourth quarter, when Napa finally pulled away for a 28-10 Monticello Empire League victory at Vacaville High’s Tom Zunino Stadium.

Wood (1-6 overall, 1-1 MEL) kept the Indians’ offense off the board until their second play of the second half.

Cody Jensen twisted through the kind of hole up the middle he rarely saw in the first half, and found daylight for a 76-yard touchdown run. Jonathan Douma, 4-for-4 on PATs for the night, gave Napa (4-3 overall, 2-0 MEL) a 14-7 lead with 10:06 left in the third quarter.

Two plays before, Wildcats speedster Dante Terrell had shaken up the defensive showdown with a 52-yard scoring run through a big hole up the middle to cap the first drive of the second half. Derrick Albright’s kick tied the game, 7-7.

“Our offensive line did not play very well all night,” Napa line coach Bob Herlocker said. “Our defense played very well. Even though they gave up a few big plays, they basically shut them down.”

Jensen, who finished with 189 yards on 17 carries, didn’t seem to faze Wood’s defense with his long scoring run.

After the Wildcats’ offense went three-and-out, Napa also was forced to punt after Jensen was tackled for a 6-yard loss by James Lopez at the Indians’ 28-yard line.

On the next play, Sebastian Sawyer’s punt was blocked and recovered by Schron Clark at the Indians’ 9.

Four plays later, Albright kicked a 28-yard field goal to bring the Wildcats to within 14-10 with 4:47 left in the third quarter.

Napa quarterback Cody Thompson was sacked – for the third time of the night – on fourth down at his own 20 by Billy Noto to force a punt on the ensuing series. But five plays later, Sean Demarais returned the favor on Wood quarterback Brian Clay on third down. A snap over punter Albright’s head led to a short punt to the Wildcats' 38.

Jensen then carried five times for 31 yards on an eight-play scoring drive capped by Thompson’s 1-yard sneak with 7:42 remaining in the game.

An 11-yard sack of Clay by Juan Martinez at midfield forced a punt to the Napa 19.

Thompson keyed another scoring drive with two completions to C.J. Cunningham — a 39-yarder and finally a 15-yard TD pass to the corner with 2:20 left. Steven Dinov sacked Clay after that to keep Wood from answering.

Thompson finished 5-of-7 for 86 yards. Though both offenses struggled most of the night, there were no turnovers in the game.

Napa returns to Memorial Stadium next Friday to host Fairfield.

• Napa JV 42, Wood 8

The Indians (5-2 overall, 2-0 MEL) led 22-0 early in the second quarter after Michael Richmond scored on a 5-yard run and caught a 2-point conversion pass from Zach Sims, and Angus McDonald kicked the first two of his four PATs after a 4-yard TD run by Alex Ceja and a 3-yard scoring run by Sims.

The Indians — who got fumble recoveries from David Taufa, Richmond, Donato D’Adamo and Gino Sevino-Vinitieri — resumed their scoring later in the third quarter.

Sims capped a long drive with a 1-yard TD run and, after a Dylan Padilla sack forced a punt, Randy Keen scampered 41 yards for a score and Matt Osivwemu returned a punt 62 yards for another TD.

“This is the second game in a row where we didn’t have to punt and everybody got in the game,” Napa coach Nick Tedesco said.

Wood nixed the shutout bid with 2:31 left on quarterback Quincy Crenshaw’s 23-yard run and conversion pass to Matt Morgan.