Eleven is usually enough for Bulldogs

Assistant coach Ryan Smith, left, will be on the sideline with the Bulldogs tonight when they battle Deer Valley of Antioch, but senior Curtis Bleasdale will be out of action again as he continues to recover from an elbow injury.

Ryan Smith was baffled. Deer Valley High School’s football team was either trying to pull a fast one last Oct. 1 by using 13 players on defense or the Wolverines coaches simply could not count.

Smith is the Bulldogs co-defensive coordinator, sharing the job with Mike Kassis, and can only imagine how stingy Vacaville’s unit would be if he could use an extra player or two now and then.

As tempting as that might be, Smith will take his chances with 11 tonight when Vacaville faces Deer Valley at Tom Zunino Stadium. The Bulldogs beat the Wolverines 47-26 last year in Antioch.

Deer Valley coach Rich Woods is well aware of what Vacaville can do, given he was once at Vanden.

Using extra players on defense did not do the Wolverines much good. Quincy Forte and Melvin Mason combined to rush for 286 yards and five touchdowns. Mason also caught a scoring pass.

“I don’t think was malicious,” Smith said. “Everybody counts players on offense, but no one counts on defense.”

Forte graduated in June, so Mason has found a new partner this season in junior Curtis Goins. The two have combined to rush for 1,088 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Bulldogs, who are 3-1.

Deer Valley may need more than 11 players on defense tonight, so Smith and the other Vacaville coaches will be keeping count as the Wolverines come and go from the sideline to the field.

“When we saw they had 13, they subbed down to 12,” Smith said. “We were yelling on the sideline for the refs to check it. We got called for a penalty to stop the game so they could count.”

Tonight’s game will be special for Smith because it is also the Bulldogs’ homecoming. He is a 1995 Vacaville High graduate who never imagined he would be teaching one day at his alma mater.

When Smith was offered an opportunity to coach with the Bulldogs, it simply made sense for him to pursue a teaching career since he would be spending so much time at the school anyway.

“I never really left (high school),” Smith joked. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, but (the late Tom) Zunino asked me to help out (in the football program) and it sounded like a good idea.”

Smith is now coaching alongside longtime assistants Fred Jones and Steve Green. Their experience and knowledge has been invaluable for Smith as he climbed the coaching ladder at Vacaville.

His dues were paid with the freshman team and then the junior varsity before he earned a promotion to the varsity. He had to prove to the staff that he was not just another ex-player clinging to his glory days.

“It took a while to earn their respect and show that I knew what I was doing,” said Smith, who went from Vacaville High to Solano Community College and Sacramento State only as a student.

Smith met his wife, Kate, at Sacramento State. They have two sons – 5-year-old Ty and 2-year-old Chase.

His playing days ended when he graduated. The 34-year-old found his calling was wearing a whistle. He might have it with him tonight just in case Deer Valley gets carried away again on defense.