Powering through probation: Vacaville Christian football rolls with adversity yet again

Vacaville Christian head football coach Manny Tarango knows how to turn a negative into a positive.

One game exemplifies that more than any other in his 17-year coaching career. As defensive coordinator at Vanden in 2017, a bad loss to Del Campo early in the season left the Vikings’ playoff hopes bleak and caused dissension among his players in the postgame locker room. That’s when Tarango addressed his players, sharing the devastating personal news he’d withheld for a few days.

“I didn’t tell the team at the time, not because I didn’t want to deal with it, but because I felt I had a bigger responsibility,” Tarango said. “No matter how bad my day might be, I’ve gotta bring that juice. They feed off of that.”

It was after the tough Del Campo loss that Tarango revealed he and his wife, Brie, had just lost their unborn son to a rare chromosomal abnormality six months into their pregnancy.

Despite such a fresh emotional wound, Tarango’s wife insisted he return to the team that Friday. After Tarango’s postgame revelation, the team’s infighting transformed into silence and perspective.

“We all grew up that night and that year,” Tarango said. “I explained to them that no matter how mad or angry you might be for this loss, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow.”

Vanden followed with a string of wins that included a thrilling double-overtime playoff win over Yuba City.

Said Tarango, “I often wonder what would’ve transpired if we won that (Del Campo) game and I didn’t share that story.”

PROGRAM REVIVAL

Fast-forward to 2021 and Tarango describes himself as an “open book.” He took over as head coach at Vacaville Christian in 2018, reviving the program after a two-year hiatus due to low participation numbers. With an enrollment of about 170, Vacaville Christian is one of the smallest schools in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

An active-duty master sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base, Tarango translates his own experiences to prepare his players for adversity.

“He’s a great leader on and off the field,” said senior Bryce Pazdel, once part of a core freshman group during Tarango’s first season in 2018. “He’s constantly saying that we’re not just out here playing football. We’re out here learning life skills. We’re out here becoming better men, and if football can take us to the next level, that’s great. We can use it as a tool.”

Tarango’s core group from 2018 is now setting the tone for what they hope will be a deep playoff run. They include linemen Zack Mercado, Hawkin West and King Saffing, linebackers Pazdel and David Martinez, and defensive backs Tristin Creed and William Verdon. All have helped the Falcons to a strong defensive start, allowing just six points over their first three wins.

Vacaville Christian posted its second straight shutout at home Friday against the North Coast Section’s Lower Lake Trojans, 34-0. Junior quarterback Hunter Jackson had a short touchdown run and tossed a 33-yard score to Dominique Ruff. Wesley Krier ran for scores of 3 and 16 yards before Pazdel capped the scoring and initiated a running clock with a 12-yard burst late in the third quarter.

“Our offense, that chemistry is getting better,” Ruff said. “We’re starting to connect on plays and the defense has just been shut-out the whole time. Defense, chemistry, it’s all there.”

PROGRAM SANCTIONED BUT STILL PLAYOFF-ELIGIBLE

Vacaville Christian was one of a handful of teams in the section that went without a 2021 spring season due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of waiting for updates from the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Department of Public Health on how/if a safe football season was viable, Tarango helped coach an area club team in early 2021 comprising players from various schools in Solano County. He said the club team was completely detached from Vacaville Christian affiliation and had the paperwork to back it up.

The Sac-Joaquin Section, however, ruled in July that Vacaville Christian was one of four member schools participating in football competition when it was prohibited by the CIF and CIF-SJS bylaws and state orders, regulations and guidance.

“While it is understood that the postponement of interscholastic athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic was frustrating and had an adverse impact on all our member schools and student-athletes, the fact is that the shutdown was a public safety issue,” wrote Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Mike Garrison in a July news release.

Capital Christian, Ripon Christian and Merced’s Stone Ridge Christian all had their athletic programs placed on probation for the 2021-22 school year. Capital Christian were placed on probation through 2023-24 and banned from playoff eligibility for the next two seasons. Since Vacaville Christian operated as an entity separate from the school, it garnered the lightest sanction from the section. Its football program is under probation for the next three seasons but remains eligible for postseason competition.

“We played some (club) games and created some opportunities to get kids recruited, and we did,” Tarango said. “In hindsight, it was a good thing because it provided opportunities to Solano County athletes to have something. There were 21 area kids who received scholarship offers.”

‘LOOSE CANNON OR GUIDED MISSILE?’

Despite Vacaville Christian’s absence from the gridiron last spring, the Falcons stayed hungry and prepared for the 2021 fall season.

“You find out how much you love something once it’s taken away from you,” said Tarango, who preaches resilience, discipline and the need for a short memory on the football field. He asks his players what they’d rather be during a timeout in Friday’s game, “Loose cannon or guided missile?”

Vacaville Christian owns a section banner from 2007. Now with a 3-0 start and a No. 2 position in MaxPreps’ Division VII section rankings, the Falcons have their focus on adding another.

“The sky’s the limit,” Ruff said. “We’re going up. There’s nothing here but up.”

Tarango and his wife, Brie, will celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary in October. They have three daughters: Annelise, 6; Aria, 2; and Aleia, 3 months. Although his family lost a son in 2017, Tarango still has 25-30 young men he cares for each fall.

“A lot of people have it harder than your worst day, and that keeps me grounded,” Tarango said. “Even on a bad day, I can still find some good and help some people in some way.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 7:22 AM.