After months of player and fan frustration due to the pandemic-created delay of normal fall prep athletic games, the door has finally been opened for a partial football season in the Redwood Empire. Following the much-anticipated grid season opening of the Vine Valley League on March 12, St. Vincent will open its season March 19.
Schedules have been hastily reworked for mostly only league competitions except for bye dates involving teams in odd-numbered leagues. A league bye date for St. Vincent has been filled with Justin-Siena on Friday, April 2 in a game that will be played in Napa.
One quality three-sport athlete at St.Vincent was mired in the shutdown of all of his athletic activities, but his time to shine is now on a fast forward mode. What now will be the choices for versatile junior Dante Antonini?
Antonini surprised many sports observers around the St. Vincent grid program by quickly moving into the regular playing rotation as a smallish, but very aggressive, defensive back in his freshman season for coach Trent Herzog and the Mustang rebuilding football team in 2018. After reaching a Division V playoff game against Middletown things got even better.
Antonini increased his weight to 186 pounds in his sophomore campaign, and became a regular on defense for the Mustangs in 2019. Thirty-two tackles. 9 assists and 3 interceptions followed for Antonini who has great anticipation as a safety. Following his solid second year, some college recruiting websites were beginning to take notice. In 2020 he was listed as one of the top prospects in the North Bay.
Defensive backs must not only have natural quickness but mental discipline. Mistakes made with no other defenders behind can lead to scoring plays. Very seldom do young players qualify for this position. Herzog had confidence in this freshman player from the beginning.
The Mustangs (9-2) traveled to face heavily favored St. Helena in the first round of the North Coast Section playoffs, and Antonini left an impression in wine country with a two-touchdown performance in a first-round loss at the hands of the Saints. One of his touchdowns was a 54-yard reception in the second quarter.
On the baseball diamond things were even better for the highly rated Antonini until the sport was shut down by the pandemic early in the 2020 season. As a regular infielder for former coach Stan Switala, the surprising underclassman banged out a combined .398 average with an on-base percentage of .467. Hitting near the top of the lineup, the impressive first-year player rapped 29 hits, including four triples.
It wasn’t a surprise that Antonini hit the ball with such authority because of his earlier success in the Petaluma Valley Little League program. The Valley Major League made it to the Tournament of Champions at Rincon Valley coached by his dad Jim Antonini and veteran Little League coach Rick Duarte.
Antonini was named to the North Central II All-League baseball team in his freshman season and also received the Freshman of the Year award.
When baseball finally gets under way he will play for newly appointed Mustang coach Spencer Finkbonner.
Antonini also had a very productive basketball season for the junior varsity team at St. Vincent under long time coach Chris Tobin. Tobin, who guided the Mustangs to a second-place finish in the North Central League II and a record of 15-7, feels that the rangy junior could help the program of new varsity coach Tom Bonfigli.
“Dante is one of the best athletes in school,” Tobin said. “He was the best player we had. He is a terrific rebounder. The ball seemed to find him. In one game he pulled down 25 rebounds. It will all depend on motivation and how much Dante wants to play between his favorite sports of football and baseball.”