Jasier Smith (courtesy photo)
A bus ride from Vallejo to Center High School in Antelope is approximately a two-hour drive. Judging by the way Vallejo High quarterback Jasier Smith played on Friday night, he’d rather get somewhere through the air.
Smith passed for four touchdowns and 256 yards in the Redhawks’ 40-29 win in their season opener.
“I’m happy we got the win because that is a long drive and kind of boring,” Smith said. “It would have been a long drive home if we would have lost.”
Vallejo High head coach Mike Wilson III said that Smith made sure everyone would be all smiles Friday night right from the first second of the game.
“To open a season like that was really big,” Wilson said. “That might have been the best first half from a Vallejo High quarterback in the history of our program. In the first half he completed 14 of his first 16 passes for over 200 yards and three touchdowns — and that came against a good opponent. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
With those big numbers Smith is the first Times-Herald Athlete of the Week for the 2023-24 school year.
Smith has come a long way since he first became the Redhawks’ starting quarterback during his junior year. Originally Smith was a wide receiver when he first started playing football in the eighth grade.
“Coach Joseph Pastrana basically told me to come try out for quarterback because he said I had a good arm,” Smith said. “I had played baseball before but nobody had ever told me I had a good enough arm to play quarterback. It was a tough position to learn at first. I was constantly going over films and plays and it was hard to remember all the plays. That was tough to comprehend.”
Now the game is slowing down for the Redhawk quarterback and he seems to have the memory of a local barista.
“I watched a lot of game film this week and even early in the Friday game I saw that the corners were giving our receivers about 10 yards on the snap,” Smith said. “So that’s why I mostly threw short passes and slants in the first half. I wanted to give them the ball early and then make it easier for them to run with the ball and use their speed.”
Smith threw TD passes of 40 and 60 yards to Sedrick Vaughn in the first quarter, and 20 and 30 yards to Robert Guzman before halftime.
Keisean Johnson became the third receiver to catch a touchdown pass when he hauled in a 15-yard pass from Smith.
“I loved how he took command of the offense,” head coach Mike Wilson III said. “He threw when he had to and made his reads well and he scrambled when he had to. He connected with six different receivers — so he spread the ball around.”
Vallejo will try to keep the ball soaring on Friday when the Redhawks take on the Fairfield Falcons, who are 2-0.
Honorable mention
Isabella Avila, American Canyon girls volleyball. Avila had 25 kills, 43 digs and nine aces in a NorCal tournament as the Wolves finished in second place.
Himani Bakshi, St. Pat’s girls volleyball. Bakshi was named to the all-St. Helena Tournament team after she had 24 assists in the championship match.
Lemack Bellot, Elite High football. Bellot had two interceptions on defense and caught an 80-yard touchdown pass on offense. He had over 100 yards rushing and receiving for the Eagles.
Nalani Bustos, American Canyon High girls volleyball. Bustos had 63 assists, 28 digs and eight aces in a NorCal tournament that the Wolves finished second in.
Zoe Cohen, Benicia High girls volleyball. Cohen had a combined 17 kills in two wins for the Panthers during the week.
Julie Gonzales, North Hills Christian. Gonzales had 19 kills, 27 digs, seven aces, and a block in a loss to Redwood Christian.
Aderion Prater, St. Pat’s football. Prater had three rushing touchdowns in a win over Elite High on Friday night.
Cierra Ray, St. Pat’s girls volleyball. Ray was named MVP of the St. Helena Tournament in which the Bruins won and went 6-0. She had six kills and 13 digs in the championship match.
Samantha Segle, Benicia girls flag football. Segle caught three touchdowns, including the first in the programs history in a win over California High.
Sedrick Vaughn, Vallejo High baseball. Vaughn had 146 yards receiving and had two total touchdowns in a win over Center.
Athlete: Jasier Smith
School: Football
Sport: Football
Year: Senior
Achievements: Threw four touchdown passes in a win over Center on Friday night.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
