It usually takes a team more than 14 minutes to win a football game, even for Folsom’s quick-strike offense.

But Napa High’s ball-control offense and play-making defense and special teams didn’t give the Bulldogs any more than that in their Sac-Joaquin Section Div. I playoff opener on Friday night.

After taking a 21-7 lead late in the first quarter, Folsom ran out of downs and was intercepted on successive drives lasting a little more than a minute each. University of Nevada-bound quarterback David Graves didn’t even get to touch the ball after Napa’s next kickoff, as Scott Dinov recovered the returner’s fumble at midfield. A few minutes later, the Indians had a 31-21 halftime lead.

Graves came out firing again after halftime to make it a 31-28 game, but Napa responded with a scoring drive lasting 8:51, then got the ball back two plays later on a Tyler Hansell interception.

Graves’ fifth scoring pass to Andrew Benavides made it 38-34, but Daniel Burgess blocked the extra point. Charles Boyett’s third touchdown run of the night and Max Alvarez’s seventh PAT gave the Indians an 11-point lead and only 6:35 for the Bulldogs to make up the difference.

Folsom did what it could, getting a touchdown and 2-point conversion to pull to within a field goal. But Napa drained the clock with nine carries from Boyett — including a third-down conversion aided by fullback Conor Trombetta’s block and the clincher on fourth down that saw Boyett lunge to the left as his offensive line clogged up the middle.

“We tried to make sure we controlled the ball and made a lot of first downs and scored touchdowns, and thanks to that great offensive line and a lot of hard running from our running backs and quarterbacks, we were able to accomplish that,” Indians head coach Troy Mott said. “We knew (the Bulldogs) would score. They’re just too good, and they run that (spread) offense very well. That’s sort of how playoff football goes. To our kids’ credit, they never got down on each other, and they continued to fight through adversity and got a couple of interceptions and a huge fourth-down stop. I’m proud of them.”

Napa (10-1 overall) earned its fourth straight game at Memorial Stadium, where it will take on Delta Valley Conference champion Laguna Creek (8-3 overall) at 7:30 Friday night.

“Hopefully we have a lot of fight still left in us,” Mott said. “I’m excited to be coaching this group. They’ve been really, really fun and continued to give us coaches everything they’ve got.”

Dinov continued to impress at strong-side defensive end against Folsom, as he has done since giving up some of his fullback duties in midseason. Dinov pressured Graves into throwing the pick to Clinton Gorsuch, only the sixth interception of Graves’ season.

“The emergence of Conor Trombetta and Justin Dowdle as blocking backs for us really enabled us to free Scott up to play more defense, and Scott’s done a great job of continuing to grow in that position,” Mott said. “You want as many one-way guys as you can have, because it keeps them fresh and healthier and stronger later in the game.

“We still use Scott, who is a very capable fullback, on offense in a couple of our power packages, but you try to maximize your kids as much as possible and Conor has emerged as a great blocking fullback.”

Another player who has emerged on offense is 6-foot-7 receiver Ben Ballantine, who had a season-best three catches against Folsom — all on the long third-quarter drive, including a nine-yarder on fourth down.

“I just felt good about that play,” Mott said. “It’s a play we’ve practiced a lot all year and especially last week assuming (the Bulldogs) would be in a certain coverage, and they were in it. (Gorsuch) threw a strike and Ben ran a nice route and made a nice catch.

“It was great to see Ben — who’s an extremely hard worker and a really competitive kid, a team captain — make some big catches for us when his number was called. I’m really proud of him and happy that he’s gained confidence as the season’s gone on. As more and more guys get involved and start making plays, it makes us that much better as an offense.”

Mott said Hansell did much more than snag Graves’ seventh interception in the third quarter.

“He might have played one of his better games of the year,” Mott said of the senior. “We would switch him on (Benavides), their best receiver, quite a bit and he did a good job. We knew they were going to catch it, but we wanted them all to be hard catches, and Tyler did that.”

After conquering two of the best quarterbacks in the section in back-to-back playoff games, Cody Vaz of St. Mary’s in last year’s section-title game and now Graves, Mott admits his team still has a big target on its back a year after John Boyett and Jake Croxdale led the Indians to their first section crown.

“I guess you could say we’re a victim of our own success, but I’d rather be on top and people coming at us than looking up at somebody,” the coach said. “We understand everybody gets excited to play us and prepare their hardest and play their best games against us, but so be it. We like the challenge. We’ve worked very hard as a team to put ourselves in this position. The preparation is a challenge, but it’s a lot of fun.”