With a push and a shove, Granite Bay grinds back into SFL playoff picture
Jeff Evans was fired up.
The Granite Bay football coach happily barked at his team after a 17-3 road win at Grant on Friday night.
“That’s a bear-knuckle brawl right there, and you won it,” Evans said.
Sometimes, coaches are prone to hyperbole. This was just barely hyperbole. Granite Bay focused on its run game Friday, grinding out painful yards in handfuls at a time. If the Grizzlies (2-3, 1-1 Sierra Foothill League) are going to claw their way into the postseason, it’s going to be with this kind of football.
No, it’s not too soon to talk about playoffs. Evans told his team they were going to take it one opponent at a time and play games just like this one if they’re going to make it into the postseason.
Bo Hannum is fine with that plan. The junior delivered big hits on defense as a linebacker or free safety. On offense, Hannum was a load out of the backfield.
On Granite Bay’s first drive, the Grizzlies needed 15 plays (14 of them runs) to go 65 yards and take a 7-0 lead. The drive took nearly seven minutes off the clock. Hannum had 24 yards, Cole Roth had 19 and Ty Peterson had 13 on that drive as the Grizzlies took turns diving through gaps in the line.
“We just like to pound the ball, pound the ball, pound the ball,” Hannum said. “We have the line, we have the dudes to do it.”
The dudes in question: Garrett Dressler, Aaron Tracy, Chris Cramer, Cannon Harmer and Benjamin Newman.
“When we have the amazing blocking up front, it’s really easy to read the blocks, you just have to have good vision to see the cuts,” Hannum said.
That opening touchdown was all the Granite Bay defense would need.
Mike Alberghini’s young Grant squad only once made it inside the Granite Bay 20-yard line. On a drive that ended in the fourth quarter, Pacers’ junior quarterback, Peni Kauifusi, completed a trio of passes as Grant, aided by a roughing the passer penalty, kicked a 33-yard field goal with 11:42 remaining. That kick cut Grant’s lead to 10-3.
Then came that Granite Bay offense again.
Granite Bay didn’t throw on its final possession, a grueling odyssey of 15 straight run plays, none longer than 6 yards. Aided by four Grant penalties, including two that kept the drive alive, the Grizzlies’ Roth eventually punched in from a yard out. The drive took over nine minutes off the clock while covering 63 yards.
“We have some athletic guys but we have physical guys up front and we have physical ball-carriers,” Evans said. “We want to weigh on people as the game goes on. That’s about as physical a football game as you’re going to see.”
As Evans was keen to point out, it was tough on both sides of the ball. It isn’t easy to keep Grant to three points.
“Our defense played lights-out,” Evans said. “Our defensive coordinator Matt McLemore is incredible. Our defensive staff is great. And again. Now we’ve gotta do it again next week.”
That would be Whitney that Evans was referring to. Get ready for an offensive show that moves 3 yards at a time and looks like a cloud of rubber pellets lifting off the field.