‘Defensive Back University’ and ‘Flash Unit’ lead Cosumnes Oaks past Granite Bay

Cosumnes Oaks quarterback Anthony Grigsby Jr. had plenty to celebrate Friday night. The junior danced and strutted through a line of cheerleaders. He interrupted a postgame interview to dive into a team picture. This would have been tough to imagine even a few months ago, when Cosumnes Oaks was still a perennial also-ran in the Delta League.

Instead, the Wolf Pack pancaked Granite Bay in the fourth quarter Friday to take a 31-20 section Division II quarterfinal win. No. 2 Cosumnes Oaks is the highest seed remaining in the Sac-Joaquin playoffs, with a home date against sixth-seeded rival Elk Grove next week.

Grigsby was asked about the expectations his team faced — after he got done with the team picture — and a huge smile formed.

“There were none. Zero. Everybody slept on us since last year, because last year we didn’t have our best season,” Grigsby said. “This year we had new coaches, new jerseys, everything. It just felt brand-new. It felt great. Coach (Andrew) Bettencourt came in and he changed the whole culture. First day, 6 a.m., I threw up right over there. At least five of us threw up right over there because we worked our butts off, because everything led up to this.”

Bettencourt remembered that first practice.

“We’ve come a long way, but we’re still not there yet,” Bettencourt said. “We’re still penalizing ourselves, we’re still hurting ourselves, we’re still cleaning up our game. ... But we’ve come a long way.”

The Wolf Pack can thank their defense for that.

Grantite Bay looked like an unstoppable train for the better part of three quarters. The Grizzlies opened the game with a 15-play drive that took eight minutes and 24 seconds to complete.

“It was exceptional,” Bettencourt said.

But Cosumnes Oaks made adjustments, switching to tighter man-on-man coverage and challenging the defensive linemen to step up their effort. Bettencourt credited assistants Cody Galea and Antuan Simmons with making the fixes the Wolf Pack needed.

The challenge paid off in the fourth quarter, which Granite Bay started with a 20-14 lead. First, the Cosumnes Oaks offense turned to the running game to start a drive as Grigsby started the half 0-for-8. Then Grigsby connected to Moses Oladejo on a 17-yard pass for a first down and hit Ishmael Rehberg on a 22-yard corner fade route for a 21-20 lead with 7:15 to go.

“He was dropping dimes,” Rehberg said.

Then came the defense, which finally forced Granite Bay to throw incompletions, thanks to tighter coverage and more pressure on junior quarterback Nick Polous, who was starting in place of injured senior Dillon Hamilton. Polous went 8-for-15 in the second half after a 10-for-11 first half. He finished 18 for-26 for 236 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Grigsby, meanwhile, stayed hot, hitting Jaden Ramos for a 35-yard touchdown and a 28-20 lead with 3:53 to go. He finished the game 13-for-27 with 213 yards and three touchdowns and an interception.

Back to the defense. With time waning, Granite Bay got a quick first down to move near midfield, Cosumnes Oaks’ Tadarius Mathis ripped the ball out of the Grizzlies’ hands and the Wolf Pack fell on the ball in Granite Bay territory. The Wolf Pack eventually iced the game with a 29-yard field goal from Kevin Duarte.

“Once we settled down, we’re an avalanche,” Bettencourt said. “Offensively, once we dial it in, we’re hard to stop. We’ve got weapons around the field.”

The defense has been stout, too. In the past two months they’ve allowed no more than 21 points. After Grigsby and the Wolf Pack celebrated Friday night, the team roared as a coach told them “We’ve got practice next week.”

Maybe that’s not a typical applause line, but this isn’t a typical team. After all, nobody saw this coming, but they’re a tight-knit group, complete with nicknames.

“Our defense is DBU (Defensive Back University), our offense is Flash Unit, because we’re always throwing it up, baby,” Grigsby said.

As long as it’s not the other kind of throwing it up. The Wolf Pack are past that, and surpassing expectations.

This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 8:19 AM.