McCade Long has done some growing the past few months.

The Granite Bay High School senior quarterback celebrated his 18th birthday on Thursday, but that’s not the only way he’s matured. In a Sierra Foothill League opener in September against Del Oro, he was benched in the fourth quarter and admits it was his worst game of the season.

It was a low point of the season. The high point came Friday night in Loomis when Long accounted for three total touchdowns as sixth-seeded Granite Bay beat the Golden Eagles 21-16 in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division ll semifinal.

Long connected with Frank Cusano for a 27-yard touchdown and found Joseph Cattolico for a 39-yard score in the final moments of the first half. He had a 1-yard quarterback sneak for the touchdown hat trick.

“It means so much,” Long said of the win. “We are a totally new team. We just had to prove it. This team is very legit. ... I didn’t have my best game, probably my worst game of the year (in the first game). We worked hard and circled them. That’s why it feels great.”

Granite Bay has a team mixed with youth and experience. One of the Grizzlies’ top players is Isaiah Ene, who is only 14 years old. He needs special clearance to play varsity football because of his age.

Ene recovered a fumble when Del Oro was driving in the final minutes of the game. He also ran for 85 yards. Sophomore Carter Jackson ran for 110 yards.

After starting the season 5-0, Granite Bay lost four straight. The Grizzlies have since responded with a four-game winning streak that includes two road playoff wins. A large part of their success can be credited to the defense. Cusano and Kameron Kaminski both had sacks.

“We had no business being a six seed,” Granite Bay coach Joe Cattolico said. “It is what it is. In the playoffs, a wise man told me that in the playoffs, you play whoever they tell you to.”

He added on the win streak, “It’s a prime example of our whole group. “We have had a lot of obstacles. We have an interesting group and we are young in some spots. ... We have kids all across the grade spectrum. The kids like each other.”

As Long says, having a team full of players of varying ages can be a challenge. They had to connect as a group before going on a run. And, now, they’re playing their best football in November.

“It was tough at first,” Long said. “We weren’t friends at school or anything. We have gotten close and that’s why we are peaking right now. It’s tough playing on the road because having a home-field advantage is everything in the playoffs. But when your crowd shows up like they did tonight, it feels like home.”

Granite Bay led 21-10 at halftime. Del Oro’s Kainoa Acia ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 8:46 left to cut into the deficit. Acia finished with 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns a week after running for over 400 yards in a playoff win against Antelope. Del Oro ends the season at 9-3.

The Grizzlies will face top-seeded Manteca in the D-ll final on Friday night at Sacramento City College. Granite Bay seeks its first blue banner since the 2017 season and will make its first appearance in a championship game under Cattolico.

“They’re an outstanding program,” Cattolico said. “Manteca has some really outstanding players.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 11:10 PM.