Granite Bay Grizzlies fight back but fall short in section championship loss to Manteca
The Grizzlies of Granite Bay in 2022 were used to overcoming setbacks.
The middle of their season included four consecutive losses in the ultra-competitive Sierra Foothill League, where top programs like Folsom, Del Oro, Rocklin and Oak Ridge roam.
No matter.
The Grizzlies reached the Division II playoffs as the No. 6 seed, with a 1-4 league record, and won three straight postseason games against Inderkum, Downey and Del Oro, avenging a league loss to rival Golden Eagles earlier in the season.
In Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section championship game, the Grizzlies fell behind by 14 points before their offense took the field against Manteca.
“In some of the seasons when you make it to the section championship game, you’ve been steamrolling everybody,” Granite Bay head coach Joe Cattolico told The Sacramento Bee. “But when you talk about using football to develop character and build young men, there’s something to losing some ball games in terms of the development of the young men because that’s how adult life is going to be.”
Cattolico’s team wound up learning that lesson the hard way against Manteca on Saturday night at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium. The Buffaloes escaped with a 51-48 victory to capture their ninth section title, all since 2001, and their third in a row.
It came behind a virtuoso performance from senior running back and linebacker Blake Nichelson, who scored six touchdowns and had a first-quarter interception to help his team put Granite Bay in a 29-7 hole in the first half. The Grizzlies fought back to make it close by outscoring Manteca 41-22 after halftime, but the resilient effort wasn’t enough.
Every time Granite Bay came close, Nichelson, who is headed to Florida State next fall, had answers coming six points at a time. He scored rushing touchdowns of 4, 8, 74 and 1 yards, with touchdown catches of 16 and 39 yards. He finished with 227 rushing yards and increased his season touchdown total to 40.
“They’re a great team, obviously, and this was a challenge for us,” Nichelson said of Granite Bay. “They came back and smacked us in the mouth. We had to respond to that. They’re a great team overall.”
Nichelson is one of the best players in Northern California, and there were moments when Granite Bay’s defense appeared to be slowing him down enough to make an improbable comeback possible. The Grizzlies forced a punt in the fourth quarter after stopping Nichelson on a third-and-4. Then they went down the field to cut Manteca’s lead to 45-42 with 3:20 remaining when Isaiah Ene, Granite Bay’s star freshman, scored on a 7-yard run.
But then Nichelson scored his 1-yard touchdown after a 28-yard run down the left sideline, which essentially put the game out of reach. The Grizzlies scored a touchdown with 1:09 remaining, coming from tight end Frank Cusano, but the following onside kick never traveled the required 10 yards before Granite Bell fell on it, which allowed Manteca to run out the clock for the three-point win.
“He’s difficult to deal with,” Cattolico said of Nichelson. “They do a great job of moving him around, getting him the football in different ways. And he’s tough to tackle, and we knew that we’d seen that on film all year. We just didn’t have as many answers for it as we would have liked, which is a testimony to him, too.”
There are silver linings for Cattolico heading into the offseason. Two of his most promising players, Ene and star running back Carter Jackson, are both underclassmen. Ene is the first freshman in years to play varsity football at Granite Bay, and could quickly become one of the better defensive players in the section. He began receiving Division I college offers over the summer, before his high school career began.
Jackson, one of the fastest players in the section, is also garnering interest from top college programs, and has two years left to showcase his track speed for the Grizzlies.
“We think this is obviously the end of something really special in this particular football season,” Cattolico said. “But we also think we got some really good things to build on in the future thanks in part to our seniors and last year’s seniors for setting the mold — but also the young guys for coming in and stepping up and playing beyond their years. So we’re excited about the development of those guys and the challenges that we face going forward.”
Aside from Ene and Jackson, the Grizzlies got key contributions from receivers Carson Perry-Smith and Cattolico’s son, Joseph, who are both juniors. Same for Cusano. They’ll all be back, but the Grizzlies will lose senior quarterback McCade Long and offensive lineman Zaire Collier, a 330-pound guard who is weighing scholarship offers.
Granite Bay will be looking to win its seventh section championship next season. The last came in 2017. Cattolico won his first and only section title in 2011 at Pleasant Grove, when current San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead was anchoring his defense.
This story was originally published November 26, 2022 at 10:47 PM.