Grant stuns Rocklin with 98-yard drive and winner to three-peat as CIF champs. ‘Just wow’
At the end of the 2021 season, the Grant Pacers were flattened in a sport where they used to do most of the flattening. They were deflated spiritually, a program teetering on collapse.
The storied high school football program in Del Paso Heights went winless, and coach Carl Reed grimaced when he spotted a for-sale sign on his front yard, not of his doing.
On Friday night, the gritty, resilient and talented Pacers continued their remarkable rebirth run that was rooted in ruins. They raised their third consecutive CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship banner into the cool dark night in another emphatic reminder that champions may hit the deck, but they don’t stay there. Grant won back-to-back Division III banners in 2022 and 2023, and on Friday, the Pacers celebrated their D-II honors against Rocklin with a 98-yard touchdown drive and a catch for the ages.
Luke Alexander hit Zo Edwards for a highlight-making 24-yard touchdown reception in the left side of the end zone with 34 seconds left to stun the top-seeded Thunder, 30-28, at Hughes Stadium in as good of a playoff game as the area has ever experienced. The postseason started in this section in 1971.
Edwards’ effort set the Grant fans who filled the visitors side at Sacramento City College into a dancing frenzy, especially after the spirited teenager raced into the stands to celebrate for a moment before being reminded to get back to work because the game wasn’t over.
Reed, the proud Grant graduate, rejoiced in praising everyone from staff to players and community. It means something to play for Grant, and it really means something to win championships at Grant.
Reed had the daunting challenge of replacing a coaching legend in Mike Alberghini, a 282-game winner with seven section crowns and the program-defining CIF State Open Division crown in 2008, of which Reed was an assistant coach. Coach Al is a man so revered that the Grant stadium bears his name.
“Mike Alberghini is the greatest, and it was our job to keep it going,” Reed said.
That meant preparing for long odds, such as driving the length of the field to win. Grant co-coach Syd Thompson said the growth of this young team starts at the beginning of each practice.
“We work on that every single day — situations just like tonight,” said Thompson, one of an army of assistant coaches who played at Grant and returned to give back to the school. “We put our guys in situations that seem impossible, long odds. When we have to drive 98 yards and we have a crowd like this behind us, it’s just...wow.”
Wow is what Edwards, fellow sophomore Koby Shabazz and the rest of the Pacers have become. Edwards is a 6-foot-6 sophomore still learning this sport. He had seven receptions for 104 yards and two scores. Shabazz had six catches for 127 yards and a 32-yard touchdown to give Grant a 24-14 lead with 1:13 left in the third quarter. He also set up scores with some electrifying kickoff returns.
‘Give me one more chance, please’
Alexander, Grant’s poised senior leader, passed for 362 yards and four touchdowns. Rocklin at times blitzed and battered Alexander, but he never buckled. He was intercepted by Mavrik Collins on what he feared might be his last drive of his Pacers career, but Grant got the ball back at its own 2-yard line with 2:51 left and staged one of the epic drives in regional history.
“I was praying to get the ball one more time, thinking, ‘Give me one more chance, please!’” Alexander said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
Edwards, all grins and joy after the game, said his game winner was “the No. 1 moment in my life.” Of course, the young man may some day get married, and have kids, but his game winner may still rank as an all-timer when he’s 50.
Grant defied a lot of odds to win. The Pacers were not able to make a single point-after conversion, missing on all five touchdowns, either by kick or passing. The Pacers were stopped four times on fourth down, including once at the Rocklin 1 with Grant up 18-14 with 5:33 left in the third, and another Grant pass was broken up in the end zone with 8:47 left in the game with Grant nursing a 4-point lead. Grant was also burned twice on deep-ball plays that resulted in touchdowns.
The goal-line stand brought to mind Rocklin’s monstrous stand to stymie Grant in a 2009 section semifinal. Grant beat Rocklin in a Northern California playoff in Placer County last season and will find out Sunday afternoon who it plays in a NorCal final this season.
Rocklin coach Jason Adams was classy in defeat, though hurting for his seniors who worked since January to repeat as section D-II champions. Rocklin’s other losses this season were to Sierra Foothill League rivals Folsom and Oak Ridge, teams that meet Saturday night for the D-I championship at Hughes Stadium.
“Big stage and Grant played well,” Adams said. “They play really hard and they’re exceptionally coached. There was a lot of chatter going into this game, but after the game, there’s also a ton of respect for each other. Grant plays the right way.”
Reeve Slone dazzled in defeat for Rocklin. The junior passed for 272 yards and four touchdowns a week after firing four TDs in the rain to beat Manteca in a semifinal.
Slone had a 71-yard TD to Collins to pull to within 24-21 of Grant with eight seconds left in the third., and he gave Rocklin its final lead at 28-24 with 8:30 left to play with an 89-yard scoring strike to Owen DiSalvo.
“They played a great game, a great team,” said Edwards, Grant’s giddy receiver. “What a game.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 10:56 PM.