Go time for Grant: Pacers coach says it’s time to wake up or ‘there will be tears’
Carl Reed had his Grant Pacers football team take a seat in front of him late Thursday night after the conclusion of the Metro League campaign.
The school’s head coach was in no mood for a rah-rah speak heavy on accolades, never mind the 48-7 triumph over the Cordova Lancers. He instead challenged the Pacers with fire in his eyes and anger in his speech, demanding that they be better, to up their game, to answer the bell as the real season approaches — as in, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
Reed reminded the group that there is no more room for error, or to take any play or contest lightly, and he punctuated the theme with, “If you don’t wake up and take this seriously, there will be tears.”
Meaning, tears of anguish of a season of promise suddenly coming to an end.
Football has been a big deal in Del Paso Heights for decades, and for the scores of alumni coaches on the Grant sideline, the sport and the quest to be great relentlessly drives them. They expect their players to match their zest.
Grant backers — parents and those in the community — also expect a ton.
When Grant stumbled to a single-win season in 2021 in Reed’s first season in charge after years assisting late/great coach Mike Alberghini, Grant fans let him know about it. Some cursed him. Some sent nasty text messages and emails. A “For Sale” sign was planted in his front yard.
Then Reed and the staff were deemed as heroes, peeling off three successive section and Northern California championships to go with two CIF State crowns. Reed and co-coach Syd Thompson were The Sacramento Bee’s Coaches of the Year in 2022, and defensive end/linebacker star Jeremiah Tuiileila was The Bee’s Player of the Year in 2024. He is now on scholarship at San Diego State.
This season, a 2-4 start amid brutal competition that included Bee top-ranked Folsom, North Bay No. 1 Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, NorCal No. 1-ranked De La Salle and San Diego Section No. 1 Lincoln brought out more boo birds and more nasty notes.
Reed won’t buckle, and he won’t let the Pacers buckle either. The Pacers sit as a misleading 6-win, 4-loss team. They await their seeding for the Division I playoffs, which could lead to a rematch with Folsom, the three-time defending D-I section champion. Grant is moving up to the D-I section playoffs after flexing its considerable muscle in lower divisions of late.
It pleases Reed to see when the Pacers play to their enormous potential, and it pains the Grant graduate when he is unfairly skewered, even if it’s part of the job. Alberghini during his long Pacers career that included a regional-record 282 victories was often angrily approached by parents during 13-0 seasons.
“We have a goal,” Reed said shortly after his postgame speech at Cordova, which came moments after Cordova cheered a last-play touchdown as if this was the Lancers’ Super Bowl. “We know our goal, and it’s been there for the last three years.”
The goal is to play in the last game on the season, a CIF final in Southern California. For most teams, that’s pure fantasy. Grant has lived that dream, however.
Reed added, “We have to lock in. We know it’s the blueprint of last year, right? We went through hell (with tough losses). We had a lot of growing up to do. Even for a veteran-laden team, we had a lot of growing to do. We as a staff had to revisit who we were and see what we’re doing and what direction we’re going.”
The going of late includes a four-game winning streak and another unbeaten showing in the Metro League. The rigorous nonleague schedule was by design, something the program has done for decades. Now it’s time to put up or shut up.
QB settles in, O-line the foundation
Blake Nycum is the third player to quarterback the Pacers this fall. The Folsom High transfer has secured the job in what remains an open competition in practice.
A junior, Nycum fired four touchdown strikes against Cordova, some of them short passes that led to 75-yard or longer breakaway plays.
Nycum has the benefit of a stout and veteran line anchored by four-year varsity starters Ronnie Noa and Lucio Dominguez and third-year anchor Roger Vanderhoef, a towering 6-foot-8, 380-pound senior.
Grant’s running game is also a team strength with a bevy of backs, including Thorne Watson, Jayson Williams, Tyson Carter and others. The receivers include returning Bee All-Metro junior stars and national recruits Zo Edwards and Koby Shabazz.
The defense has had moments of dominance, be it in the trenches or with closing speed. The coaches continue to challenge the stoppers to keep making stops.
“That’s not the same Grant team we faced,” Folsom coach Paul Doherty said recently. “They’re going to be hard to beat in the playoffs.”
Nycum had to do a 30-day sit-out, the norm for most transfers, and he has overcome injuries. He has blended in nicely with the Pacers because of his talent, work ethic and results. Grant’s opening-day quarterback starter, Shiren Crump, and the other quarterback who has seen time in 2024 in sophomore Tavio Rios know they have to be ready.
Of Nycum, Reed said, “He’s coming along. He’s finding his way, finding his legs, finding his rhythm.”
Reed said the offensive line will be “the guys that carry us. We’re going to go as far as they want to take us.”
The coach said of Noa and Dominguez, “They’re good leaders. They’ve been through the fire. Our goal is to play in December.”
The Sac-Joaquin Section will have a football playoff bracket release show on the streaming NFHS Network on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
