Grizzlies Make History

Seniors Michael Bertolino, right, and Koki Arai embrace as they celebrate their victory against Pleasant Grove High School during the Div. I section championship Saturday, Dec. 3.

The football left the hand of senior Granite Bay High School quarterback Brendan Keeney and arched through the clear, cold sky under the watchful stare of thousands of fans at Sacramento State University.

The ball seemed to hang in midair, leaving the feeling that the entire season could be hanging on the outcome of this one play, called “Back Pass Right Y Dancer.”

GBHS had gone up 10-0 in the early stages of the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. I championship, but the Pleasant Grove Eagles had come back with a touchdown and field goal to tie the game.

With less than a minute left in the half, this play was the best chance for GBHS to go into the locker room with a lead. It felt crucial for the Grizzlies to rebuild some momentum against an opponent that was not only the favorite to win the section championship game but had begun the season ranked in the top 10 nationally.

As the ball finally floated back toward the ground, it settled into the outstretched hands of senior tight end Spencer Briare.

Touchdown.

That completion restored the momentum, and the Grizzlies went on to win 30-24, collecting the team’s first-ever Division I section title.

Hanging in the Granite Bay High weight room is a sign that reads, “The most important ability is dependability,” and that was the key for the big victory at the end of a big season. No matter what happened, the players stood together and pushed through.

***

The game started rather slowly, but it picked up pace when Granite Bay went up 10-0. Without too many problems, however, the Pleasant Grove offense stormed down the field twice and tied the game.

After the Grizzlies seized the momentum on the Keeney-Briare touchdown at the end of the half, Pleasant Grove started the second half with a touchdown of its own.

The Granite Bay defense came off the field frustrated and angry. A couple of players banged their helmets against the metal bench, setting off what sounded like an angry chorus.

Granite Bay could have wilted. Pleasant Grove had an offense that beat up teams all season and averaged more than 54 points a game. The Eagles were not only favored to beat Granite Bay but had begun the year ranked No. 8 in the country. Besides, Pleasant Grove was led by Arik Armstead, all 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds of him. Armstead is being recruited by just about every major college in the country and is considered by some to be the top line prospect in the nation.

The Grizzlies had to battle nagging injuries and other challenges, but when the GBHS players came off the field, they quickly insisted they were OK and got back in the game. Senior offensive guard Colton Sviba, who had a stomach flu leading up to the game, left the game once to throw up but returned after a couple of plays.

The Grizzlies pulled ahead again, only to have Pleasant Grove tie the game at 24 in the fourth quarter.
Pulling together yet again, the Grizzlies mounted an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended when senior running back Arik Bird rushed into the end zone for a touchdown.

But then the extra point was blocked. A Pleasant Grove touchdown and extra point would win the game.
Bird threw down his water bottle on the sideline without realizing the lid wasn’t screwed on all the way. Water spurted everywhere.

With a little less than three minutes left in the game, Pleasant Grove got the ball. The Eagles, an offensive force, had yet another chance.

Grizzly defensive coordinator Tim Harrington told the defense to “turn the page, dig deep, find a way to get a stop. You got to believe.”

And believe they did. With the rest of the team watching in desperation, willing a stop with their eyes, junior linebacker Beau Hershberger stripped the Pleasant Grove quarterback of the ball, and Briare came up with it.

Briare credited Hershberger for the huge play and said he was just glad to be in the right place at the right time.

“The section championship is like the Super Bowl for high school football,” Briare said, “so I knew I had to step up, and I knew I had to make some big plays, and that’s what happened.”

The Grizzlies took a knee to end the season with a championship, and Keeney did a Lambeau Leap into the outstretched arms of the Tribe. Michael Bertolino, Austin Paulhus, Ian Mook, Beau Hershberger and Adam Wagner stood together on a sideline bench as fans chanted “Granite Bay! Granite Bay! Granite Bay!”

Someone tossed confetti into the air on that blustery day, and the smiles on the faces of the players were a million miles wide.

Senior Gavin Andrews, who plays both ways on the line, picked up anyone and everyone he could find and enveloped him in a hug. Coach Ernie Cooper briefly shared a special moment with seniors Keeney and Andrews, the only three-year starters on the team. Cooper then ran off to hug and congratulate the rest of his players.

“I just found (Keeney) and (Andrews) and asked them if all the hard work they put into the sport was worth it,” Cooper said. “They’ve been through the ringer with me for three years and were a huge part of the win.”

Cooper then said how proud he was of his team and how, even though they weren’t the most talented bunch he’s coached, they still pulled through and brought home a section banner.

“They’re a really special group,” Cooper said. “They had a great bond, and the guys really came together.”
Andrews is 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds and has committed to play football at Oregon State University. He heard all about his match-up with Pleasant Grove’s all-everything Armstead in the days leading up to the game, but he said he just wanted to live up to the offensive line’s motto: “Get nasty.”

“Coming into the game, I knew I was going to have to be my best against the best,” Andrews said. “We just all went 100 percent on him, and it paid off. We just had to make every play count. This was three years in the making.”

Keeney said: “It was a battle. It’s just such an amazing feeling to win a section championship.”

Keeney said he wouldn’t be where he is right now without Cooper and the rest of the team.

“(My teammates) mean everything in the world to me,” Keeney said. “We played well and got things done.”
Senior free safety Alec Naki said the team was excited coming into the game, especially after being labeled the underdogs, or “undergrizzlies,” as he put it.

“It was a team effort,” Naki said. “This team has heart. Words can’t even describe how much they all mean to me; I have 70 new brothers.”

The season as a whole mirrored that final game – plenty of setbacks but a perseverance that won out in the end.

Playing a brutal schedule, the Grizzlies lost on the road early in the year to Vacaville, a team that eventually won the Div. II section title. Granite Bay then put together a string of wins but lost a close one, again on the road, to Del Oro, the eventual Div. III champions.

Granite Bay entered the playoffs as just the No. 5 seed. They beat 12th-seeded Napa 31-7 and moved on to face 13th-seeded Oak Ridge.

On the third play of that game, Keeney went out with an injury. Backup quarterback junior Grant Caraway couldn’t throw because of an injury. Vinny Esposito, the junior varsity quarterback, missed two days of school with an illness that week and couldn’t play. That left the Grizzlies with the 5-foot-5, 135-pound JV backup Josh Neal.

It was easy to tell he didn’t fit in, because his JV uniform didn’t match those of the varsity players.

But a little thing like playing with their fourth-string quarterback wasn’t going to stop these Grizzlies.

Oak Ridge put a lot of pressure on the defense, but it responded with interceptions and other big plays. Neal made a few big plays himself, and, somehow, Granite Bay won the game 21-12.

The next challenge was Lincoln of Stockton, the top seed and a truly dangerous team. Granite Bay eked out a lead and just tried to hold on.

With GBHS ahead 28-21, and the Grizzlies needing a goal line stand to end the game, Cooper couldn’t watch. He took a knee and turned his back to the field. He knew the crowd would tell him what happened.
The silence turned to cheers, and Cooper knew his team had come through with an epic defensive stand. The Grizzlies had made the section final.

“It was all worth it,” senior defensive lineman Austin Paulhus said. “This win means everything to us.”

Senior wide receiver Adam Wagner said it was bittersweet, knowing he had played his last game in a Granite Bay uniform.

“This was the seniors’ fourth year together,” Wagner said. “Every year, we wanted to be champions, and now we are. This team is just a family. We’ve been through so much.”

2001 graduate Noah Frank, who has been at the games all season cheering the team on, said he always believed in them.

“They have been working hard and have enthusiasm,” Frank said. “I’m very proud of them.”

The legacy of great Granite Bay football will live on. On the sidelines during the section championship game were water boys who are playing for the Junior Grizzlies youth teams, just like Keeney, Briare, Wagner and others had done before them.

That’s going to be us someday,” one of the water boys whispered to a friend during the game. “We’re going to be just like them.”