Granite Bay (12-2) won its fourth section title since 1999, but its first in Division One.

   Granite Bay’s offense was impressive all day against Pleasant Grove, which began the season ranked No. 8 in the nation. The Grizzlies only had to punt once. All other possessions ended in a score—four touchdowns and one field goal.

   The Grizzlies mounted an impressive drive with little time left in the first half, to go into halftime ahead.

   Granite Bay also converted on a fourth and 11 in the middle of the second half on what was probably the play of the game. Quarterback Brendan Keeney, under heavy pressure, hit Tight End Spencer Briare over the middle with a short pass, but Briare was tangled up with a defender and hadn’t yet turned to look for the pass. The ball hit him in the chest, and he reflexively caught the ball without ever really seeing it. The defender hit him a moment later, but he held on to the ball as he fell forward for the first down.

   The defense for Granite Bay then sealed the deal late in the game by sacking the Pleasant Grove quarterback, knocking the ball loose and recovering the fumble.

   In front of a crowd that was heavily in favor of Granite Bay, the team began by taking the opening kickoff and driving for a touchdown.

    After stopping Pleasant Grove, Granite Bay added a field goal early in the second quarter.

   Pleasant Grove then put together a long drive, but Granite Bay held, and Pleasant Grove kicked a short field goal to make the score 10-3.

   The next Granite Bay drive ended in its one punt of the day, and Pleasant Grove then struck quickly. On a third-and-four on its own side of the field, with Granite Bay defending the short pass, Pleasant Grove instead went long and had a receiver wide open for a touchdown.

   This was when Granite Bay mounted a quick drive and scored right before the half, taking a 17-10 lead into the locker room.

   Pleasant Grove put together a sustained drive for a touchdown after taking the second-half kickoff but had its extra point blocked.

   The Grizzlies scored on its next possession after the Keeney-Briare connection deep in Pleasant Grove territory on fourth down; That touchdown and extra point made the score 24-16.

   Another Pleasant Grove drive and touchdown was followed by a two-point conversion, so the game was tied as Granite Bay got the ball again well into the fourth quarter.

    Keeney and the rest of the offense which didn’t have a turnover all day despite heavy winds, never faltered. The team drove steadily downfield and scored a touchdown with six minutes to go.

    This time, it was Granite Bay’s turn to have an extra point blocked, so the Grizzlies were only up by six as Pleasant Grove got the ball back.

   As the team neared midfield, though, the Granite Bay defense flushed the quarterback out of the pocket. As he tried to scramble, the ball was knocked out of his hand from behind, and Briare, playing linebacker, recovered.

   There was still 2 ½ minutes on the clock, and Pleasant Grove still had all its time outs, so Granite Bay needed two or three first downs to run out the clock. That turned out to be no problem. Granite Bay, which had been mixing runs and passes all day, pounded the ball through the middle of the Pleasant Grove defense.

   The game ended with Granite Bay taking a knee twice on about the 10-yard line of Pleasant Grove.

   In addition to Keeney and Briare, Arik Bird was a force at running back, and Adam Wagner made several crucial catches for first downs. Gavin Andrews and the rest of the offensive line had an exceptional day, even though they were up against Arik Armstead, a defensive lineman who is 6’8” tall and weighs 295 pounds and is being recruited by the top colleges in the country. By the end of the game, Armstead was watching from the sideline.

   On the defensive side, in addition to Briare, Andrews had an exceptional game. He knocked down two passes and dominated on the defensive line.  

   Keeney completed 13 of 19 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

   Bird rushed for 166 yards on 27 carries and scored Granite Bay’s other two touchdowns.

   “We have a very proud tradition of football here at Granite Bay,” Briare said, “and it’s awesome just to be a part of it.”

Sophomore Tony Ellison stands in anticipation of the play with his fellow Grizzly football players at the Homecoming game vs. Rocklin Thunder on October 28

Sophomores are so rare on the varsity football team that neither of the Granite Bay High School alumi currently playing in the NFL were chosen to play varsity football as a sophomore. Yet sophomore Tony Ellison was brought up to be a flyback for varsity football.

“Some people are just born with talent. Ellison is one of those people,” defensive backs coach Mike Valentine said.

“I was blessed with great skill and speed and I work really hard at what I do,” Ellison said.

He has helped the team out significantly by providing four touchdowns this year via receptions or rushes.

“He is a key asset to our team because of his speed and instincts,” GBHS junior Zak Lilley said.

His speed is something that he provides as both a flyback and a kick returner.

“He is one of the fastest if not the fastest player on our team,” Valentine said.

Ellison excelled at the freshman football level and, according to Valentine, was brought up to varsity because of the injury-prone flybacks and his sheer talent.

“I always dreamed of being brought up to varsity as a sophomore, but I never though it would happen.” Ellison said.

While Ellison is an amazing football player, he is not the only player to be brought up as a sophomore the past couple years.

“We brought up Keeny and Andrews two years ago and they started,” Valentine said. “But last year we brought up Calton and Partridge and neither of them started.”

There seems to be a trend in bringing up sophomores to the varsity team in recent years.

“I am all for bringing up sophomores as long as they actually play like Ellison is,” Valentine said.

Ellison realizes how special it is to be on the varsity team and the pressure that comes with it.

“I feel really honored, and I am not being arrogant about it,” Ellison said.

He agrees that bringing up younger players can be both good and bad.

“(Having sophomore starters) can be good unless they let it get to their head and stop working,” Ellison said.

Ellison is also playing basketball and running track for GBHS this year in order to stay in shape and get better.

“We know he has wheels but when track season comes along and we put him next to people like (Grant High School sprinter) Shaq Thompson, we will see exactly how good those wheels are,” Valentine said.

“I play basketball to keep focused, stay in shape, and build leadership,” Ellison said.

But nobody is questioning his ability on the football field.

“He is a great athlete and can keep up with the best of our players,” Lilley said.

However, some of the older players were not so accepting.

“Some of the older players were angry at me for taking some of their plays, but I feel like I have earned their respect through my playing,” Ellison said.

“It all depends on if you are a team player for what is best for the team, or you want the glory for yourself,” Valentine said.

Ellison wants to play football at a high level as he continues his career.

“My dream is to play football in college,” Ellison said.

Both coaches and players agree with the level of talent that Ellison has.

“He is one of the hardest players on our team to cover and stop,” Lilley said.

“You can’t deny the ability that Ellison has as a football player,” Valentine said. “He was just born with amazing wheels”.

Valentine and Ellison’s teammates hold him in high regard as an athlete and are proud of the level of play he has achieved as a sophomore.

“He is one of the best athletes in the school throughout any sport,” Valentine said.

GBHS’ fan-based cheering section was started last year, and has grown continuously larger ever since.

The idea for a student-oriented cheering section began a few years ago.

“A couple of years back a group of students tried (to) show up to soccer and basketball games and would get together and cheer the players on, but it wasn’t that successful,” said Tim Healy, social science teacher and faculty advisor to The Tribe.

Healy’s involvement in The Tribe includes helping out Tribe members, giving them recommendations on what is appropriate and what is not, aiding The Tribe with its barbeques and buying official Tribe shirts.

“(Will Harkin, Hunter Christian and I) sit down usually and have meetings once in a while about how they can make sure we’re channeling their energy in positive ways,” Healy said.

“I would say that our school has never really had a large amount of student support, which is kind of ironic because we are (one of the) most prolific high schools in northern California when it comes to athletics,” Healy said.

Healy is incredibly proud of the success of The Tribe. He believes it adds a new energy to the school that was lacking before.

“I think that the level of energy (The Tribe) brings to sporting events makes the entire sporting event more enjoyable,” Healy said. “I’ve had parents come up to me and say how fun or crazy that game was, especially the energy from the Tribe.”

The Tribe’s success reached its pinnacle point last year, when the boys’ varsity basketball team faced off against  McClymonds High School in the play off game at Arco Arena.

The Tribe showed up in large numbers for the team’s appearance at Arco Arena, totalling around 500 Tribe supporters.

“I like what The Tribe is doing for this school… it’s bringing all classes together,” Healy said. “Our school is notorious for being divided into cliques and The Tribe is trying to get past that.”

Last month, the soccer game against Jesuit High School-played at Capital Christian High School-drew a large crowd of Tribe members.

The Tribe even has its own Facebook fan page with over 600 followers.

“I thought it was a pretty cool idea (when I first heard about it). I thought getting a group of people together cheering would be good,” said senior Jake Neptune, who manages the Facebook fan page.

Senior Jordan Long, Harkin, Christian and Neptune, all are predominant members of The Tribe and put in the most work. They are the ones leading the chants at sporting events and other activities attended by The Tribe.

Once a game starts, Tribe leaders begin to lead the chants and make sure that everyone is participating. They also make sure that the chants are appropriate and best support the athletes.

Christian and Harkin are noticing that the turnout for this year is an improvement from last year, but the noise level this year is not as loud as they would like.

“The only problem with the cheering of the Tribe is that some of the underclassmen aren’t getting as involved as they should,” Long said. “They should be louder and shouldn’t take up seats if they are not going to participate.”

With this year’s Tribe having such a great support from a majority of upperclassmen, many seniors wonder who the leaders will be next year.

“Will (Harkin) and Hunter (Christian) had the most input and spirit last year as juniors so all of that just transferred over to this year,” Long said.

It’s too early to tell who will step up next year.

“It’s not about who’s leading what,” Christian said. “It’s about getting as many people out to the games.”

Despite their success, the Tribe has experienced problems over the past two years.

During the football team’s opening home game against St. Mary’s High School this year, a group of students that were sitting on the edge of The Tribe’s section were standing up and cheering when a parent became frustrated that The Tribe section had been moved and the fans were blocking the parent’s view of her child playing in the game.

“She started swearing and yelling at us. I couldn’t believe that a parent would use such language towards us. I was shocked,” an anonymous Tribe member said.

Originally , the section that had been reserved for The Tribe was originally right next to the band. It was later moved closer to the entrance of the bleachers, a move that would upset some parents who had already been sitting there.

“(The parent) said that (The Tribe) was blocking her view and that we needed to move somewhere else,” the Tribe member said. “I went and talked to Student Government and the students said that what we were doing was fine.”

The student who was yelled at believes that in order to prevent further instances like this from happening, the Tribe’s section boundaries should be increased to decrease the occurrence of upset parents and to allow more Tribe members to join the section.

At last year’s first home football game, Tribe members dressed up as Native Indians, which included headpieces, body paint and Indian feathers.

The community didn’t find the costumes as positive as the Tribe leaders had intended. The result was the prohibition of Native American attire from future events.

During the first 2011 football home game, the Tribe offered any supporter free body paint.

“Someone in Student Government bought a type of body paint that didn’t come off easily after most people got home,” Neptune said. “It stayed on for a couple of days after the Friday game.”

Although it has suffered through some rough patches, the spirit of the Tribe can not be set back by any problems it has had.

“One of the things I love most about the Tribe is that it is so open and accepting,” Long said. “It’s a (group) where anyone with school spirit can come to cheer on their fellow classmen.”

   From there, he goes to work on all 18 holes.  

   This is the process of a professional and internationally recognized golfer. 

   Baumgarten finished with the lowest average score at GBHS and won the Sac Joaquin Section title as just a freshman

   According to boys’ varsity golf coach, Terry Stafford, the Sierra Foothill League is the strongest and most talented league in the section.  Both as a freshman and sophomore, Baumgarten has been named as an All-League member.

   Stafford believes Baumgarten is one of the top ten golfers in the Sacramento area.  He attributes Baumgarten’s success to his recovery shot-making ability and ability to remain composed and stay focused. 

   “If there’s one person who could put a golf ball in the hole, it’s Brandon Baumgarten,” teammate and GBHS junior Chase Pedone said.  

   Pedone leaves no doubt in his mind that Baumgarten will play collegiate golf, and even thinks Baumgarten has the potential for a future professional career.  

   Although Baumgarten has had plenty of success at the high school level, it is dwarfed by the prestigious awards he has on the junior circuit. 

   On July 7-10, Baumgarten played in the First Tee Open in Pebble Beach, California.  The tournament had a rigorous selection process of progress checks, essays and interviews.

   The format of the tournament paired a Champions Tour Player, (a professional golfer on the PGA senior tour) and an accomplished junior. 

   Baumgarten placed second among 76 teams, and nearly won the tournament, had it not been for a lapse on the 18^th hole.

   “Everything was fine until the last stretch,” GBHS junior Scott Romuk said, who caddied for Baumgarten during the tournament.

   According to Romuk, Baumgarten started off the hole with a flawless drive to the left in order to avoid a tree in the middle of the fairway. 

   From there, Baumgarten mishit the ball into a bunker, and his troubles began. 

   Baumgarten got the ball out of the bunker, only for it to roll into another bunker.  These unfortunate mistakes left Baumgarten with a double-bogey on the hole and his chance first place slipped away.   

   Baumgarten’s ability to maintain his composure helps set him apart as an elite golfer.  

   On the sixth hole, which had a steep fairway, one could not see the green; Baumgarten chipped a seemingly good shot until the wind carried it into the rough.

   Instead of getting angry or frustrated, Baumgarten just laughed it off and prepared himself to do better on the next hole.

   “Although he (Baumgarten) may be small, he has a powerful swing and (he)  is composed and full of confidence,” Romuk said. 

   Baumgarten’s skill is recognized not only by his peers and coaches, but professionals as well.   

   At the First Tee Open, professional golfer Brad Bryant said Baumgarten was the best junior he has seen since he played the tournament himself. 

   On July 23-25, Baumgarten played in the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

   This tournament hosted the best golfers from around the entire world, with competitors traveling from countries such as Germany, Indonesia and Thailand.

   In the boys’ 14-15 age group, Baumgarten managed to place tenth out of the 108 competitors. 

   Baumgarten aspires to play college golf and has already been contacting Division 1 college coaches.

   Since playing in the First Tee Open, Baumgarten caught a glimpse of the life of a professional golfer and hopes to one day make a career out of his passion.

   As the summer season came to a close, Baumgarten has resumed practicing an average of five days a week at the Granite Bay Golf Course. In addition, he plays on the weekends when he can.

   He looks forward to the spring, when the competition will be cranked up and hopes to continue to be an elite golfer.

Varsity player J.C. Nichols, junior, dribbles the ball up the field in a game against Rio Americano High School.

With the graduation of the class of 2011, the Granite Bay High School boys’ varsity soccer left behind a nationally successful legacy, along with a stellar team of athletes, which means this year’s varsity soccer team has some big cleats to fill. 

The 2010 team managed to win a section title and finish fifth in the nation.

“Last year’s team was not only the best team that I have ever coached; it was the best high school team I have ever seen”,  head coach Steve Fischer said.

However, the team lost 12 talented seniors who were vital to their success.

With this loss, some may begin to wonder if the new varsity athletes can replicate such a successful season.

But, expectations don’t need to be so grim when looking at some of the progress achieved last summer by a few GBHS players.

“It’s always not a good thing to have 12 seniors graduate, but I feel we have replaced our graduates fairly well. It should still be a good year despite our losses,” junior Tanner Thompson said.

Eight players moving up to varsity this year were part of the Blues competitive boys’ U16 soccer team during the summer, and certainly had many accolades worthy of recognition.

The Blues went from 48th in the nation at the beginning of the season to the second best team in the nation by the end of the season.

With their coach, Mike Linenberger, also the Sacramento State University head coach, the Blues managed to sweep the nation convincingly with an overall record of 16-1-2.

The Blues beat the first place team twice to win national tournaments in Davis and Modesto. Also, the team  reached the final at the Surf Cup in San Diego, the second most prestigious soccer tournament in youth soccer.

All this success didn’t go unnoticed by college coaches, who are already conferring with a few of the Blues’ members.

In addition, five Blues players received the Player to Watch award for the region of Hawaii and all of Northern California from topdrawersoccer.com, a website that rates teams and their players throughout the nation.

If their summer success is any indication of what their season will be like this year, the new varsity team can still be expected to perform at a national caliber.

“This season will still be full of exciting games and everyone should come out and watch,” junior Andrew Erbland said.

Besides a few starting seniors, Ty Thompson and Will Harkin, the rest of the team, including the eight Blue’s club players, is completely new to the scene of varsity soccer.

“The biggest change is getting used to working together with all the different players,” junior Noah Tooley said.

Despite the new challenge, Tooley maintains high expectations to be repeat Division II Section Champions and win a national tournament in St. Louis.

The varsity team has already made a positive start, winning its first game and the first tournament in Santa Rosa without the leading scorer, sophomore Tommy Thompson.

It may be too early to tell, Fischer believes that the team should be pretty good. Although the team has six wins and a tough loss to nationally number one ranked Jesuit High School, several top notch players haven’t been able to play. Once they return, the team should be much better.

With such optimistic expectations and an initial ranking of sixth in the nation, the team seems perfectly capable of establishing itself as a national soccer powerhouse yet again.

“We always have high expectations and we’re not that concerned with winning championships, though that is the goal,” Fischer said. “We just want to get better and try to play with passion, courage and dignity.”

The game started with an emotional moment of silence for tomorrow’s 10^th anniversary of 9/11, honoring the men and women who died and those who saved lives on that day, as well as the citizens who actively serve our country overseas.

Brendan Keeney started off the game as quarterback, throwing to Spencer Briare as the pair earned a touchdown midway through the first quarter, making the game 7-0 after Nick Bermudez’s successful extra point.

Minutes later, the Grizzlies recovered the Timberwolves’ fumble setting the scene for Keeney’s phenomenal pass to Adam Wagner.

Keeney threw the ball into the far corner of the end zone; with Wagner catching it through the defender’s outstretched arms. Wagner touched the ground just before falling out of bounds, giving the Grizzlies their second touchdown of the night, and one of the greatest plays of the game.

Again, Keeney threw to Briare, making another touchdown in the first half. Granite Bay ended the quarter with a 21-3 lead, after Clovis East’s added a field goal.

Tony Ellison, made a 97 yard dash to the end zone on the kickoff return, giving Granite Bay their fourth touchdown.

A 26 yard run followed, as Arik Bird scored for the Grizzlies, now winning 35-3.

Andrew Towery got the final touchdown, as the Grizzlies earned a lead of 39 points over Clovis East; giving the game a running clock.

The varsity football game ended in a smashing victory, with a final score of 42-3 and an easy Grizzly win over the Clovis East Timberwolves.

   The Granite Bay High School boys’ soccer team was finally given the chance to prove themselves.

   If it wasn’t for the controversial refereeing, they just might have.

   The game was a rollercoaster that ended in disappointment.

   The game started off physically from both teams. A dispute over possession of a ball that went out of bounds ended in a push from Dominic Scotti.

   The first upset occurred when GBHS made their first goal and it was stripped from them due to an offside call. Will Harkin scored the goal off of a free kick from Tanner Thomson and couldn’t believe it didn’t count.

   17 minutes in, an uproar from the crowd was caused again when Jesuit was given a penalty kick, off a questionable trip in the box, giving them the 1-0 lead.

   Towards the end of the first half, the Jesuit coach chewed out Tommy Thomson after he injured one of the Jesuit players. This increased the tension even more.    

   Two minutes into the second half, Jesuit scored a beautiful goal by a volley into the net off of a corner kick. This was the only “earned goal”.

   In the second half, things finally started to work for GBHS. In the 60^th minute, GBHS got a free kick outside the box which Tanner Thomson chipped to the back post. Will Harkin got redemption and headed it in to make the score 2-1.

   GBHS scored again in the 72^nd minute when Tyler Thomson passed the ball into the back corner of the net. The score was tied 2-2. “I thought we were going to win the game honestly until a couple of minutes ago,” head coach Steve Fischer said reflecting back.

   That’s when the game became more about the referees than the players once again.

   With only six minutes remaining, yet another PK was called against GBHS. Brady Nations received a yellow card for arguing with the referee over what he believed was a horrible call. Jesuit converted the resulting penalty kick, making the score 3-2 which would be the final score.

   In the final stoppage time, a last red card was called on Noah Tooley.  “He was already in the air when I hit him and he had already shot the ball when I hit him, so it wasn’t a red card, but I had to do that because he was about to score,” said Tooley. GBHS had the whole team pushed up, goalie included in a last ditch effort.

   “It’s tough when three calls go against you. It seems we got calls in the middle of the field, but not down in the boxes.” Fischer said at the end of the game. “It’s hard to beat the number one team in the country when they’re gifted two penalty kicks.”

   That quotation best sums up how I feel about my sports career, and my younger brother has never understood why I feel that way. All that he cares about is how good his win number looks.

   I’ve been on plenty of winning teams in my life: undefeated Granite Bay High School freshmen soccer, undefeated Roseville West Little League baseball team and so on.

   But on the flipside, I’ve been on plenty of losing teams. The first time my dad tried coaching my Little League baseball team, we didn’t win a single game (but I do think we tied one). I mean we would be up by four runs in the very last inning, and somehow in all of my team’s unmatched skill, we would somehow lose that game.

   No matter what team I was on, no matter what the win-loss record was, my attitude and outlook always remained the same. I would always be positive and strive to be the best that I could be, not what the team could be.

   I know that coaches stress about teamwork and how there is no “I” in “team,” but I mean if my team is either the greatest athletes ever to touch a ball or a bunch of drooling klutzes, I think I’m going to focus on improving my own skills first.

   Whenever game day came, my mindset was always on winning. I would give my best effort and when the game was over, I would be proud of my accomplishments, regardless of a win or loss.

   If we won, oh great! Way to go! But if we lost…oh well. Just as long as you gave it your best, you can’t really lose (OK that sounds cheesy, but I assure you I mean that in the non-cheesiest way possible).

   I suppose that in all of my rambling; I’m trying to get across the point that winning really isn’t everything. It shouldn’t be the only thing you have on your mind when playing a sport. Strengthening one’s skills should be an athlete’s main focus.

  When that time comes to look back upon our childhood sports teams, wouldn’t you rather remember your improvement rather than a number that tells you how many wins you got? I would.

   There is an analogy that goes like this: Would you rather be on a losing team, but you get a lot of playing time, or would you rather be the player that doesn’t play at all on a team that wins a lot?

   While there are some things in life which score matters, such as test scores, sports is one of those things in which the score doesn’t matter.