Granite Bay is all fired up and at the top of its game after a 10th straight win on Friday night.
File photo by Derek Cooper
It's called the Fly sweep, with a man in motion and a bevy of backs to unleash.
Those who run it take great glee in knowing it buckles teams. Those who try to defend it? They generally curse into their headsets.
Granite Bay (Calif.) in Placer County runs it as well as any team in the state, and the Grizzlies ran roughshod over a sound defense on Friday night to repeat as Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champions, rushing for 549 yards on 51 carries to run
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) out of the Sacramento State facilities by a 35-23 score.
Grant Caraway (10) is just one
many Granite Bay athletes to
run the fly with great skill.
File photo by Derek Cooper
The Trojans of El Dorado Hills remained in it Friday on the grit and skill of quarterback
Jason Samuels (314 yards and two touchdowns), but Oak Ridge had no answer for the running game that now prepares for a Northern California Regional opponent, perhaps
St. Ignatius (San Francisco), which beat Bellarmine (San Jose) 13-10 in overtime on
Friday night to take the Central Coast Section Open title in a thriller.
For Granite Bay,
Taft Partridge, a burly back, rushed for 235 yards on just 11 carries and had second-half, sealing scoring runs of 47 and 86 yards.
Tony Ellison, the Fly back who runs wide and fast on carries, had 194 yards and a 7-yard score, and
John Cooley, an up-the-middle perfectionist, went for 126 and a 5-yard scoring effort to open the
scoring.
Granite Bay (10-3) has won five section titles - three in D-II - with this offensive scheme. Coach Ernie Cooper brought it with him from Aptos High in Santa Cruz County 17 years ago when he started the Grizzlies program from scratch.
Sophomore linebacker
Cameron Smith had two goal-line interceptions for Granite Bay to key a defense that came of age during a 10-game winning streak. Granite Bay started the season 1-3 after losses to Westlake, Oaks Christian and Pittsburg in nonleague contests.
Cooper told his team to report to practice Monday for a shot at history. He has long talked about how strong football is in the Sacramento region and that it can more than hold its own against the power programs from the Bay Area. Now we'll find out on the field.
If it's St. Ignatius, expect a great showdown. St. Ignatius (10-3) hails from the highly competitive West Catholic Athletic League and also sports setbacks to power programs. SI lost its season opener to
Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 28-21, to Bellarmine 35-28 and to Serra (San Mateo) 47-21.
A Sacramento area team has been to a CIF State Bowl game in each season since 2008. Grant beat Long Beach Poly 25-20 in the Open in 2008, Rocklin lost late to Servite (Anaheim) 33-30 in D-II, Folsom downed Serra (Gardena) 48-20 in 2010 in D-II and Del Oro fell to Helix 35-24 last season in D-II.
"We're ready to play another game," Cooper said, surrounded by well-wishers and players.
Section commissioners from around Northern California will meet on Sunday to break down a pool of 22 section champions in all divisions and needing 10 teams. The Open and D-I games are expected to be held at Sac State, with that formal announcement coming Sunday by the CIF.
- Joe Davidson has covered high school sports at The Sacramento Bee since 1988. Follow him on Twitter: @SacBee_JoeD and on podcast: ESPN1320.net and on sacbee.com
