BY ROBBIE ENOS/Granite Bay Newspaper
Friday night's high school football battle between host Granite Bay and Vacaville was all about the fight in the trenches. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, they lost the majority of those battles.
The Bulldogs rushed for 496 yards and beat Granite Bay 47-23. The Grizzlies' front seven was no match for the powerful Vacaville line, allowing speedy backs Melvin Mason (172 yards) and Quincy Forte (101 yards) to run up and down the field.
"They're just a little better than us up front," Granite Bay coach Ernie Cooper said. "There were no secrets; we knew it. We knew what they were going to do. They have some misdirection in their offense, but they just got after us up front. That's the story of the game right there."
Granite Bay found some success through the air, as quarterback Brendan Keeney threw for 174 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Matt Kasner had three receptions for 81 yards. But with only 152 yards rushing, Granite Bay was overpowered by the Bulldogs.
"We're a very well-balanced offense," Cooper said. "They're just better than us up front and on both sides."
Keeney connected with Kasner from the get-go on a tight end screen in the first quarter, setting up a 38-yard touchdown pass to Cory Pierce. Vacaville quarteback Tyler Irwin answered with a 13-yard touchdown pass to CJ Jacobe. Keeney ended the first quarter with a four-yard bootleg pass to Spencer Briare for a touchdown, capping a 13-play drive.
Vacaville turned up the heat in the second quarter. Hudson Buck ran behind tacke Johnny Schupp for a seven-yard touchdown. Vacaville's Curtis Goins then returned a punt to the Granite Bay 11. Forte scored on a two-yard run to give the Bulldog's the lead.
Irwin connected on a 52-yard bomb to Jacobe to make it 26-13 at haftime.
The dynamic of the game changed at that moment, as Granite Bay was forced into passing situations and couldn't beat the Bulldog's deep coverage. Vacaville continued to pound the rock and chew up clock for the remainder of the game.
The Grizzlies play Pittsburgh next week. Cooper understands Granite Bay's biggest weakness in this game, the defensive front seven has to improve.
"All teams have to do is watch this film and figure out our weakness," he said. "Same thing happened last week against Oakdale. They just ran it off tackle, C-Gap play, and we didn't get it fixed this week. So we need to go back and try to get it fixed. I don't have the answer right now. If I did, I would have drawn it up and we would have stopped it."
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