Sac-Joaquin Section Round-Up No. 4
Four games are highlighted in this week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Round-Up.
This coming week the Caravan is heading to Santa Clara for the First Annual Friday Night Light’s event at Levi’s Stadium to cover the weekend’s games including the Friday night Elk Grove versus Jesuit contest and on Saturday the Oakdale versus Manteca renewed rivalry.
Look for previews on those games later this week and also for a Sac-Joaquin Section Games to Watch for later this week as well.
Grant beats Elk Grove in battle of longtime rivals
The battle for the No. 2 spot in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section behind Folsom officially ended for the time being as Grant (Sacramento) posted a solid 26-19 road victory over an Elk Grove team that refused to fold.
Trailing 16-0 in the second quarter and concurrently watching popular senior Julian Brown carted off the field by ambulance after suffering a broken leg, Elk Grove battled back to make it a game.
According to tweets and the accounts of Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee and Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports, both of whom attended the game, it was a physical contest as has always been the case in this Delta Valley Conference rivalry.
In the end it was the size and depth of the Cal-Hi Sports No. 15 and Sacramento Bee No. 3 ranked Pacers, and just too big a deficit to overcome for the host and Cal-Hi Sports No. 18 and Bee No. 2 Thundering Herd that spelled a defeat in what was a tale of two halves.
Whether or not the Thundering Herd may have felt a little adrenaline because of the fallen teammate, or the Pacers had a slight letdown, Grant (5-0, 2-0) still had enough to finish despite only producing a field goal in the second half.
The biggest difference in the outcome, and what looks like it might become a Grant trademark this season and in the near future, is the Pacers' huge line and running game.
The junior duo of Deshawn Collins and Mike Green made hay behind the huge line. Collins rushed for 168 yards and scored on runs of 4 and 26 yards, and Green added 80 yards on the ground.
That line, led by 6-foot-5, 344-pound senior Darrin Paulo (several D-I college offers including seven Pac-12), 6-foot-4, 330-pound junior Sione Tupou (major D-I interest), and 6-foot-4, 308-pound sophomore Orlando Umana, has paved the road for the Pacers running game which had racked up 1,250 yards in the four games leading up to Elk Grove.
Another major factor is the Grant defense led by Chris Atteberry. The 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior returned after a one-game suspension for getting chirpy in the Fresno Bullard victory three weeks ago. The Pacers’ captain had a first half interception that snuffed out an Elk Grove drive and set up a Grant field goal, and also blocked a field goal late in the first half after Elk Grove had scored and recovered a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff.
Elk Grove (4-1, 1-1) got a solid game passing yardage-wise from sophomore quarterback Tyler Vender Waal. He was 21-of-42 for 267 yards and two TDs, but he was intercepted three times.
The two programs have been tangling for many years but the rivalry really heated up when Mike Alberghini took the Grant helm in 1991.
Elk Grove won a defensive battle at home last year 7-3, but in 2010, in the biggest margin of victory, Grant pasted a 61-7 defeat on its rivals, but prior to last year’s grinder Elk Grove also won 21-14 and 24-0 between the shellacking, meaning coming the game the Thundering Herd had won three straight.
Folsom juggernaut continues
The headline on SacBee.com alluded to host Del Oro slowing down Folsom Washington-bound star quarterback Jake Browning but still falling 42-7.
There’s always a silver lining to most everything and maybe in the Del Oro victory its one for Folsom (6-0, 2-0) as well.
If the Bulldogs can win easily when Browning “only” throws for 223 yards and three touchdowns, then maybe the sky is the limit.
We’d like to point out to many of the self-proclaimed experts that fail to realize what they consider a so-so performance by Browning would translate into 3,345 yards and 45 TDs for a complete season. Prior to the last printed edition of the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book those numbers would have made their respective season’s list.
The assault continues for Browning on the national career TD record this week in a Sierra Foothill League trip to a Grass Valley Nevada Union (3-3, 0-2) coming off a 42-12 loss at Roseville Woodcreek. Browning enters the game with 173 career TDs so the national record of 210 set by Marty Mauk of Kenton, Ohio, in 2011 is still a ways off but certainly achievable.
Rock-and-Rollin Rocklin rolls Oak Ridge
They were rocking and rolling at “The Quarry” last Friday night and the result was the boulders came crashing down on visiting Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) in a decisive Sierra Foothill League 59-21 Rocklin victory.
In a battle of quarterbacks Rocklin senior Max O’Rourke got the better of his junior counterpart Ian Book of Oak Ridge. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound O’Rourke passed for 302 yards and five TDs and ran for a sixth score. He also was 8-of-8 on PATs, kicked a 34-yard field goal, and was 10-of-10 on kickoff touchbacks. Book passed for 184 yards and three TDs with an interception.
Rocklin (5-0, 1-0) now faces a Del Oro (2-4, 1-1) team fighting to stay in the Sierra Foothill race and needing a win to do it.
Oak Ridge (4-2, 1-1) has no easy task at home against a Granite Bay team (3-2, 0-1) coming off a non-league 28-12 win over a visiting Aptos team that had won 13-straight. Aptos was where veteran Granite Bay head coach Ernie Cooper started his coaching career before starting the program at Granite Bay when the school opened.
Beau goes for Jesuit
Junior running back Beau Bisharat, who turned heads at the East Bay Nike Football Training Camp this summer, scored on runs of 1 and 14 yards and caught a 59-yard TD pass from Cole Brownholtz to lead SacBee No. 7 Jesuit (4-1, 2-0 Delta Valley Conference) to a 47-15 victory over host Davis.
Inderkum (Sacramento) 69, River City (West Sacramento) 9
The host SacBee No. 9 Tigers laid the wood on the visitors from the west side of the Sacramento River.
Inderkum (5-1, 2-0 Tri-County Conference) was one of the top Division II teams in Northern California to start the season before suffering a heartbreaking 29-27 loss in week two to Elk Grove Monterey Trail. Since then they’ve won four-straight fairly handily and have moved back to No. 6 in the Cal-Hi Sports NorCal Division II Bowl Rankings entering this week.
The tweet phrase on Friday night was “(Larry) Hardy was hard to tackle” in the big win. Hardy rushed for two touchdowns, caught a 45-yard TD pass from Jonathon Henry and returned a kickoff 80-yards for a fourth score. Jimmie Johnson had two rushing TDs and also had a third score on defense, and Austin Thurman returned a kickoff 81 yards to pay dirt.
