EG Goes For D-II Title Saturday

For the first time since 2001, Elk Grove's football team will play for a Sac-Joaquin Section title. Likely, the game will be played in wind and rain, which may help the ground-oriented Herd offense.

Read my preview of the game in the Citizen and there you'll read coach Chris Nixon saying that's what he wants because he knows that will hamper the pass-happy game of the Folsom Bulldogs.

A few notes on the game:

Elk Grove will miss the presence of B'won Canada on defense. He's out with a fractured wrist. His active play must be replaced somehow in order to slow down Folsom.

Folsom's Jake Browning, the sophomore quarterback, can't run well, as opposed to a couple of his predecessors, Dano Graves and Tanner Troisin. If EG can muster a decent pass rush, maybe they can get Browning to make a few bad passes. Also, the Herd will need to "mess up" the routes of the receivers.

Pleasant Grove was pretty successful in doing this. That was when Folsom turned to the running game and the Eagles had trouble stopping that and lost that game.

The Herd will also have to complete some key passes to keep Folsom from putting nine and ten guys in the "box."

If you don't want to sit in the weather, likely to be wet, you can watch the game streamed live on cifsacjoaquin.tv. 

For game updates, follow me on Twitter, @EGCitizenJHull. 

Elk Grove Defeats Del Oro, Franklin Loses

Elk Grove 35, Del Oro 32

The Herd will take on undefeated Folsom next weekend for the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division II championship. Read the game story here.

Granite Bay 37, Franklin 7

The Franklin High School football team had 2,480 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns injured and on the bench Friday night. The top-seeded Wildcats came into their Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semi-final game against Granite Bay with running backs Christian Fonbeuna, Kyran Harris and Steven Rogers all hobbled with various injuries suffered the previous week in their big quarterfinal win over Lincoln of Stockton.

All were in uniform, willing to give it a go, but they just couldn’t perform nearly as effective as the trio did in leading Franklin to a perfect 10-0 regular season and a couple impressive playoff wins.

On top of that, starting fullback/linebacker William Vi wasn’t even at the game. He was at home in bed stricken with the flu.

“I don’t think we lose 37-7 if we had some of those kids on the field,” Franklin head coach Mike Johnson said. “Do we beat them full force? Probably not. Granite Bay’s really good. The best team we’ve played.”

The undermanned Franklin offense sputtered throughout much of the game Friday and were beaten, 37-7, by a Grizzlies team bent on making a return visit to the Division I championship game. Granite Bay, who beat Pleasant Grove last season, will face Burbank or Oak Ridge Saturday night at Hornet Stadium looking to make it two Section banners in a row.

Scoring Summary 
Score by Quarters             1          2         3         4         Score
Granite Bay (10-3)           17       13       0         7         37
Franklin (12-1)                  0         7         0         0         7             
1^st Quarter
GB – Tony Ellison 43 yd. run (Colin Brown kick) 8:55
GB – John Cooley 10 yd. pass from Grant Caraway (Brown kick) 6:58
GB – Brown 18 yd. field goal 1:09            
2^nd Quarter
GB – Cooley 1 yd run (kick failed) 6:17
GB – Steven Graber 32 yd. pass from Caraway (Brown kick) 1:20
FR – Robert Sanders 7 yd. pass from Trent Spallas (Tyler Ramel kick) :16            
3^rd Quarter
no scoring            
4^th Quarter
GB – Taft Partridge 18 yd. run (Brown kick) :40

Wednesday Notebook/ An EGUSD First

If both Franklin and Elk Grove win this Friday night another first for the Elk Grove Unified School District will be marked. It will be the first time two EGUSD schools play for a Sac-Joaquin Section football championship in two different divisions.

In 2010 Monterey Trail and Pleasant Grove – both EGUSD schools - faced off for the Division I championship, which the Eagles won,  21-6.

Franklin, now undefeated at 12-0, is in Division I while Elk Grove, with its lone loss to the Wildcats, is in Division II. 

But, both the Wildcats and the Herd have huge tasks in front of them when Franklin hosts defending Division I champion Granite Bay in one of the semi-final games. The other game in D-I will pit undefeated Burbank against Oak Ridge. That contest will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. at Titan Stadium.

In Division II, Elk Grove will host Del Oro, who just squeaked into the playoffs with a 5-5 record and is seeded 15th, but behind star running back Brandon Monroe has turned on the afterburners with big wins over St. Mary’s and Yuba City. Del Oro is the defending Division III champion.

The Golden Eagles and the Grizzlies are both members of the Sierra Football League.

In the other D-II semi-final undefeated Folsom will take on Buhach Colony, the fifth seed.

Burbank Ends Pleasant Grove's Season, 32-27

Sacramento - Twice in the past two weeks, Pleasant Grove’s football team found itself down by 14 points in the second half of its games. Last week in the opener of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division I playoffs, the No. 10 seeded Eagles were trailing seventh-seed Stagg, 21-7, but rallied to win, 22-21.

On Saturday, and on the road for the second week in a row, Pleasant Grove wasn’t so lucky. Rallying from a 32-14 deficit in the fourth quarter, the Eagles did put 13 points on the board in the final period, but ran out of time losing to undefeated Burbank, 32-27. 

The Eagles concluded the season with a 7-5 mark.

“Of course, we’re disappointed with the end of the season, but our kids played really hard against an outstanding football team,” Pleasant Grove head coach Joe Cattolico said. “I don’t think our kids have anything to hang their heads and be ashamed about. We just came up a little short.”

The Metro Conference Titans (12-0) used long scoring plays, plus a couple lucky breaks, to eliminate Pleasant Grove. Running back/defensive back Calvin Green used his speed on the outside to get several key first downs, score on a 49-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and catch a 16-yard pass from Burbank quarterback Ernest Jenkins on the first play of the fourth quarter on what eventually was the difference in the game.

Eagle running back Isaiah Saunders ran impressively in the first half and had Pleasant Grove’s first two touchdowns, one on a five-yard run and the other on a three-yard plunge, to give the Eagles a 14-6 lead. From there Pleasant Grove couldn’t stop the big-play Titan offense.

“Like any football game between two good football teams, there’s plays on either side that could have made the difference,” Catollico said. “We knew coming in that we’d have to win more plays because when (Burbank) wins plays it’s a 60-yard play. When we win a play, it’s a 10-yard play.”

After gaining 57 yards in the first half, Saunders finished the game with 88 yards on 19 carries. Ian Broom gained 88 yards on 11 carries.

Burbank had three runners rush more than 100 yards Saturday – Williams had 134 yards on 23 carries, Green gained 110 yards on eight carries and Jenkins ran for 110 yards on 14 keepers.

EGHS Blows By Del Campo, Del Oro Next

Wadus Parker had three touchdowns, one rushing, one on an 82-yard pass and run from Tommy Arnold and a 63-yard punt return for a score, to lead Elk Grove to a 35-14 quarterfinal win in the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division II playoffs.

Robert Frazier behind a solid game by the "Hammerheads", the Herd's offensive line, gained 224 yards on 22 carries as EG (11-1) now will take on Del Oro in the Division II semifinals at EGHS this Friday.

Watch the post-game interviews with Parker and head coach Chris Nixon.

Several Ink College Letters Today

Several local student/athletes signed a National Letter of Intent with a college Wednesday at four Elk Grove-area schools.

At Pleasant Grove High School, baseball standout Josh Adams inked with UC-Santa Barbara while softball players Megan Carter (Utah State) and Amber Murray (Eastern Kentucky) will sign. One of the area's top basketball players, Dejza James, signed a letter-of-intent to play at Arizona.

At Elk Grove High School Herd baseball players Rowdy Tellez and Dom Nunez both inked their long-awaited letters. Tellez will attend Southern California while Nunez is heading to UCLA.

A Pleasant Grove transfer, Taryn Renowden, who is now at Elk Grove signed a letter to play softball at Loyola Marymount.


Sheldon High School basketball players D'Erryl Williams and Dakarai Allen both inked letters to play together at San Diego State next season. The pair averaged 14 points a game last season in leading the Huskies to the Delta River League championship and were also the state division I runner-ups.

On Thursday, Franklin High School's big first baseman Tyler Blake will sign his letter of intent to play baseball for Sacramento State.

All-DVC Football Team

DELTA VALLEY CONFERENCE
ALL-LEAGUE FOOTBALL 2012
MVP	Robert Frazier	Elk Grove
Offensive Player of the Year	Kyran Harris	Franklin
Defensive Player of the Year	Marcus Green	Franklin
Lineman of the Year	William Vi	Franklin
All-Purpose Player of the Year	Treyvon Henderson	Grant
All-Purpose Player of the Year	Tre Lampley	Franklin
Coach of the Year	Mike Johnson	Franklin
1st Team All-League	School	Year	Position
Steven Rogers	Franklin	12	RB
Joey Banks	Franklin	11	LB
William Vi	Franklin	12	DT
Marcus Green	Franklin	12	DB
Trent Spallas	Franklin	12	QB
Kyran Harris	Franklin	12	RB
Tre Lampley	Franklin	12	Utility
Riley Simmons	Franklin	12	DT
Damian Sanders	Franklin	12	WR
Randall Paine	Franklin	12	OL
Robert Frazier	Elk Grove	12	RB
Wadus Parker	Elk Grove	11	RB
Trevor Haro	Elk Grove	12	LB
B'won Canada	Elk Grove	11	DE
Elijah Jones	Elk Grove	11	DB
Noah Letuligasenoa	Elk Grove	11	TE/LB
Matt Loller	Elk Grove	12	OL
Darrion Jeffery	Grant	12	WR
Treyvon Henderson	Grant	12	S
Abnor Toma	Grant	12	LB
Sam Tupou	Grant	12	DL
Marquise Carter-Petitt	Grant	12	RB
Moses Moala	Grant	11	DL
Andrew Lepesi	Grant	12	OL
CK Hicks	Davis	11	WR
Bailey Murray	Davis	11	OL
Adam King	Davis	12	DB
Brenden MacDonald	Davis	11	LB
Grant Dickerson	Davis	12	QB
Sterling Powell	Monterey Trail	12	LB
Villiami Umufuke	Monterey Trail	12	DL
Marlin Ward	Monterey Trail	12	DL
Devonte Castex	Laguna Creek	12	LB
Deshun Williams	Laguna Creek	12	DB
John Harris	Laguna Creek	12	DL