Good win for La Serna and a tough loss for Grant. I like the La Serna head coach. Totally confidence in his team with a little cockiness/edge. That's the kind of attitude a player can stand behind. Fast team, good tackling, and they played hard. They didn't make a lot of plays, just the ones they needed. The coaching staff didn't do anything exceptional, just there job, putting his team in a position to win, not lose.
Grant's offensive coordinator and ultimately the head coaches, taking nothing away from the La Serna team because they played championship ball, did not have there best performance. In reviewing the tape in the off season, there will be a lot to learn from this game. Areas that I think they might reflect on.
-As mentioned by another poster, how one dimensional they were on offense. Lets say you are forced to run. Okay, but there was no mix of run plays or formations. No reverse plays, counter plays, toss sweeps, QB leads, etc. The defense loaded the box and the offense stayed in spread and shot gun (usually with one back in the back field most of the half). This allowed seven defenders in the box on defense plus they were using there DB's to set the edge, making it a total of 8 defenders to stop the run. In that scenario, at minimum I was hoping to see Grant go to their big boy package.
-The lack of a passing game. Expecting the freshman QB to come out and run the normal offense may be a stretch, especially against a solid defense with some of the play makers that La Serna had. Let the young man get adjusted to the game. Throw some screen plays, check downs to the RB, play action, boot play, etc. A couple of completions could have built a lot of confidence for him. Honestly, with so many people in the box, I was waiting for the trick play (RB pass, or a double pass). Pretty much anything in the air would have keep La Serna honest.
-I mentioned the play calling earlier, but to add to that, the amount of time it took to call a play was crazy, especially on the last drive. I was confused why it took so long to call the same play (Power left/power right). Did they really need to think about it that long. It only allowed the defense time to rest and get set up. I was hoping to see them put some pressure on the defense and go tempo. Run some hurry up plays. La Serna had several players going both ways as well and this was a missed opportunity to wear some of them down by the forth quarter.
-Field position. All of La Serna's points came from a short field, starting in Pacer territory. They did not have a lot of success driving the ball the length of the field. Grant going for it on a couple of 4th down's and failing put a lot of pressure on their defense.
-Special teams. Just line up in a normal punt formation and kick the ball. Again, play field position. Instead Grant kept giving La Serna the ball at mid field on in Pacer territory. Again, too much pressure on the defense. Even though they did a good job and got multiple stops this led to La Serna punting the ball deep into Pacer territory, forcing them to start drivers from their own 8 and 13 yard lines. Why put that kind of pressure on your offense (who was already being one dimensional at the time) to drive the length of the field.
-Taking a time out for the 2 point conversion only to run the same play you ran the whole drive. The conversion was critical so I understand taking a time out. But no offensive creativity on that call. They ran the same play against Monterey Trail for the 2 point conversion and failed.
-Green and Parker. I can't recall seeing them in the back field together, except a few times. And I don't think they were on the field together at all in the 4th quarter. Green in at RB and Parker in at the slot. Force the defense to defend both of your outstanding backs at the same time. Take away the power play up the middle from Green or take away the quick swing pass to Parker in open field? Or put Parker in motion, fake the power to Green and had it off to Parker on a sweep play. One dimensional wasn't the problem. One dimensional with no creativity or one dimensional without utilizing your weapons is.
-Kicking the onside kick. In that situation, with a young back-up QB, just kick the ball deep and play defense. In that scenario, if you get the stop, you get the ball around mid field and you give the offense a short field to work with. The way it played out, even if they had gotten the stop after failing to get the onside kick, they would have been out of times outs and once again pinned deep into their own territory. Running the ball at that point is not an option. And now you would be forcing the young QB to drive the length of the field with his arm, on the last drive of the game, with limited time, with a state championship on the line. That's too much pressure to put on him especially when he didn't throw a signal pass in the 4th quarter.
I am a Grant homer, and I love what Reed and the coaching staff has done with this program. And where I believe they are going to take it in the future. This one got away from us, thanks to the hard work of La Serna and the missed opportunities of the Grant coaching staff. They will learn from this one and get better. As good of a team as La Serna is, Grant beat Grant.
To the players, especially the seniors, great job! I really enjoyed watching ya'll play the last couple of years. I know your 3 losses this year by a total of 6 points will hurt for a while, especially the one yesterday, but thank you for putting the Pacers back on the map. Best of luck in the future. I look forward to seeing you on Saturdays, and maybe Sundays too.
